Paride Del Grosso
University of Antwerp
Evidence-based management (EBMgt) is an approach to management of the organisations (companies, schools, hospitals, etc.) according to which managerial decisions – e.g. implementing remote working in order to improve employees’ welfare – should be based on the best available evidence. In fact, an evidential basis increases the chances that the outcomes of these decisions will occur. The evidence required in EBMgt is often evidence of causation, because managers want to know in advance whether their decision will actually cause the intended outcome. Indeed, having evidence of such a causal link prevents inefficiencies (e.g. resource wasting). Hence, what counts as the best evidence to establish causal relations is clearly a central issue in EBMgt. To investigate this issue, I adopt the perspective of Evidential Pluralism (EP). EP is the epistemological thesis that, in order to establish a causal relation between a cause (A) and its effect (B), one needs first to establish (i) a proper correlation between A and B, and (ii) the existence of a mechanism complex involving A which is responsible for B and which can account for the extent of the correlation. To do this, one respectively needs evidence of correlation and mechanistic evidence. In this paper, I argue that applying EP would improve EBMgt. I substantiate this by considering two case studies. The first case study relates to a school principal who wants to improve students’ performances, since they are below the national average. The second case study concerns a CEO that wants to stop the high turnover rate in their company (too many employees leave the company a short time after being hired). To conclude, I point out the advantages of applying EP to EBMgt: it increases the reliability of causal inferences and it renders managerial decisions more effective – e.g. it improves their outcomes while reducing the risks – and efficient – e.g. it optimises time and reduces resource wasting.
Chair: Niklas Parwez
Time: September 11th, 17:40 – 18:10
Location: SR 1.004 (online)
SOPhiA 2026 