SHAPING A CONSTRUCTIVIST VIEW OF ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN SCIENCE

Abstract

The so-called rigor–relevance gap appears unbridgeable in the classical view o organization science, which is based on the physical sciences' model. Constructivist scholar have also pointed out a certain inadequacy of this model of science for organization research but they have not offered an explicit, alternative model of science. Responding to this lack, this paper brings together the two separate paradigmati perspectives of constructivist epistemologies and of organizational design science, and show how they could jointly constitute the ingredients of a constructivism-founded scientifi paradigm for organization research. Further, the paper highlights that, in this constructivis view of organizational design science, knowledge can be generated and used in ways that ar mutually enriching for academia and practice.constructivist epistemological paradigms; sciences of the artificial; design sciences;interpretive methods; rigor