Convincing arguments for using critical realism as an underpinning for theories of IT-associated organizational change have appeared in the Information Systems literature. A central task in ...developing such theories is to uncover the generative mechanisms by which IT is implicated in organizational change processes, but to do so, we must explain how critical realism's concept of generative mechanisms applies in an IS context. Similarly, convincing arguments have been made for using Gibson's (1986) affordance theory from ecological psychology for developing theories of IT-associated organizational change, but this effort has been hampered due to insufficient attention to the ontological status of affordances. In this paper, we argue that affordances are the generative mechanisms we need to specify and explain how affordances are a specific type of generative mechanism. We use the core principles of critical realism to argue how affordances arise in the real domain from the relation between the complex assemblages of organizations and of IT artifacts, how affordances are actualized over time by organizational actors, and how these actualizations lead to the various effects we observe in the empirical domain. After presenting these arguments, we reanalyze two published cases in the literature, those of ACRO and Autoworks, to illustrate how affordance-based theories informed by critical realism enhance our ability to explain IT-associated organizational change. These examples show how researchers using this approach should proceed, and how managers can use these ideas to diagnose and address IT implementation problems.
The current literature on digital infrastructure offers powerful lenses for conceptualizing the increasingly interconnected information system collectives found in contemporary organizations. ...However, little attention has been paid to the generative mechanisms of digital infrastructure, that is, the causal powers that explain how and why such infrastructure evolves over time. This is unfortunate, since more knowledge about what drives digital infrastructures would be highly valuable for managers and IT professionals confronted by the complexity of managing them. To this end, this paper adopts a critical realist view for developing a configurational perspective of infrastructure evolution. Our theorizing draws on a multimethod research design comprising an in-depth case study and a case survey. The in-depth case study, conducted at a Scandinavian airline, distinguishes three key mechanisms of digital infrastructure evolution: adoption, innovation, and scaling. The case survey research of 41 cases of digital infrastructure then identifies and analyzes causal paths through which configurations of these mechanisms lead to successful evolution outcomes. The study reported in this paper contributes to the infrastructure literature in two ways. First, we identify three generative mechanisms of digital infrastructure and how they contingently lead to evolution outcomes. Second, we use these mechanisms as a basis for developing a configurational perspective that advances current knowledge about why some digital infrastructures evolve successfully while others do not. In addition, the paper demonstrates and discusses the efficacy of critical realism as a philosophical tradition for developing substantive contributions in the field of information systems.
Profound transformations in human beings are necessary if we are to exist in harmony with ourselves, other beings and nature. Only if such transformations take place, can the deep social changes that ...degrowth proponents call for come about. Yet what mechanisms could contribute to trigger and support (or hinder) inner growth? This question, which remains largely unexplored in degrowth scholarship, is addressed in the present contribution. Drawing on critical realist philosophy, humanism and deep ecology, it introduces and develops the concept of deepgrowth. The concept denotes processes through which a human – through inner growth enabled and supported by multiple external and internal mechanisms – becomes a harmonious being. The paper reflects on human nature and identifies several mechanisms that may enable or constrain transformations in the selves of humans. These mechanisms are situated on various planes of social being: material transactions with nature, social interactions, social structures and inner being. Noting that degrowth scholarship ought to reflect more systematically upon eco-social policies in relation to inner being, the paper discusses how combinations of such policies may contribute to facilitate deepgrowth.
Although studies of organization certainly need to include analysis of discourse, one prominent tendency within current research on organizational discourse limits its value for organizational ...studies through a commitment to postmodernism and extreme versions of social constructivism. The author argues that a version of critical discourse analysis based on a critical realist social ontology is potentially of greater value to organization studies, and refers in particular to the contribution it can make to research on organizational change. In sum, this paper is simultaneously an argument that the analysis of discourse is an essential and unavoidable part of organization studies, and an argument against certain prominent forms of discourse analysis which are currently carried out within organization studies. Incorporating discourse analysis into a realist approach both ensures that questions of discourse are properly attended to in organization studies, and avoids forms of reductionism.
Realism and Complexity Porpora, Douglas V
Journal for the theory of social behaviour,
03/2024, Letnik:
54, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
I will argue that from a CR perspective, social reality is complex. It just is not complex in the ways CT suggests. Even emergence, according to CR, is more complex and stronger than CT suggests. ...First wave CR is enough to advance the issue considerably, but I will also examine dialectical CR as a further attempt within CR to take account of complexity.
Building on recent developments in mixed methods, we discuss the methodological implications of critical realism and explore how these can guide dynamic mixed-methods research design in information ...systems. Specifically, we examine the core ontological assumptions of CR in order to gain some perspective on key epistemological issues such as causation and validity, and illustrate how these shape our logic of inference in the research process through what is known as retroduction. We demonstrate the value of a CR-led mixedmethods research approach by drawing on a study that examines the impact of ICT adoption in the financial services sector. In doing so, we provide insight into the interplay between qualitative and quantitative methods and the particular value of applying mixed methods guided by CR methodological principles. Our positioning of demi-regularities within the process of retroduction contributes a distinctive development in this regard. We argue that such a research design enables us to better address issues of validity and the development of more robust meta-infer enees.
•Critiquing the ontology, epistemology and methodology of the multilevel perspective.•The distinction between system and regime should be abandoned.•Studies should prioritise causal explanation over ...‘heuristic devices’.•Greater use should be made of comparative case studies.
This paper identifies and evaluates the explicit and implicit philosophical assumptions underlying the so-called multilevel perspective on sociotechnical transitions (MLP). These include assumptions about the nature of reality (ontology), the status of claims about that reality (epistemology) and the appropriate choice of research methods The paper assesses the consistency of these assumptions with the philosophical tradition of critical realism and uses this tradition to highlight a number of potential weaknesses of the MLP. These include: the problematic conception of social structure and the misleading priority given to intangible rules; the tendency to use theory as a heuristic device rather than causal explanation; the ambition to develop an extremely versatile framework rather than testing competing explanations; the relative neglect of the necessity or contingency of particular causal mechanisms; and the reliance upon single, historical case studies with insufficient use of comparative methods. However, the paper also concludes that the flexibility of the MLP allows room for reconciliation, and provides some suggestions on how that could be achieved – including proposing an alternative, critical realist interpretation of sociotechnical systems.
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