City Research Online

Abstract

Abductive theory building holds much promise for management research. Unlike induction and deduction, abductive theorizing begins with a surprising fact or ‘mystery’ that cannot be accounted in extant knowledge stocks. However, emergent debates about its utility in management research risk becoming polarized, with some scholars promoting abduction as creative guesswork on the one hand (or what we term uncoupled abduction) and others calling for more disciplined programmatic rigour on the other hand (or what we term tightly coupled abduction). Both poles are problematic. In this Point essay, we develop a middle ground, which we term loosely coupled abduction. It benefits from both creative curiosity and programmatic rigour without succumbing to their respective disadvantages in theory construction. We go on to explore the implications of loosely coupled abduction for building new knowledge in management and organization studies.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Fleming, P. & Oswick, C. (2025). Advancing Abductive Theory Building: Balancing Creative Curiosity and Programmatic Rigour Through ‘Loosely Coupled Abduction’. Journal of Management Studies, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.70034. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.
Publisher Keywords:	abduction, disciplined imagination, loosely coupled abduction, positivism, theory construction
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Departments:	Bayes Business School Bayes Business School > Faculty of Management
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

Export

Downloads