A Return to the Foundations of Social Information Processing Theory

Social information processing theory is a well-known perspective that is used across a variety of domains, including leadership, organizational behavior, entrepreneurship, and more. Despite being formulated nearly 50 years ago, this perspective has gained momentum of late and is being applied with greater frequency in the management domain. However, the question remains as to how current applications and knowledge align with the original tenets of social information processing theory. In this paper, we seek to answer this question. Via a close reading of seminal articles and a review of the extant literature, we document three troubling trends: a historical drift in how the theory has been applied, theoretical imprecision when using the theory, and forgotten elements of the original theory. In response, we present a simplified model of social information processing theory, which restores the central focus of job attitudes as the primary outcome and emphasizes that the social context and past behaviors are key predictors. We also document how the field can apply this theory more effectively and outline future directions.