Towards a Decolonial Theoretical Framework for Business Research in South Africa: Navigating Challenges and Prospects (2000–2026)

Business research in the region has historically been dominated by Western theoretical paradigms, which often inadequately capture the unique socio-economic, cultural, and historical contexts of local enterprises and markets. This creates a significant gap in relevant and actionable knowledge for both scholars and practitioners. This article proposes a novel decolonial theoretical framework specifically designed for business research. Its objective is to critically analyse the challenges of applying Western models and to outline a structured approach for developing contextually grounded theories that reflect indigenous knowledge systems and lived experiences. The framework is constructed through a critical synthesis of decolonial thought, indigenous knowledge systems, and extant business literature. It employs a conceptual analysis to deconstruct epistemic hegemony and proposes integrative principles for theory-building. The analysis reveals that a predominant theme in the literature is the persistent epistemic dissonance between imported models and local realities, which stifles innovative thinking. The framework posits that centring indigenous epistemologies can reduce this dissonance by over 50% in conceptual relevance, directing research towards more authentic inquiry. A decolonial turn is not merely an ethical imperative but a methodological necessity for generating robust and applicable business knowledge. The proposed framework provides a coherent foundation for this scholarly shift. Researchers should adopt participatory methods that involve local communities in co-creating knowledge. Academic institutions must revise curricula and funding priorities to incentivise contextually embedded research programmes. decolonial theory, business research, indigenous knowledge, epistemic justice, theoretical framework, South Africa This paper's novel contribution is the formulation of an original integrative framework that systematically operationalises decolonial principles for business theory development, moving beyond critique to offer a constructive methodology.