For research
Distinguish ontological subjectivity from epistemic objectivity rather than collapsing “socially constructed” into “unreal.”
Research program 03
Social Ontology and Organizations
How collective recognition and deontic structures constitute firms, opportunities, resources, authority, and coordinated economic action.
Many of the most consequential objects in business are not merely physical objects. Firms, contracts, currencies, positions, ownership, authority, and markets depend on collectively recognized statuses and the rights and duties attached to them.
That dependence does not make them unreal. It gives them a different ontology. The task is to explain how mind-dependent social phenomena can support objective inquiry, stable expectations, coordinated action, and causal consequences.
This program examines social objectivity, deontic binding, organizational agency, resource constitution, firms, opportunities, and the relationship between social ontology and management theory. It supplies the theoretical foundation for the work on entrepreneurship and deontic engineering.
A practical foundation
Why ontology matters
Getting the ontology right changes what researchers measure, what entrepreneurs attempt to construct, and what managers understand themselves to be coordinating.
For organizations
See authority, roles, ownership, and coordinated action as structured social achievements.
For entrepreneurship
Recognize that opportunities and resources can be constituted through changes in belief, agreement, access, and obligation.