The Multidisciplinary Foundations of Organizational Behavior: A PRISMA-Based Systematic Literature Review and Integrative Conceptual Synthesis

Abstract

Organisational behaviour (OB) is a multidisciplinary field that explains, predicts, and influences human behaviour within organisations. However, the specific contribution of different disciplines to analysing behaviour at the individual, group, and organisational system levels remains fragmented. This article employs a PRISMA-oriented systematic literature review combined with an integrative conceptual synthesis to map the disciplinary foundations of OB and develop a multilevel framework for organisational diagnosis. Data were collected from 326 records identified through databases and registers, alongside 21 additional records retrieved through citation tracking. Following the screening process, 18 studies were included in the thematic synthesis. The findings demonstrate that psychology explains motivation, perception, learning, emotion, work attitudes, and decision-making; social psychology explains group influence, identity, and psychological safety; sociology explains norms, roles, networks, structure, and conflict; anthropology explains culture, meaning systems, diversity, and inclusion; while political science explains power, influence, coalition building, negotiation, and resource allocation. This article provides an individual-group-system framework and a transparent review protocol to support multidisciplinary and multilevel approaches to organisational diagnosis.