Causal Mapping: An Historical Overview

Abstract

In this chapter, I provide an historical overview of the use of causal mapping, and its migration from political science to organization theory, and more recently into research efforts in Information Technology (IT). Since this migration has brought in its wake a diversity of perspectives and approaches, a secondary objective of this chapter is to sketch this diversity. I discuss the diversity in perspectives, research contexts and focus. Three perspectives (social constructionist, objectivist, and expert-anchored), four research contexts (discovery, hypothesis testing, evocative and intervention) and three types of foci (content, structure and behavior) are summarized.