Ontological and epistemological bases of the study of market constitution through practices

Abstract

Market practices provide a framework for exploring markets, which in turn require a better understanding of each other, because researchers and academics often approach markets more normatively. Recently, some scholars have begun to reconnect marketing/economics and markets, developing understandings based on the theories of practices. To contribute to this advance, the objective proposed by this work is to present the ontological and epistemological bases for studying market practices according to the seminal works of Kjellberg and Helgesson (2006/2007). In the end, it can be concluded that an approach to the constitution of markets based on practices assumes a relativistic ontological position. It is relativistic because it assumes that: what it is, is relative to the multiple associations that promote it. Therefore, it is a multiparadigmatic approach. Different contexts and social relations generate different meanings and actions due to the historical and cultural character of the production of these meanings. Researchers must be attentive to the ontology of the place in which relational realities are constructed, focusing their attention on the way people construct and organize reality.