The Relationship between Critical Realism and Performance Measurement through Data Envelopment Analysis
Kazim Baris Atici

Abstract
This paper investigates the philosophy of science stream behind Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) modelling, which is widely used for performance assessment of organizational units and presents a discussion of how Critical Realism (CR) philosophy introduced by Roy Bhaskar can be associated with the DEA methodology. As well as being an Operations Research (OR) tool, which is asserted to hold a critical relativist position, it is possible to directly associate Data Envelopment Analysis with Critical Realism. This paper discusses the realist and relativist aspects of Data Envelopment Analysis after discussing the main concepts of CR and its relation with OR.

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