| Research in MSR has seen substantial development in recent decades with scholars noting “depth and breadth of inquiry resulting in more and higher quality empirical research” (Tackney, Chappell & Sato, 2017, p. 145). However, MSR researchers have more to accomplish to fulfill its early aspirations for academic legitimacy and positive impact on organizational practice. Persistent challenges remain in methodological issues. Much of MSR research is pursued using conventional modes and methodological orthodoxies. There is an over-emphasis in scientific materialism. Tackney, Chappell, Harris, Pavlovich, Egel, Major, Finney and Stoner (2017a, p. 250) quoted Schmidt-Wilk, Heaton, and Steingard: "The current management pedagogy paradigm, rooted in the prevailing view of scientific materialism, has difficulty addressing questions about a more spiritual epistemology. Objectivity-seeking management education … has traditionally excluded 'data' gathered via subjective, inner, emotional, wisdom, or intuitive pathways. … Another modality of knowing besides objectification and abstraction becomes necessary to plumb the inner, subjective depths of our spirituality." This dominant empirical orientation has led to less relevant and less contextualized management theory and investigations (George, 2014). Tackney et al. (2017b, p. 250) argue that “to demonstrate the highest level of rigor and advance the field, MSR research should be explicit in making the link between our ontological beliefs and the kind of knowledge/data that we will use to explore that belief.” Thus, the need for alternative modalities of knowing and closer attention to ontological and epistemological foundations for knowledge claims in MSR research provide the core motivation for this workshop. |