Abstract This paper focuses on pluralistic research designs in management and organization studies. While advocates often present such approaches as a means of reconciling practical relevance with scientific rigour, their philosophical coherence remains underexplored, particularly in relation to the paradigm debates of the 1980s and 1990s. Our analysis reveals that contemporary pluralistic strategies frequently adopt implicit forms of paradigm integration grounded within a predominately structuralist framework. In contrast, multiparadigm strategies that emphasize interplay also involve paradigm integration but operate within an anti‐structuralist framework. Pluralistic research designs resolve incommensurability by subsuming difference into either structuralism or anti‐structuralism at the substantive level. At the metatheoretical level, scholars therefore confront a dualistic choice between coexisting modes of integration. By conceptualizing pluralistic research designs as particular forms of paradigm integration, we show how it is possible to move beyond the perceived trade‐off between scientific rigour and practical relevance. This approach preserves philosophical coherence while expanding explanatory scope through the translation and incorporation of diverse conceptual resources.
Nicholas Black (Thu,) studied this question.