Reconciling History and Organization Theory: Challenges and Prospects of a Hermeneutical Program of Inquiry

• Main Authors: Cemil Ozan Soydemir, Mehmet Erçek
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beta Publishing 2019-04-01
• Series: Yönetim ve Organizasyon Araştırmaları Dergisi
• Subjects: hermeneutics; business history; organization studies; transdisciplinary research; historical methods
• Online Access: http://betadergi.com/yoad/yonetim/icerik/makaleler/58-published.pdf

One of the hottest debates in the past two decades in the business history domain seems to revolve around as to whether organizational theory and history can be reconciled in such a way that one does not prevail over the other. Although recent suggestions display a potential to guide business history scholars, further elaboration on the relationship between history and organization theory is required due to the increasing expectations for theoretical contribution by toptier journals. In this study, we try to reveal the potential contributions of the hermeneutical research method to the above-mentioned debate by unfolding the ontological, epistemological, and methodological similarities between history as a distinct discipline and hermeneutical philosophy. Moreover, with the aim of contributing to the relevant literature, our study lays out the issues that need special consideration while applying the hermeneutical method in business history research.