Abstract

Governance theorists, rooted in transaction cost economics (TCE), tend to integrate the issues of knowledge-based views (KBV) into their theory development, and then knowledge governance approach (KGA) emerges. Since relying upon two underlying assumptions -rational information processing perspective and distinct microfoundations, KGA advocates have confronted with the challenge in respective of philosophical and practice issues. Relying on the explanation model advocated by James Coleman, KGA theorists face a dilemma of accepting methodological individualism or committing logical fallacies. Since the theoretical and practical foundations are not revisited through deliberating the underlying philosophy and addressing the arguable fundamental issues, the attempt at explaining organizational phenomena across different levels and integrating TCE and KBV has not succeeded yet. In this article, we attempt to provide an activity-based perspective (ABP) for some reorientation of the philosophical stands in organization studies, to build up the ontological and epistemological foundations of activity, and to situate the contextualized activities at the core of theoretical development. We, then, discuss issues of underlying philosophical positions and the theoretical reconstruction of knowledge governance, and finally conclude with implications of the new perspective for organization study.  

Keywords

knowledge governance microfoundations activity-based perspective