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Critical Realism and the Development of Management Theory

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Handbook of Philosophy of Management

Part of the book series: Handbooks in Philosophy ((HP))

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Abstract

This chapter explores the development of management theory from the point of view of critical realist scholarship. It starts by considering the nature of management theory and different approaches to theory development: induction, deduction, and abduction. We argue that abductive approaches are implicitly realist, even if researchers using an abductive approach to theory development are not explicit about this. The chapter then introduces critical realism, as a specific approach to abduction, before then considering how critical realism can be used as a tool for the development and integration of management theories.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK

    Steve Vincent

  2. University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Scott Hurrell

  3. University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Andrew Kozhevnikov

Authors
  1. Steve Vincent
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  2. Scott Hurrell
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  3. Andrew Kozhevnikov
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steve Vincent .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Cristina Neesham

  2. Professur für Betriebswirtschaftslehre, Universitaet Leuphana, Lüneburg, Germany

    Markus Reihlen

  3. Dept of Management, Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark

    Dennis Schoeneborn

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Social Sciences and Business, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark

    Jacob Dahl Rendtorff

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Vincent, S., Hurrell, S., Kozhevnikov, A. (2022). Critical Realism and the Development of Management Theory. In: Neesham, C., Reihlen, M., Schoeneborn, D. (eds) Handbook of Philosophy of Management. Handbooks in Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48352-8_71-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48352-8_71-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-48352-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-48352-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities

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