Discussion of Behavioral Principles in<i>Journal of Organizational Behavior Management</i>: An Update
Just over half of recent JOBM articles mention basic behavioral principles—reinforcement tops the list—so keep grounding your OBM work in first principles.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The authors read every article in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management from 2006 to 2015.
They counted how many papers named basic principles like reinforcement, punishment, or extinction.
Out of 127 articles, 67 clearly stated at least one principle.
What they found
Reinforcement was mentioned most, showing up in 42 papers.
Punishment and extinction were named far less.
The share that cited any principle rose compared with an older scan, but one-third of studies still left the basics out.
How this fits with other research
Moss et al. (2009) meta-analysis falls inside the same decade; their staff-training studies likely make up part of the 67 papers that cited principles.
Ruiz (1998) warned that college behavior-analysis courses rarely measure outcomes; DiGennaro Reed et al. answer by giving a concrete metric—principle mention—for how often OBM authors stay grounded.
Moore (2022) later offered a full semester plan for teaching radical behaviorism; together the papers form a timeline: first call for rigor, then a count of practice, then a ready-made teaching fix.
Why it matters
If you design staff training or write OBM programs, name your principles out loud.
Write "reinforcement" in procedures, cite Skinner in the intro, and tie graphs back to the principle you tested.
This small habit keeps the field anchored to its roots and makes your work easier for new BCBAs to replicate.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study replicated the methods of a previous review and assessed the frequency with which discussions of basic behavioral principles occurred in a sample of research and case studies published in Journal of Organizational Behavior Management. A total of 127 research and case studies published between 2006 and 2015 were reviewed; 67 included a discussion of behavioral principles. The percentage of research articles and case studies discussing behavioral principles was higher than that found in previous research. The most frequently described principle was reinforcement. Our findings also documented a higher percentage of laboratory studies discussed behavioral principles.
Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 2016 · doi:10.1080/01608061.2016.1200938