Exploring the topology of the plausible: Fs/QCA counterfactual analysis and the plausible fit of unobserved organizational configurations

摘要

In sum, the main aim of this contribution is to expand the dominant rationale of organizational design research by including solutions and possibilities not observed in reality. We believe that the counterfactual approach to configurations responds to an open call in organization theory and strategy to move the modelling of fit towards a more robust and theory-based specification (e.g. Drazin and Van de Ven, 1985). With this new approach we propose to rediscover the roots of organization design as a distinct normative discipline that 'should stand approximately in relation to the basic social sciences as engineering stands with respect to physical sciences or medicine to the biological' (Thompson, 1956: 103).