Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, and Lowe (2002) suggested using positivism, relativism,
or social constructionism for management research. I chose social constructivism based
on the explanation of these authors that "constructionist research designs start from the assumptions that there is no absolute truth, and the job of the researcher should be to
establish how various claims for truth and reality become constructed in everyday life"
(p. 93). The implication of using the social constructionist paradigm to understanding the
phenomenon of self-leadership in cross-cultural contexts is that reality is not always
objective, but is socially created and given meaning by people (p. 59). Esterby-Smith et
al. explained, "The task of the social scientist should not be to gather facts and measure
how often certain patterns occur, but to appreciate the different constructions and
meanings that people place upon their experience" (p. 59).