Implementing the Process Tracing Technique using Combinatory Categorial Grammars: An Application to the Analysis of Economic Coordination within Firms

This paper describes a method for analyzing the evolutionary path of a complex, dynamic, and contingent social phenomenon. Given empirical evidence of a surprising or anomalous fact that contradicts a widely acknowledged theory, the aim is to create a plausible explanation based on its context of occurrence, taking a holistic and historical point of view. The procedure begins by translating theoretical propositions into grammar rules that describe patterns of sequences of either individual actions or interactions carried out by a stable community of actors, such as types of decision-making events. Subsequently, applying a process tracing technique based on the logic of retroduction creates an extension of this initial process category, relying on configurations of contextual conditions that acknowledge the surprising fact as a new event outcome in a specific empirical setting. Finally, a structural comparison between pairs of representative instances may lead to the refinement of the theory.