The material turn in organizational studies: contributions from “On Justification”

Abstract This essay aims to contribute to the debate on the so-called “material turn” in social sciences, more specifically, to sociomateriality in organizational studies, including spatiality. We advocate the proposition of the theory of justification that states that the moments of dispute experienced in organizations are not limited to speeches but use objects and spaces to reaffirm their action logic. The theory of justification is approached considering its application in organizational studies, emphasizing the engagement of objects, things, and spaces that are activated in moments of dispute or test situations in organizations, contributing to the advances of this perspective of analysis. The study offers a perspective that adds to existing research on sociomateriality in organizational studies at different levels of analysis. After discussing the theory of justification, its moral logics, sociomateriality, and space in organizational studies, we show correlated studies and point out paths and reflections for a research agenda on the subject. The debate helps to understand the interaction of materiality with cognition, discourse, and behavior in different organizational dynamics.摘要 本文旨在参与社会科学领域关于所谓的"物质转向（material turn）"的学术辩论，更具体地聚焦组织研究中的社会物质性（sociomateriality）议题，涵盖空间性（spatiality）维度。本文提出证成理论（theory of justification）的核心命题：组织内发生的争议时刻，其表现形式并非仅局限于言语交锋，还会借助物体与空间来重申自身的行动逻辑。本文结合证成理论在组织研究中的应用展开探讨，重点关注在组织争议或检验情境中被激活的物体、事物与空间的介入作用，以此推动该分析视角的发展。本研究提供的全新视角，可丰富不同分析层级下组织研究领域中关于社会物质性的既有研究成果。在系统探讨证成理论、其道德逻辑、组织研究中的社会物质性与空间性之后，本文梳理了相关研究脉络，并指明了该主题下研究议程（research agenda）的推进路径与思考方向。本次学术探讨有助于理解不同组织动态（organizational dynamics）下，物质性与认知、话语及行为之间的互动关系。