The ontological and epistemological turn in organisation studies

Alejandra Moreno-López and Juan Emilio Torres

International Journal of Management and Decision Making, 2020, vol. 19, issue 4, 408-425

Abstract: A change in the way of thinking about organisations has given rise to a plethora of theoretical debates seeking to explore the duality in the understanding of organisations as entities or as the continuous flux of organisational life, and has produced changes in the dominant ontological and epistemological assumptions of organisation studies. To shed a light on this field of studies, this narrative literature review examines these changes, from the acceptance of an organisation as an entity to that of a flexible, constantly changing organisation, and from simplifying to complexifying theories. Finally, it aims to contribute to enriching the theoretical development by recognising the importance of the underlying complexity in human action and of the situational and the unique that emerge within organisational phenomena.

Keywords: organisation studies; ontological turn; epistemological turn; complexity; literature review. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijmdma:v:19:y:2020:i:4:p:408-425

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