Purposivism: A critical realist research approach for purposive system change

Many of the greatest challenges facing humanity span techno-economic, social and political systems. Positivist and interpretivist research provides important insights, but neither has so far enabled us to collectively find the answers to these “wicked” problems. An alternative research approach of “purposivism” based on a critical realist ontology, pluralist epistemology, systems thinking, and abductive / retroductive research methods is proposed. While there are examples in literature of elements of this being used to affect change in individual organizations and practice areas, there are few examples of their application to the purposive transition of complex systems, and no examples found of them being applied together as an integrated research approach. Learnings from the application of purposivism to the case of road freight decarbonization in the United Kingdom are drawn. Based on this experience, it is proposed that purposivism provides a more practically helpful basis than positivism or interpretivism for the study and advancement of purposive system change. The paper concludes by summarizing contributions and limitations of the work conducted, and opportunities to further develop and apply purposivism.