Abductive Research and Publishing Discoveries in Management

Management/Organizational research is largely grounded on two basic logics, namely induction and deduction. Increasingly scholars have begun to question whether the grounding of our field in these two logics may be overly... [ view full abstract ]

Management/Organizational research is largely grounded on two basic logics, namely induction and deduction. Increasingly scholars have begun to question whether the grounding of our field in these two logics may be overly restrictive, limiting our relevance to the broader community which our science seeks to serve. In this PDW, I will present a complementary logic, one grounded on abductive reasoning (i.e., inference to the best plausible explanation).  After describing this approach and distinguishing it from more traditional approaches, I will demonstratie how abduction serves as the basis for many other scientific fields and discuss  when and how scholars might design and present studies grounded on such a logic in order to maximize theoretical contribution and practical impact.

Following the presentation, I will conduct a  paper development workshop in which I will provide feedback on papers and paper ideas being considered for submission to Academy of Management Discoveries.