Small Group Research, Ahead of Print.
The article has two primary objectives: first, to elucidate why qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) stands out as a superior method for the study of groupthink, and second, to demonstrate the extent to which the Chinese leadership in 1989 fell prey to groupthink, resulting in ineffective decision-making that caused nationwide upheaval. While evidencing the causal connection between groupthink and the leadership group’s ineffective crisis management, the study nevertheless confirms the growing consensus that the groupthink model is over-specified. Accordingly, the article offers a revised model as a way to improve the groupthink theoretic constructs.