Advancing a Morphogenetic Understanding of Organisational Behaviour: An Investigation into the Psychological Mechanisms and Organisational Behavioural Tendencies of Autonomous Reflexivity

It has been argued that the inertial forces of traditional societies are being gradually eroded under the weight of the destabilising forces imbued in nascent globalisation. For the new cosmopolitans of late modernity, this means that forging a sense of self is therefore becoming increasingly a reflexive project. This thesis celebrates reflexivity as an emergent human power. Three dominant modes of human reflexivity have been identified; communicative, autonomous, meta. Fractured reflexivity on the other hand is considered as non-reflexive. Moreover, the contextual discontinuity favoured by late modern societies appears to be selective, conditioning structural circumstances in favour of autonomous reflexivity in mainstream organisations.
In the first instance, the findings of this thesis expose the fragility of the internal reliability of the measurement models of the modes of Archer’s internal conversation index (ICONI). Secondly, drawing on the resources of critical realism, this thesis’ further contribution to knowledge is in revealing the positive psychological resources associated with an autonomous reflexivity intervention. By adopting an evidence-based realist review followed in sequence by a large scale survey and structural equation modelling, the findings suggest that autonomous reflexivity potentially holds the key to unlocking the resources that underlie positive psychological capital (PsyCap). In turn, PsyCap seems to operate in the intervening space between internal conversation and action accounting for the positive sense of self associated with autonomous reflexivity.
However, autonomous reflexivity does not mean unrestricted homo economicus, rather it means the search for congruence between a particular modus vivendi and a meaningful work context. Thus, this thesis also shows that autonomous reflexivity and the experience of contextual discontinuity at work share in a reciprocal relationship. Such congruency translates into positive organisational outcomes at the individual level albeit with the tendency to be mediated by positive PsyCap.