CALL FOR PAPERS ON PRAGMATIC CONSTRUCTIVISM AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF ORGANISED REALITY
This conference stream, inspired by the paradigm of Pragmatic Constructivism, invites scholars to explore how people create functioning reality construction through their everyday narrations and actions.
Pragmatic Constructivism holds the idea that actors continuously engage in activities through which they construct their relationships to the world (Nørreklit, L. 2017; Nørreklit et al.2010; 2016). A functioning reality construct emerges from the complex interconnections between actors and the phenomena they encounter, ranging from physical and social constructs to personal thoughts, emotions, and actions. The actors’ activities manifest as practices.
In this context, human beings organize their practices around the use of language games, in which language and action form an inseparable whole (Nørreklit et al. 2016; Nørreklit, L., 2017, 2020; Nørreklit, H, 2017). Guided by their intentional values, actors in local practices construct their relationships with the world through a set of narrations that give direction for actions. However, the success of a narration depends on its ability to create a reality construction that creates intentional results – that is, to function pragmatically. Yet, not all narrations are equally effective. For them to serve as sound foundations for coordinated and purposeful action, they must integrate four dimensions of reality: they should be aligned with the actors’ motivational values, grounded in adequate factual possibilities of the world, and communicated in ways that foster shared understanding and coordination (Nørreklit et al., 2016; Nørreklit, L., 2017, 2020; Nørreklit, H, 2017).
For understanding, analysing and guiding how actors construct a successful actor-world relationship integrating the four dimensions of reality, pragmatic constructivism offers several conceptual fundamentals. These include: the notion of practice constructed through actorship and co-authorship (Nørreklit, L., 2017) and epistemic methods (Trenca and Nørreklit, 2017; Nørreklit and Trenca, 2021).; principles for establishing construct causality (Nørreklit et al. 2016); facts as credible claims grounded in evidence, possibilities involving cognitive skills of reflections, and values as constituted through processes of evaluation(Nørreklit, L., 2017; Nørreklit, L. et al., 2024); principles for ensuring conceptual quality in management and measurement frameworks (Nørreklit et al. 2016; Nøreeklit L. et al. 2024); and an integrative learning theory of truth involving a learning circle between proactive truth and pragmatic truth (Nørreklit, L. 2017; Nørreklit H., 2017; Nørreklit et al.2010; 2016; Mitchell, et al., 2021).
Accordingly, we invite contributions that explore how (dys-)functional practices are constructed, with particular attention to their underlying methods and techniques. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Pragmatic constructivism as a foundation for analysing and developing ethical, sustainable, and human-centric collaboration across cultural and organizational contexts;
- Performance management supporting human, organizational, social, and environmental flourishing;
- Epistemic methods of performance management and their (dys-)functional effects on organizational, social, and environmental realities;
- Language games and language plays fostering creativity, collaboration and the construction of (dys-)functional practices in complex and crisis contexts;
- Developing accounting and reporting practices for fuller managerial accountability in the construction of sustainability;
- Digitalization and AI languages transforming epistemic methods of accounting and reshaping the construction of organizational realities;
- Accounting for value construction and its implication for responsible management and governance;
- Values as a part of management control and thus as drivers for functioning practices and successful organizational life;
- Methodological innovations for studying language games and actor–reality construction, and for exploring “what to do?” language games that challenge conventional management thinking.
Contacts:
– Pinar Guven-Uslu, University of East Anglia, UK (p.guven@uea.ac.uk)
– Tuomas Korhonen, Tampere University, Finland (tuomas.korhonen@tuni.fi)
– Fabio Magnacca, University of Pisa, Italy (fabio.magnacca@unipi.it)
– Hanne Nørreklit, Aarhus University, DK, and Scuola Superiore Sant’ Anna, Italy (hannenorreklit@gmail.com)
Extended abstracts or full papers should be submitted through the Management Control Association Website by 28th February 2026 following the links to 2026 Conference and paper submission. Decisions will be sent out during March 2026. The file name should be in the format: abstracttheauthorssurname.docx (or pdf) or fullpapertheauthorssurname.docx (or pdf). 30th April 2026 is the deadline for full papers.
To get more information about the 40th Anniversary Management Control Conference and associated call for papers, please visit here: Management Control Association.
Key references:
Nørreklit, H., Nørreklit, L., Mitchell, F. (2010). Towards a Paradigmatic Foundation for Accounting Practice. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 23(6). 733-758.
Nørreklit, H., Nørreklit, L., Mitchell, F. (2016). Understanding practice generalisation—opening the research/practice gap. Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, 13(3), 278–302.
Nørreklit, H. (2017). A philosophy of management accounting: A pragmatic constructivist approach. Taylor & Francis.
Nørreklit, L. (2017). Actor–reality construction. In A philosophy of management accounting (pp. 23–71). Routledge.
Nørreklit, L. (2021). A Pragmatic Constructivist Perspective on Language Game, 10,1, https://doi.org/10.7146/propracon.v10i1.119252
Nørreklit, H., Trenca, M. (2021). Performance management in a milieu of customer participatory measurement: Beyond the ratings and rankings of strictly come dancing. The British Accounting Review, 53(6), 100873.
Mitchell, F., Nørreklit, H., Nørreklit, L., Cinquini, L., Koeppe, F., Magnacca, F., … & Liboriussen, J. M. (2021). Evaluating performance management of COVID-19 reality in three European countries: a pragmatic constructivist study. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 34(6), 1345-1361.
Nørreklit, L., Nørreklit, H., Cinquini, L., Mitchell, F. (2024). Accounting for a better world: towards a conceptual framework to enable corporate reporting to contribute to the sustainability of the good life. Meditari Accountancy Research, 32 (5), 1608–1640.