OSIM Spring 2025 Research Seminar Series - Dr. Paul Bliese

Revisiting Observed Power and Emergent Effects

Over his 30+ year career, Paul Bliese has used a variety of statistical methods to address complex organizational problems. In recent years, he has become increasingly interested in two areas of statistics that have broad-ranging implications for researchers. The first is observed power, and the second is understanding emergent effects (significantly different results at different levels). In this talk he will first re-introduce the concept of observed power (something he admits to not really understanding for at least the first 20 years of his career) and then discuss why he now pays so much attention to observed power in his own work. Next, he will give an example of emergent effects using a strategic management sample of firm performance over time. In this example, he will examine the links between (a) firm performance and average age of directors and (b) firm performance and gender composition of directors. The example of emergent effects illustrates the potential value of contrasting within versus between perspectives.