I am interested in those who wrote something about designers designing in tune to their worldview / beliefs.
there are many UN-famous researcher, but each has a certain lens to designer's activities. these are who I have read at least one paper from them about design process:
Imre Horvath, Kilian Gericke, Andy Dong, Lucienne Blessing , Amaresh Chakrabarti , Katja Thoring , Maaike Kleinsmann , ...
Dear Ehsan Baha , a related discussion illustrates several names in the field [Link]. https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_theories_must_master_a_PhD_in_Design_What_can_be_considered_the_Design_Science
However, I would like to underline the work beyond the 'scientific' aspects of design and designers, and suggest cultural insights on the subject by Kumar Vyas, S Balaram, Ashok Chatterjee, Lalit Das, Uday Athavankar, Kirti Trivedi, MP Ranjan. All these authors are from India, I am sure many other cultures too have their versions including Japan, Turkey, Iran, Brazil, Italy, Russia, Taiwan etc.
Dr. Ligia Medeiros explores a similar path from Nigel Cross. But some of her publications are in Portuguese
Maybe this TEDx video of Tim Brown, CEO of www.ideo.com and www.ideo.org can help to understand design thinking.
Most scolars in this field gather in the Design Thinking Research Symposium:
http://dtrs12.com/history/
I would scan their proceedings to find out who relates to your question.
I'd probably also look at the work of Erik Stolterman (although this might classify more as design philosophy).
It depends also on what day your interests and work are related to - yesterday or tomorrow. And determined with this, you will find the authors yourself.
Continuing the list by @Britta Boyer, please add the names of Ezio Manzini, John Thackara and Arturo Escobar. They are turning the way we look at design, and designers can think, upside down.
I would also add Philip Cash and Melanie Kreye to this list. Their work on uncertainty perceptions as a driver of designer activity is quite interesting, among other work they have produced separately and together. Cash's writing on theory in design research is an important perspective.
I have a few of my favorites due to their contribution to the paradigm of Design Cognition.
John S. Gero, Gabriela Goldschmidt, Kristina Höök, M Hassenzahl
Very scientific (the former two) and more pragmatic (the latter two).