A choice and inevitability framework in strategic management: empirical evidence of its real-life existence

Abstract

In the context of strategic management, strategic choice and determinism are presented as two distinct planning approaches. When treated as two distinct variables, they are responsible for the creation of a framework of analysis, in which it is possible to identify the four different human agency philosophical ontological perspectives, of determinism, hard incompatibilism, libertarianism and compatibilism, each perspective characterized by different amounts of strategic choice and determinism. By drawing on the theoretical context of the aforementioned perspectives, we provide empirical evidence of their real-life existence. The strategic framework not only reduces theoretical fragmentation, but also provides a link between the philosophical debate on free will/determinism and strategic management and can help to reduce uncertainty in planning.