Critical Realist Perspective Research Articles

Mechanisms in Dynamic Interplay with Contexts in a Multigenerational Traditional Food Preparation Initiative Involving Rural South African Women

ABSTRACT This study describes the causal powers of mechanisms in dynamic interplay with relevant contexts (socio-cultural-historical and interpersonal) by looking at the outcome patterns of a multigenerational food initiative from a critical realist perspective. Heuristic constructs taken from psychological, interactional, and group theories implied in the multigenerational initiative are discussed. Textual data, obtained from women (n = 104) from three generations in rural South Africa in 11 focus group discussions, were analyzed thematically to present outcome patterns. Findings illustrate the transformative potential of mechanisms, their interrelatedness on different levels, and the activation of a deeper level mechanism. Broad guidelines are proposed for sustainable intergenerational initiatives.

Innovation in national governing bodies of sport: investigating dynamic capabilities that drive growth

ABSTRACT Research question: To what extent are dynamic capabilities present in, and drive the performance of, U.S. Olympic National Governing Bodies (NGBs)? Research methods: Guided by a critical realist perspective we used qualitative semi-structured interviews with the CEO or Executive Director of four U.S.-based NGBs of sport. We examined the effect of dynamic capabilities on the so-called ‘3M’ (members, medals, and money) performance of four purposively selected NGBs. Results and findings: Our findings indicate that NGBs with varied performance in outcomes relating to membership, medals and money had notable differences regarding their approach to innovative leadership, organisational learning, market alignment and resource acquisition and mobilisation. The historical structural context also plays an important role in influencing the behaviour of NGBs. Implications: This paper identifies how frameworks such as Dynamic Capabilities can be applied and further examined in order to drive sustained innovation and enhanced organisational performance specifically within NGBs of sport.

Donati P. Relational Theory of Society: Social Life from a Perspective of Critical Realism. Moscow: Moscow Publishing PSTGU, 2019. Reviewed by D.V. Maltseva

Donati P. Relational Theory of Society: Social Life from a Perspective of Critical Realism. Moscow: Moscow Publishing PSTGU, 2019. Reviewed by D.V. Maltseva

Enacting Logics in Practice: A Critical Realist Perspective

ABSTRACTDrawing from critical realism, institutional logics, and sensemaking, we examine how changing field level logics are encoded and enacted in organizational practice. In this paper, we make evident the problems inherent in attempting to characterize logics solely based on their observable macro-level structures and highlight in particular the challenges associated with appropriately distinguishing between final logic instantiations and the fluid processes underpinning their formulation. Consequently, we offer a meso-level explanation of how or why logics can be combined in practice. In the present case, the two prevailing logics coexisted because their respective actors encoded them in different ways and because distinctions between peripheral and central logic expectations were borne out of the process through which they were interpreted. Finally, we offer a contextualized interpretation of these enactment processes under consideration of the idiosyncratic features found in public service organizations.MAD statementThis article sets out to Make a Difference (MAD) for change agents tasked with implementing complex organizational transformation initiatives. Documenting how the practical implementation of novel expectations depends on employees’ personal backgrounds and histories, we challenge the applicability of one-size-fits-all approaches. We highlight instead the need to attend to the differences in change perception and interpretation that are bound to arise when diverse groups of people work in separate branches or locations of the same organization and do not share sensemaking models or meaning giving frameworks.

Understanding Opportunities in Social Entrepreneurship: A Critical Realist Abstraction

This article extends social entrepreneurship (SE) research by drawing upon a critical realist perspective to analyse dynamic structure/agency relations in SE opportunity emergence, illustrated by empirical evidence. Our findings demonstrate an agential aspect (opportunity actualisation following a path-dependent seeding-growing-shaping process) and a structural aspect (institutional, cognitive and embedded structures necessary for SE opportunity emergence) related to SE opportunities. These structures provide three boundary conditions for SE agency: institutional discrimination, an SE belief system and social feasibility. Within this article, we develop a novel theoretical framework to analyse SE opportunities plus, an applicable tool to advance related empirical research.

Wicked problems, reductive tendency, and the formation of (non-)opportunity beliefs

Wicked problems persistently cause human suffering, endanger wildlife, and degrade the environment, and are defined by their inherent complex, uncertain, and evaluative nature. Because of these interrelated and mutually reinforcing characteristics, they are notoriously difficult to solve. We explain how the nature of wicked problems affects the way in which beliefs about opportunities to solve them are formed, and why these beliefs often prevent prospective entrepreneurs from correctly judging not only the feasibility of acting on them, but whether such an opportunity exists at all. Drawing on this research context we also help explain how unfounded entrepreneurial opportunity beliefs are formed more broadly. That is, prospective entrepreneurs making the Type I error of falsely identifying an opportunity when there is none. We draw on the ‘reductive tendency’, a process through which individuals simplify complex systems into cognitively manageable representations. While simplified representations offer benefits, such as quicker decision-making, such representations are often inaccurate as they overlook the complexities of the problem at hand. We argue that the reductive tendency can make wicked problems appear easier to solve than they are in reality, leading to the formation of what we call non-opportunity beliefs; the conviction that one can solve a problem, when in fact the objective conditions required to do so are absent. We further argue that prior experiential knowledge makes an entrepreneur less susceptible to the reductive tendency and, consequentially, less likely to form a non-opportunity belief. Our work offers contributions to both theory and practice. We extend the critical realist perspective on non-opportunities by explicating the mechanisms through which non-opportunity beliefs are formed. We further introduce and conceptualize problem uncertainty as a specific form of state uncertainty where the exact definition, boundary conditions, and causes of a problem are unknown or unknowable. This offers a more focused conceptualization of the uncertainty inherent to wicked problems that also specifically identifies problems as the starting point of all entrepreneurial opportunity. Our theorizing is also of practical importance since, in the context of socially/environmentally focused entrepreneurship, ill-conceived attempts to address wicked problems can have serious negative consequences for people and ecosystems that are already among the most vulnerable. By highlighting the susceptibility of entrepreneurs to the reductive tendency, we expand awareness of an avoidable and consequential pitfall in the entrepreneurship process. We further offer a means of circumventing the reductive tendency – through the acquisition of pertinent knowledge.

The development of the new assistant practitioner role in the English National Health Service: a critical realist perspective.

Adopting a critical realist perspective, this article examines the emergence of a relatively new non-professional healthcare role, the assistant practitioner (AP). The role is presented as a malleable construct cascading through and sensitive to structure-agency interaction at different levels of NHS England: the sector, organisation and department. At the core of the analysis is the permissiveness of structures established at the respective levels of the NHS, facilitating or restricting agency as the role progresses through the healthcare system. A permissive regulatory framework at the sector level is reflected in the different choices made by two case study NHS acute hospital trusts, in their engagement with the AP role. These different choices have consequences for how the AP impacts at the departmental level.

Learner agency and the curriculum: a critical realist perspective

AbstractAgency, understood as the capacity to act independently and to make one's own choices, is considered central to children's development. Thus, education, and hence education curricula, have a role in the development of learner agency. While curriculum development is a key focus for educational theory, research, policy, and classroom practice, the potential implications of curriculum content selections for learner agency remain underexplored. Theoretically, this paper engages with critical realism, explaining how it can provide theoretical foundation for a more comprehensive view of learner agency and, by implication, more balanced curricula. Empirically, the paper draws on the findings from a content analysis of the national curriculum documents of four countries with relatively high scores in international comparative tables, England, Australia, Hong‐Kong, and Canada, to develop a new typology of primary curricula. Based on the extent of emphasis placed on knowledge versus skills, values, and attitudes, three types of curricula were identified: knowledge‐based, skills‐oriented, and learner‐centred. Due to its significant theoretical and practical influence globally, we focus on the knowledge‐based model and its likely impact on students’ agency. We conclude by highlighting the importance of making learner agency a key orientation of the curriculum and suggesting directions for future research.

Small Firms, Institutions and Interactions: Low-Technology Innovations from the Perspective of Critical Realism

Sectors or industries characterized by limited or no use of technology to innovate are called lowtechnology (LT) sectors. They are usually dominated by small firms. Identifying a dearth of academicand practitioner work, this paper helps explain how institutions within a small-firm sector and interactions of these firms with institutions influence the occurrence or non-occurrence of LT innovation. Marble sector firms primarily located in north-west Pakistan have been selected for this purpose. Advocating the need for critical realism that has been an often ignored paradigm in management research, this paper offers a unique perspective on the paradigm's fundamental tenets which are events, objects, mechanisms and causal powers through an extensive and robustqualitative analysis using case study methodology. Findings reveal strong normative and cognitive institutions but weak regulative institutions with varying levels of consistencies or otherwise in terms of small firms' interactions with these institutions. Interestingly, cognitive institutions emerge as the main barrier to LT innovation which is a key contribution of this paper along with a hard tofind critical realist perspective. Keywords: Low-technology innovation, LT innovation, institutions, interactions, critical realism

Rethinking performativity

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to advance a critical realist perspective on performativity and use it to examine how novel conceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have performative effects.Design/methodology/approachTo illustrate how the authors’ critical realist understanding of performativity can play out, the authors offer a field study of an Australian packaging company and engage in retroductive and retrodictive theorising.FindingsIn contrast to most prior accounting research, the authors advance a structuralist understanding of performativity that pays more systematic attention to the causal relationships that underpin performative tendencies. The authors explain how such tendencies are conditioned by pre-existing, social structures, conceptualised in terms of multiple, intersecting norm circles. The authors illustrate their argument empirically by showing how specific conceptions of CSR, centred on the notion of “shared value”, were cemented by the interplay between the causal powers embedded in such norm circles and how this suppressed alternative conceptions of this phenomenon.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings draw attention to the structural boundary conditions under which particular conceptions of CSR can be expected to become performative. Greater attention to such boundary conditions, denoting the social structures that reinforce and counteract performative tendencies, is required to further cumulative, yet context-sensitive, theory development on this topic.Originality/valueThe paper is the first to adopt a critical realist perspective on performativity in the accounting literature. This perspective strikes a middle path between the highly constructivist ontology, adopted in most accounting research concerned with performativity and realist criticisms of this ontological position for de-emphasising the influence of pre-existing, objective realities on performativity.

Leadership practices by senior position holders in Higher Educational Research Institutes: Stealth power in action?

Using the concept of stealth power and a critical realist perspective, this article identifies leadership practices that obscure the centralisation of power, drawing on data from interviews with 25...

Critical realism and performance measurement and management

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of adopting a critical realist position for the study of performance measurement and management (PMM) systems. Design/methodology/approach This paper discusses recent challenges to knowledge creation in PMM, arguing that overcoming these will require revisiting often implicit philosophical assumptions related to how the world is and how we learn about it. A critical realist perspective is explored and illustrated with the case of a software company attempting to empower and motivate its team. Findings Critical realism provides a means of building interdisciplinary knowledge in PMM. In addition to a generative view of causality, critical realism could augment a systems view of PMM by adopting a stratified view of reality and through its applied approach to knowledge building. The case illustrates the RRREIC approach and highlights the interplay of mechanisms of different scales and how this requires interdisciplinarity. Research limitations/implications Approaching the study of PMM with critical realism requires going beyond a particular tool or practice to understand the theory behind it. Such an approach can facilitate a layered, nuanced analysis of the issues facing organizations in a changing context. Originality/value This paper adds to discussion of philosophical topics in management and PMM and could help resolve ongoing challenges to knowledge building in the field, especially around barriers to conducting interdisciplinary research. In combination with rigorous methods, a strong philosophical base can facilitate relevant, lasting theories that can respond to a changing organizational context.

Mainstreaming education for sustainable development: elaborating the role of position-practice systems using seven laminations of scale

ABSTRACTThe United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 proposes that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) should be included at all levels of education, known as ‘mainstreaming’. However, there is little guidance as to how to achieve this. ESD mainstreaming demands more than simply a technical policy transfer; it also requires attention to the position-practice systems of involved agents. This article critically assesses the mainstreaming of ESD in the case of university educators in Africa who have participated in the International Training Programme on ESD in higher education. It clarifies their position-practice systems in terms of Bhaskar’s seven laminations of scale. This article therefore provides a detailed description of the ways in which agents' position-practice systems enable and constrain ESD mainstreaming. It also demonstrates that a critical realist perspective can contribute towards the understanding and achievement of transformation towards sustainability and can help to ensure the flourishing of both current and future generations.

Housing recovery outcomes after typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines: a critical realist perspective

ABSTRACTTyphoon Haiyan damaged around a million houses in the Philippines in November 2013. It especially affected the poor. Using a realist laminated ontology, this paper explains how multiple causal mechanisms triggered unexpected outcomes in the housing recovery programme in the province of Leyte. The proposed causal mechanisms were: the intentional causal agency of the Filipino power elite; the collaboration–competition dilemma among individual agents and social structures; the constraints faced by the National Housing Authority with regards to procurement and budget; unfreedoms for resilient resettlement; secondary side effects of land and resettlement policies; and the under the table practice of bribery. The combination of these multiple causal mechanisms generated emergent outcomes such as low output of permanent post-disaster housing, generic housing solutions that cannot be extended, reproduction of pre-disaster vulnerabilities, recovery of valuable land by the Filipino elite and allocation of public funding to a limited range of recipients.

Voluntary sensemaking: the identity formation process of volunteers in sport organizations

ABSTRACTResearch questionVolunteers are essential to the management of nonprofit community sport organizations (CSOs). Although previous research has focused on the individual or institutional factors that influence volunteerism in these contexts, there has been less attention to how these factors collectively impact group identity formation, which is associated with collective solidarity.Research methodsUsing the theoretical lens of identity work, this case study analyzes this process from a critical realist perspective. Document analysis and a focus group with three paid staff members were used to generate data on the ‘sensebreaking’ and ‘sensegiving’ cues projected by a CSO, and interviews were conducted to understand volunteers’ ‘sensemaking’ of these cues, along with the corollary influence on group identity formation.Results and findingsResults indicate reconciling sport identities and adjusting to formalized tasks were salient ‘sensebreaking’ cues. Moreover, the reputation of the CSO and establishment of role identities were identified as key ‘sensegiving’ mechanisms, while symbols and conviviality among volunteers helped promote collective group identities.ImplicationsThe discussion focuses on the theoretical implications of findings, focusing specifically on the identity work performed by volunteers and group identity formation, and also discusses key implications for practice.

Surviving in the digital era – business models of digital enterprises in a developing economy

PurposeThis study aims to explore the business models and strategies of digital enterprises in a developing economy context to understand the nature of their operations, as well as their survival tactics.Design/methodology/approachA review of literature on digital enterprise models led to the adaptation of a 16 business model archetype for analyzing digital enterprises in Ghana. Using a critical realism perspective, survey data from a sample of 91 digital enterprises were used for the study.FindingsThe findings suggest that among human, physical and intangible assets, financial assets were the least used assets in the operations of the digital enterprises. This stems from the fact that the online financial business sector is still in its nascent stages in most developing economies. The findings further suggest that all digital enterprises leverage on accessible and low-cost social networking services as part of their operations and use them as an avenue to engage with their target customers.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings from this study provide guidelines to entrepreneurs who wish to venture into the digital ecosystem of Ghana, particularly with regard to the economic, financial and technological factors that enable digital enterprises to survive in the competitive digital economy.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that it is important for governments to realize that there is an increasing rise in digital enterprises in the developing economies and these enterprises are creating jobs and providing business solutions locally that would hitherto be sought from developed economies. There is therefore the need for the requisite legal infrastructure and financial support that will cushion these enterprises from the fierce competitions that stagnate their growth.Originality/valueThe study provides a mapping of the digital business models of Ghanaian digital enterprises. This knowledge is arguably the first of its kind in the context of a developing economy. Hence, it serves as a stepping-stone for future studies to explore other areas in the digital economy, especially from a developing economy perspective.

Digitalization mechanisms of health management information systems in developing countries

The developmental potential of IT in developing countries continues to be confronted by enduring problems that hamper both the sustainability of digitalization initiatives and the realization of their expected benefits. Using a critical realist perspective, this paper examines the underlying causal chain of health management information system (HMIS) digitalization in a developing country. The study develops a mechanism-based explanation of the digitalization process drawing on Archer's morphogenetic approach (1995). Four generative mechanisms of HMIS digitalization were identified: projectification, informatization, embedded inscription and scaling. Theoretically, the paper demonstrates the joint value of Archer's structurational theory and the dynamics of interrelated causal mechanisms of digitalization. We offer three insights for ICT4D practice: First, projects as primary modalities for digitalization have created partnership asymmetries between NGO and local institutions hindering sustainable development. Second, lack of formalized arrangements around multi-stakeholder collaboration has led to poor accountability and regulatory environments. Finally, total dependency on external partners as NGO assumes a gap-filling role thereby replacing rather than building local institutional capacity.

Abstractions on steroids: A critical realist approach to computer simulations

AbstractComputer simulations are increasingly used within various fields of the social sciences, including analytical sociology and computational social science. However, the method has yet to fully find its place within critical realism, generally regarded as reductionist and methodological individualist and thus inadequate to the task of grasping the full and enigmatic complexity of social life. This article contributes to the discussion by suggesting an alternative approach to computer simulations in the social realm. Instead of representing reality, simulations are seen as a way of boosting abstraction by enabling us to isolate and study the effects of emergent mechanisms. The need for such tools is growing more urgent in an age characterized by rapid change and global networks of causal interrelation. Hence there is a need not only for new tools to deal with causal complexity within critical realism, but also for a critical realist perspective to fill the meta‐theoretical vacuum on which the simulation approach is largely based. The approach developed here provides a challenge to the predominant ways in which simulations are utilized today, with increasingly sophisticated models aiming towards realistic representation on the basis of empirical data.

Emancipatory marketing and the emancipation of marketing research: a critical realist perspective

ABSTRACT This paper is premised on the call to re-orientate marketing as a contributing social science. It gathers together criticisms of marketing research which identify inconsistencies that prevent our progress. It posits that we are driven to reproduce these inconsistencies because of a closed-system of practice and because of the generative absence of an effective, reflexive and integrative metatheoretical structure. In response to these problems, the paper aims to offer an integrative metatheoretical structure from which to ground our research and intervene in the identified inconsistencies. The paper therefore offers a perspective on the constitution of the world (what exists, its common features, and how it comes to exist), before addressing the terms and conditions on which the world is to be researched and explained. This conceptual contribution employs tools developed in the critical realist philosophy of social science to address: instances of absence within marketing research; and how these instances are generated and reproduced. It then suggests how these absences can be rectified.

228. A qualitative inquiry into women’s preferences for treatment of hypertension in pregnancy

Background National and international clinical practice guidelines recommend two treatment approaches for management of pregnancy hypertension: ‘less tight’ control aiming to minimise antihypertensive therapy, and ‘tight’ control aiming to normalise blood pressure (BP). Consistent with prior small trials, the CHIPS trial (Control of Hypertension In Pregnancy Study) found that ‘tight’ (vs. ‘less tight’) control was associated with lower maternal risk without an increase in perinatal risk. However, treatment choice should reflect both evidence and women’s values, yet, information on the latter is lacking. Objective The study aimed to develop an understanding of what women value when choosing a treatment approach for hypertension in pregnancy. Methods A qualitative approach was used. Semi-structured focus groups and individual interviews were conducted in an iterative fashion, with memoing and debriefing after each group or interview. All interactions were transcribed for thematic analysis grounded in a critical realist perspective. Codes were developed inductively and collected into themes that were reviewed with the research team for face validity. Results Thirteen women participated in two focus groups and five individual interviews. Thematic analysis yielded four themes: - Individualized information. Participants emphasized individualized information and doubted “average” information. - Understanding of pregnancy. Many participants understood pregnancy as a time-limited situation emphasizing infant health during pregnancy and delaying maternal health concerns. - Medication drives preference. Participants varied significantly in willingness to take medication, and desire to avoid medication often drove treatment preference. - Short- vs. long-term risks. Most participants prioritized long-term risks over short-term risks. Additionally, seven attributes were identified as important to consider: likelihood of medication, and caesarean delivery; and risk of severe hypertension throughout pregnancy, preeclampsia, infant being born small for gestational age, and delivery before 34 weeks. Discussion Next steps will be applying these preferences to: (1) determine how patients make trade-offs between attributes; and (2) develop patient-oriented clinical endpoints.