Pragmatism and Abductive Reasoning in Operations Management: Insights from Design Science

Abstract

To address managerially relevant problems, scholars in operations management are increasingly adopting a design science based approach, that is, a pragmatic problem solving approach undergirded by abductive and inductive reasoning. Despite its increased adoption, the full potential of the design science approach and range of its application remains underappreciated by operations management scholars. To elaborate on how the design science approach can usefully be employed by operations management scholars, the current study examines five studies that adopted it. Treating these studies as exemplars in the Kuhnian sense, this study identifies six analytic moves that can enhance the rigor and relevance of scholarship in operations management. The study concludes with some reflections on the implications of adopting the design science approach in OM scholarship.