Evaluating qualitative management research: Towards a contingent criteriology

The term qualitative management research embraces an array of non‐statistical research practices. Here it is argued that this diversity is an outcome of competing philosophical assumptions which produce distinctive research perspectives and legitimate the appropriation of different sets of evaluation criteria. Some confusion can arise when evaluation criteria constituted by particular philosophical conventions are universally applied to this heterogeneous management field. In order to avoid such misappropriation, this paper presents a first step towards a contingent criteriology located in a metatheoretical analysis of three modes of qualitative management research which are compared with the positivist mainstream to elaborate different forms of evaluation. It is argued that once armed with criteria that vary accordingly, evaluation can reflexively focus upon the extent to which any management research consistently embraces the particular methodological principles that are sanctioned by its a priori philosophical commitments.     

Household‐Level Coastal Adaptation and Its Drivers: A Systematic Case Study Review

Evidence‐based information on household‐level adaptation is an important element of integrated management of vulnerable coastal regions. A growing number of empirical studies deal with household‐level adaptation at the coast in different regions. This article provides a systematic review of these studies. We analyze studies according to how households in different parts of the world are currently adapting, or how they are intending to adapt, and identify explanatory factors for adaptation behavior and intention. We find that households implement a broad range of adaptation measures and that adaptation behavior is explained by individual factors such as socioeconomic and cognitive variables, experience, and perceived responsibilities. Nonpersonal characteristics have also been used to explain adaptation behavior and intention but have not been extensively investigated. Few studies employ qualitative research methods and use inductive approaches as well as models stemming from behavioral economics. Our findings suggest that coastal risk management policies should communicate the efficacy of household‐level adaptation, in addition to information about flood risk, in order to encourage coastal households in their adaptation activities. In this context, we discuss the role of resources and responsibility of households for their adaptation behavior. We describe the lessons learnt and formulate a research agenda on household‐level adaptation to coastal flood risk. In practice, coastal risk management policies should further promote individually driven adaptation by integrating it in adaptation strategies and processes.     

Eliciting Metaphor through Clean Language: An Innovation in Qualitative Research

This paper shows how an innovative method of questioning called Clean Language can enhance the authenticity and rigour of interview‐based qualitative research. We investigate the specific potential of Clean Language as a method for eliciting naturally occurring metaphors in order to provide in‐depth understanding of a person's symbolic world; despite substantial interest in metaphors in the field of organizational and management research there is a lack of explicit, systematic methods for eliciting naturally occurring metaphors. We also demonstrate how Clean Language can improve qualitative research more widely by addressing the propensity for researchers inadvertently to introduce extraneous metaphors into an interviewee's account at both data collection and interpretation stages. Data are presented from a collaborative academic–practitioner project in which Clean Language was used as a method of interviewing to elicit the metaphors of six mid‐career managers, relating to the way they experienced work–life balance. The first contribution of this paper is to demonstrate the potential of Clean Language for eliciting naturally occurring metaphors in order to provide in‐depth understanding of a person's symbolic world. The second contribution is to show how Clean Language can enhance the rigour and authenticity of interview‐based qualitative research more widely.     

Contextualist-retroductive case study design for strategic asset management research

Abstract

This paper develops a tailored case study design for strategic asset management research. It draws on the notions of ‘contextualist approach’ and ‘retroductive strategy’ used in case study research, and follows the multiple embedded-case design advocated within qualitative research. Using a published asset management research study as a primer, it demonstrates the application of the proposed research design and its methodological rigour. This research design could serve as a reference framework, as well as a research instrument, for guiding asset management research. As such, it facilitates the development of theory that accounts for the multi-faceted nature and current priorities of asset management. Overall, this research design helps determine what activities to be incorporated into an asset management program to enhance an organization’s ability to capture value from its operations system. In so doing, it promotes a holistic perspective on asset management that is currently lacking in the literature.     

Management Consulting: Towards an Integrative Framework of Knowledge,Identity, and Power

This paper reviews the past 28 years of scholarship on management consulting to synthesize the field and establish more broadly its contribution to management research. Through a systematic review of 219 articles, we identify three core conceptual themes – knowledge, identity, and power – that have dominated the literature to date. Through a thematic inductive analysis of a subsection of articles, we then investigate how these themes have been defined, used, and linked. This allows us to uncover and problematize the relationships between these themes. In making explicit underlying theoretical assumptions and relationships between knowledge, identity, and power, we induce a unique framework that can guide and support future studies, instigate metaparadigmatic dialogue, and thus help consolidate the field.     

The use of qualitative case studies in top business and management journals: A quantitative analysis of recent patterns

The use of case studies as qualitative research strategy in social sciences seems to have increased recently, but there are no studies that empirically verify such claim. By explicitly focusing on the field of business and management studies, we aim to investigate the extent of publication and the main features of qualitative case studies published in the 20 highest impact factor business and management journals. The paper discusses the correlation between a journal's ranking and the extent of case studies it published, and between selected features of case studies (e.g. research purpose, design and data sources). Moreover, we shed light on how the identified features of a case study impact its probability of being published.Methodologically, we analyse by means of correlation and regression statistics, as well as clustering techniques a total of 19 features in the 352 qualitative case studies published between 2002 and 2011 in our sample of top business and management journals.     

Putting consumer behaviour in its place: the Behavioural Perspective Model research programme

Consumer research remains overwhelmingly cognitive in orientation, partly because its apparent underlying philosophical stance usually goes unremarked and unchallenged. In so far as scientific progress relies on the interaction of competing theories, consumer research is impoverished by too great a reliance on a single approach to theory. This paper proposes an alternative to the prevailing 'intentional stance' on which consumer research predominantly rests; the 'contextual stance' eschews the intentionality of the cognitive explanations of consumer choice, substituting for it an account of behaviour determined by its environmental consequences. As a prelude to the interactive debate that these competing stances will hopefully engender, the paper demonstrates that the contextual stance is a viable strategy for consumer research. The contextual strategy leads to an alternative model of consumer choice to those based on social cognitive psychology. It is argued that this model of consumer choice in behavioural perspective provides a thoroughgoing conceptual reinterpretation of consumer behaviour and marketing management as currently envisaged.     

Managing digital transformation during re-internationalization: Trajectories and implications for performance

This paper contributes to our theoretical understanding of how SMEs digitally transform during re-internationalization. We conducted qualitative, multiple-case studies into re-internationalization processes across 11 Chinese international SMEs. Using inductive data analysis, we identify two types of digital transformation, operational and strategic, and trajectories during re-internationalization. The complexity of digital transformation in re-internationalization is delineated by the intricate tensions between strategic digital transformation and new product development. Firm re-internationalization performance can plausibly be differentiated by how these tensions are managed.     

The relevance of research on statistical process control to the total quality movement

We review the history of statistical process control research from its origins at Bell Laboratories with Shewhart in 1924 up to the present and integrate it with the history of the larger total quality management movement that emerged from these same statistical process control origins. The original research was very philosophical and very practical and is still implemented today. Our view is that the majority of the enormous research literature after Duncan's 1956 seminal paper on optimal design of control charts has had little practical relevance. The research formulations became more mechanical, less philosophical and less practical. We explore the reasons for this and make suggestions for new research directions. We also propose changes in the supporting industry-university relationships to facilitate a program of more relevant research in statistical process control.     

Methodology‐as‐Technique and the Meaning of Rigour in Globalized Management Research

This paper analyses the genre of ‘methodology‐as‐technique’, which we suggest provides the underpinning logic for a particular conception of scientific rigour that is increasingly regarded as normal in globalized management research. Based on a qualitative interview study of management researchers in the peripheral context of India, we associate the methodology‐as‐technique genre with social scientific methods of organizing, conducting and disseminating knowledge founded on Western neo‐imperialism and colonialism. Our analysis draws attention to the consequences of the genre of methodology‐as‐technique which relate to a narrowing and displacement of research goals, erasure of context, and devaluation and marginalization of alternatives. By providing insight into how methodology‐as‐technique comes to dominate in peripheral locations such as India, we suggest that these normative constraints also present an opportunity for denaturalization, by making what is increasingly seen as normal appear alien or strange. We conclude by arguing that countering restrictive definitions of rigour in management research relies on development of a more expansive and inclusive conception of the global that fosters indigenous ways of knowing and promotes decolonizing methodologies.     

With a little help from my fans: the transformative role of the consumer in music co-production

This paper examines how the transformative role of the consumer in co-production is affecting key stakeholders within the music industry. The study explores the changing consumer role in co-production, how it is affecting content quality, the implications for music artists and record labels, and how they are approaching (and should approach) co-production. The research methodology consists of a three-stage interview design of 52 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with senior members of music organisations (including artist managers and major labels). An inductive, data-driven four-phase constant comparison analysis technique is used to analyse the data. The findings contribute to the co-production research domain by offering new insights from a music industry context and presenting new theoretical models for how co-production is affecting industry stakeholders. Implications for industry, policy and future research are also provided.     

A dynamic perspective on the resilience of firms: A systematic literature review and a framework for future research

This study aims to answer the following research question: how is the resilience of firms defined in the business and management field? In doing so, we answer recent calls for research about a more thorough conceptualisation of the resilience of firms and its definition. We conducted a systematic literature review of 66 selected papers published between 2000 and 2017. By means of inductive content analysis, we analyse the definitions of ‘resilience’ and elaborate a novel conceptual framework that introduces a dynamic perspective on the resilience of firms. The proposed framework overcomes existing definitional fragmentation and raises awareness of the temporal dimension in the conceptualisation of the resilience of firms. We contribute to extant business and management literature on the resilience of firms by proposing a model that articulates two main paths for explaining organisational resilience, i.e. absorptive resilience and adaptive resilience paths. We also identify a set of key capabilities needed to be successfully resilient at the different stages of the two paths.     

Reporting and Justifying the Number of Interview Participants in Organization and Workplace Research

In this paper we examine established practice regarding the reporting, justification and number of interview participants chosen within organization and workplace studies. For such qualitative research there is a paucity of discussion across the social sciences, the topic receiving far less attention than its centrality warrants. We analysed 798 articles published in 2003 and 2013 in ten top and second tier academic journals, identifying 248 studies using at least one type of qualitative interview. Participant numbers were contingent on characteristics of the population from which they were chosen and approach to analysis, but not the journal, its tier, editorial base or publication year, the interview type or its duration. Despite lack of transparency in reporting (23.4% of studies did not state participant numbers) we reveal a median of 32.5 participants, numbers ranging from one to 330, and no justification for participant numbers in over half of studies. We discuss implications and, recognizing that different philosophical commitments are likely to imply differing norms, offer recommendations regarding reporting, justification and number of participants. Acknowledging exceptions, dependent upon study purpose and data saliency, these include an organization and workplace research norm of 15?60 participants, alongside credible numbers for planning interview research.     

Theory Development in Operations Management: Extending the Frontiers of a Mature Discipline via Qualitative Research

This invited paper discusses theory development in operations management. Many stellar researchers have made excellent contributions to theory development in our field. Operations management is a maturing discipline. Recently, theory driven empirical research has become common in top‐tier journals in our field. Impelled by this trend and due to the path dependency of research, in general, researchers have examined operations phenomena using theories from management and organizational science. How do we extend the frontiers of knowledge in our maturing discipline? How do we develop theories within the field of operations management? In examining some of the seminal ideas that have shaped our field, a common characteristic is that they relied on observational studies and conceptual reasoning. Is it time for us to stress the usefulness of qualitative research methods in our field? Could this lead to an intellectual renewal in our field and extend the frontier of a maturing discipline? This paper explores these questions and advances the notion that qualitative analysis needs to be emphasized more than it has been in recent past. This paper is meant to provoke discussion among empirical researchers in operations management.     

Towards better understanding and narrowing of the science–practice gap: A practitioner-centered approach to management knowledge creation

The lack of mutual communication and collaboration between academic research and management practice, and the limited implementation of the research findings in strategic and tactical decision-making in practice settings, known as the science-practice ‘gap’, remains an essential issue in management research. We challenge the primary focus on academics for the possibilities of bridging the gap by arguing that the picture remains incomplete without a closer look at the positions, perceptions, and attitudes of practicing managers toward the joint production of relevant management knowledge. Based on the inductive, grounded theory approach, we conducted a qualitative study of 47 practicing managers with different organizational and functional responsibilities across various industry sectors. Although practitioners perceived practice-engaged research design and execution, relevant management research, and benefits from complementary knowledge as enablers of fruitful science-practice collaboration, our emerging findings revealed limited trust, limited cognition, coping strategies, and heuristic information processing to be important barriers for practitioners that hamper the collaboration process. Relying on the cognitive and information processing framework and theory of the conservation of resources, we aimed to explain the antecedent of (un)successful collaboration on the practitioners' side, thus extending our understanding of the scholarship of integration.     

How Does Performance Management Affect Workers? Beyond Human Resource Management and Its Critique

While performance management (PM) is pervasive across contemporary workplaces, extant research into how performance management affects workers is often indirect or scattered across disciplinary silos. This paper reviews and synthesizes this research, identifies key gaps and explores ‘recognition theory’ as a nascent framework that can further develop this important body of knowledge. The paper develops in three main stages. The first stage reviews ‘mainstream’ human resource management (HRM) research. While this research analyses workers’ reactions to performance management in some depth, its focus on serving organizational goals marginalizes extra‐organizational impacts. The second stage reviews more critical HRM research, which interprets performance management as a disciplinary, coercive or inequitable management device. While this literature adds an important focus on organizational power, there is scope to analyse further how PM affects workers’ well‐being. To develop this strand of PM research, the third stage turns to the emerging field of recognition theory independently developed by Axel Honneth and Christophe Dejours. The authors focus especially on recognition theory's exploration of how (in)adequate acknowledgement of workers’ contributions can significantly affect their well‐being at the level of self‐conception. Although recognition theory is inherently critical, the paper argues that it can advance both mainstream and critical performance management research, and also inform broader inquiry into recognition and identity at work.