Engaging with the literature Davide Ravasi Cass

Transcript:Engaging with the literature Davide Ravasi Cass:
Engaging with the literature Davide Ravasi Cass Business School & Aalto School of Business (visiting professor) An insigthful view of the field… “The field of organization studies is a large, heterogeneous field involving numerous enclaves having distinct styles, orientation and beliefs. It is integrated neither by a shared theory, nor by a shared perspective, nor even by a shared tolerance for multiple perspectives. It retains substantial intellectual, geographic and linguistic parochialism, with separate enclaves persisting in their own worlds of discourse and forming a common field only by definition that overlooks diversity.” James March, 2007 Administrative science as a socially constructed truth (Astley, 1985) Administrative science requires preliminary conceptual distinctions regarding the investigated phenomena (i.e what is an organization?) Unlike natural scientists, social scientists change the phenomena under investigation, which makes it difficult to develop objective scientific criteria Our knowledge of social facts is mediated by language, reflecting different world views (hence inherently biased), and intersubjectively constituted Researchers vastly diverge in background, interests, values and philosophies. Fragmentation: Multiple, competing paradigms (world views) The social construction of scientific knowledge In administrative science, knowledge is generated in a rigorous process of intellectual scrutiny, which is, nevertheless, an act of social negotiation (Biased) gatekeepers (editors and reviewers) define what counts as important and valid Different observers tend to apply favored theoretical perspectives and methodological canons in a more or less exclusive manner. Adherence to biased and partial world views is usually rewarded Papers are rejected because they “lack theoretical contribution”. But … what passes as a theoretical contribution? Whatever persuades the editor and the reviewers… “An idea becomes a contribution when it is constructed as important by the members of a scholarly community, relative to the accepted knowledge constituted by the field’s written work” (Locke & Golden-Biddle, 1997) Scholarly writing as conversation (Huff, 1999) Scholarly work is rooted in lively exchanges of ideas (“conversations”) Many different conversations are taking place at the same time – need to establish our location in the social space of scholarship: who may be interested in my research? who seems to share my “world view”? who do I really want to talk to? What makes a theory published and cited? Social similarity increases publications chances New approaches must be oriented towards the work of colleagues and useful in their research (or personal agenda) Theories become popular because of their interest value, rather than their truth value (Christensen-Szalanski &