A note on idealism and realism: for MBA students

A note on idealism and realism: for MBA students

 

In the context of studying Research Methods by MBA students, highlight 4 main ideas on (1) idealism and (2) realism. Also clarify whether idealism and interpretivism are the same and whether realism and positivism are the same.

First distinction: ontology vs epistemology

For MBA research, separate ontology—what you believe reality is—from epistemology—how you think knowledge about that reality can be gained. Idealism and realism mainly address ontology; interpretivism and positivism mainly guide how researchers seek and justify knowledge.

Idealism: 4 main ideas

1.    Reality is mind-dependent. What people experience as “social reality” is shaped by consciousness, ideas, perceptions, and meanings rather than existing wholly apart from people?

2.    Meanings matter more than physical facts alone. For example, an “excellent customer experience” is not merely a service-time metric; it depends on how customers interpret courtesy, trust, value, and fairness.

3.    Multiple understandings can coexist. A manager, employee, and customer may give different but meaningful accounts of the same organisational change.

4.    Research explores sense-making. Interviews, observations, and analysis of language or narratives can help investigate how people construct and experience a phenomenon.

Realism: 4 main ideas

1.    Reality exists independently of the researcher. Organisations, market conditions, policies, and causal structures do not disappear because someone interprets them differently.

2.    What we observe is not all that exists. In critical realism, observable events may be generated by deeper mechanisms—for instance, incentive structures, power relations, or resource constraints.

3.    Knowledge is fallible. Researchers can investigate reality, but conclusions remain open to revision because methods, data, and interpretation are imperfect.

4.    The aim is explanation, not only description. A realist MBA study might ask not just whether employee turnover rose, but what underlying organisational mechanisms produced it.

Are they the same?

Pair	Same?		Key clarification
Pair		Same?		Key clarification
Idealism and interpretivism		No		Idealism is chiefly an ontological claim about the mind- or meaning-dependent nature of reality. Interpretivism is chiefly an epistemological approach that seeks to understand the subjective meanings people attach to actions and experiences. They often fit together, but one does not automatically require the other.
Realism and positivism		No		Realism claims an external reality exists. Positivism adds a stronger claim that reliable knowledge is gained through objective observation, measurement, repeatability, and often hypothesis testing. Critical realism accepts a real external world while also accepting that knowledge is socially shaped and incomplete. files.