A1 Journal article (refereed)
To Omit or to Include? Integrating the Frugal and Prolific Perspectives on Control Variable Use (2025)
Mändli, F., & Rönkkö, M. (2025). To Omit or to Include? Integrating the Frugal and Prolific Perspectives on Control Variable Use. Organizational Research Methods, 28(1 ), 114-137. https://doi.org/10.1177/10944281231221703
JYU authors or editors
Publication details
All authors or editors: Mändli, Fabian; Rönkkö, Mikko
Journal or series: Organizational Research Methods
ISSN: 1094-4281
eISSN: 1552-7425
Publication year: 2025
Publication date: 21/12/2023
Volume: 28
Issue number: 1
Pages range: 114-137
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Publication country: United States
Publication language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/10944281231221703
Publication open access: Openly available
Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel
Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/92637
Abstract
Over the recent years, two perspectives on control variable use have emerged in management research: the first originates largely from within the management discipline and argues to remain frugal, to use control variables as sparsely as possible. The second is rooted in econometrics textbooks and argues to be prolific, to be generous in control variable inclusion to not risk omitted variable bias, and because including irrelevant exogenous variables has little consequences for regression results. We present two reviews showing that the frugal perspective is becoming increasingly popular in research practice, while the prolific perspective has received little explicit attention. We summarize both perspectives’ key arguments and test their specific recommendations in three Monte Carlo simulations. Our results challenge the two recommendations of the frugal perspective of “omitting impotent controls” and “avoiding proxies” but show the detrimental effects of including endogenous controls (bad controls). We recommend considering the control variable selection problem from the perspective of endogeneity and selecting controls based on theory using causal graphs instead of focusing on the many or few questions.
Keywords: causality; correlation; Monte Carlo methods
Free keywords: control variables; correlation; causality; endogeneity; Monte Carlo simulation
Contributing organizations
Related projects
- Measurement and modeling practices in business research – problems and solutions
- Rönkkö, Mikko
- Research Council of Finland
Ministry reporting: Yes
VIRTA submission year: 2023
JUFO rating: 3