Methodological Decolonisation and Local Epistemologies in Business Ethics Research

Obaa Akua Konadu-Osei, Smaranda Boroş, Anita Bosch

Journal of Business Ethics · 2023 · Volume 186 · Issue 1

Abstract

This paper contributes to the discussion on methodological decolonisation in business ethics research by illustrating how local epistemologies can shape methodology. Historically, business ethics research has been dominated by Western methodologies, which have been argued to be restrictive and limit contextually relevant theorising in non-Western contexts. Over the past decade, scholarship has called for more diversity in research methods and epistemologies. This paper regards arguments founded along neatly divided universalist versus contextualised methodologies as a false dilemma. Instead, we explore howubuntu, a sub-Saharan African epistemology, can contribute as a complementary epistemology and methodology to interpretivism when conducting business ethics research in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper discusses four aspects—research agenda, access, power relations, and context-sensitive methods—that highlight practical ways in whichubuntuepistemology, with its communitarian and relational underpinnings, can enhance business ethics research. We illustrate that methodological decolonisation can be achieved by fusing relevant elements of local epistemologies and methodologies and conventional methodologies to generate context-relevant research approaches.

Keywords

Business ethics research, Decolonising research, Governance research, Interpretivism, Local epistemologies, Ubuntu

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