Reconciling Pragmatism and Scientific Rigor

Abstract

Seen through European lenses, American academia is struggling with a disconnection between scientific rigor and pragmatic relevance that has taken hold during the last decades within management and organization studies. The implications are serious: a potential loss of relevance to business and society; a domination of stand-alone-constructs that neglect their intellectual heritage; a limited dissemination of research findings to a relatively small audience; and the institutionalization of intellectual homogeneity within a self-supporting academic community. I explore some of the reasons behind this development and argue that change can only emerge from within academia itself. My hope is that current developments within leading journals and academic institutions might lead to a different future where new voices and a more global outlook will encourage a redoing of American pragmatism at its best.