The purpose of this paper is to explore the utility of a pragmatist epistemology as a viable methodological avenue for addressing the challenges associated with the normative models of science that dominate organisational management. At the same time, theorisation of a paradigm grounded in a pragmatic epistemology is presented.
The paper seeks to explore the different assumptions guiding a pragmatist epistemology, based on the development of an alternative philosophic framework, such as an indigenous paradigm that draws its logic from a Māori worldview. In doing so, it counters the ideological tension created by the disjunction of applying an epistemological perspective that aligns with what we conceptualise as a mainstream Western view of knowledge creation and maintaining the integrity of taking an indigenous worldview.
In the paper, we argue that kaupapa Māori research, as an indigenous paradigm draws from a pragmatist epistemology, providing a platform for a culturally attuned response to mainstream organisational research.
The paper is of use to qualitative researchers, in and beyond indigenous contexts, as it grounded in a methodological approach that draws from a pragmatic epistemology offering insightful, more richly contextualised research avenues in organisation and management.
