Implementing the Process Tracing Technique using Combinatory Categorial Grammars: An Application to the Analysis of Economic Coordination within Firms

Bruno Braga

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: This paper describes a method for analyzing the evolutionary path of a complex, dynamic, and contingent social phenomenon. Given empirical evidence of a surprising or anomalous fact that contradicts a widely acknowledged theory, the aim is to create a plausible explanation based on its context of occurrence, taking a holistic and historical point of view. The procedure begins by translating theoretical propositions into grammar rules that describe patterns of sequences of either individual actions or interactions carried out by a stable community of actors, such as types of decision-making events. Subsequently, applying a process tracing technique based on the logic of retroduction creates an extension of this initial process category, relying on configurations of contextual conditions that acknowledge the surprising fact as a new event outcome in a specific empirical setting. Finally, a structural comparison between pairs of representative instances may lead to the refinement of the theory.

Keywords: Critical Realism; Configurational Analysis; Generative Social Science; Pragmatism; Theory of the Firm. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-05-31, Revised 2023-05-31
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo
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