Chapter 1

Business research
approaches
Influences on business research
 The role of theory in research

• Which comes first? Theory or research?

• Should we examine a problem and try to
work out how it is caused and how it might
be solved (inductive reasoning)?
• Or should we take a generally accepted
theory of how things work and find
evidence for it in the problem we examine
(deductive reasoning)?
 The nature of business research

• Business research does not exist in a

bubble in a world apart from the sciences –
it is integrated with them
• The variety and diversity of business and
management studies makes it hard to find
agreement on how business research
claims should be evaluated
• Perhaps it can only be seen as an ‘applied
field’ because it is concerned with solving
management problems
 The nature of business research
(continued)
• Academic researchers add to theory
“supported by bits of practice” and
management consultants contribute to
practice “backed by bits of theory”
(Gummesson, 2000)
Page 4
 Evidence-based management

• Is the systematic use of the best available

evidence to improve management practice
(Reay, Berta and Kohn, 2009)
• Concept developed to reduce variation in
(clinical) practice
• Information comes, in part, from the
expertise and judgement of managers
working in individual firms
Key concept 1.1
Page 5
 Knowledge is produced in two
modes
Mode 1 Mode 2
• Traditional, • Involves academics,
university-based policy-makers and
• Academic audience practitioners
• Pure and applied • Trans-disciplinary
• Built upon existing • Related to context (not
knowledge easily replicated)
• More linear process • Less linear process
• Limited emphasis on • More emphasis on
dissemination dissemination and
exploitation
 Theories come at two levels

Grand theories Middle-range theories

• Structural- • Strategic choice
functionalism • Trait theory
• Symbolic • Contingency theory
interactionism • Labour process theory
• Critical theory – Middle-range theories
• Poststructuralism typically guide business
research
• Structuration theory
 Deductive and inductive theory

• Deductivism:
– Theory -> data
– Explicit hypothesis to be accepted or rejected
– Quantitative research
• Inductivism:
– Data -> theory
– Generalised inferences based on observations
– Qualitative research/grounded theory
Page 9
The process of deduction
 Knowledge and reality

• How do we know the things we know?

Because we read about them in
newspapers , or we learned them at
school? Should we make important
decisions based on this kind of knowledge
or should we do some research?
• These kinds of questions are part of the
study of Epistomology.
 Knowledge and reality (continued)

• Do businesses and organisations exist

independent of the people who work in
them? Can you capitalism without
capitalists?
• These kinds of questions are part of the
study of Ontology
 Epistemological considerations

• What is (or should be) considered

acceptable knowledge?
• Can the social or business world be studied
scientifically?
• Is it appropriate to apply the methods of the
natural sciences to social or business
research?
• Positivism and interpretivism
Page 12
 Positivism

• Application of natural science methods to

social science and business research
• Phenomalism – knowledge via the senses
• Deductivism – theory testing
• Inductivism – theory building
• Objective – value-free researcher
• Distinction between scientific and
normative statements
Key concept 1.3
Page 12
 Interpretivism

• Denotes alternative to the Positivism

orthodoxy that has held sway for decades
• Based upon the view that a strategy is
required that respects the differences
between people and the objects of the
natural sciences and requires the
researcher to grasp the subjective
meaning of social action
 Interpretivism (continued)

• Intellectual heritage includes Weber’s

notion of Verstehen, hermeneutic-
phenomenological tradition, and symbolic
interaction
 Ontological considerations

• Social ontology: nature of social entities

• What kind of objects exist in the world?
• Do social entities exist independently of our
perceptions of them?
• Is social reality external to social actors or
constructed by them?
Page 16
 Objectivism

• Objectivism is an ontological position that

asserts that social phenomena and their
meanings have an existence that is
independent of social actors.
• It implies that social phenomena and the
categories that we use in everyday
discourse have an existence that is
independent or separate from actors
Key concept 1.6
Page 17
 Constructionism

• Also referred to as constructivism

• Social phenomena and their meanings are
continually being generated by social
actors
• Social phenomena and categories are
produced through social interaction
• Social phenomena and categories are in a
constant state of revision
 Constructionism (continued)

• Researchers' own accounts of the social

world are constructions
• Knowledge is viewed as indeterminate
Page 17
 What is the role of a paradigm

• Paradigms are a cluster of beliefs and

dictates that influence:
– What should be studied
– How research should be done
– How results should be interpreted.
• Social science consists of competing
paradigms
Page 19
Social paradigms
Multiple paradigms used in research

• Functionalist
– Survey of job motivation
• Interpretative
– Conversational data on work routines
• Radical humanist
– Descriptive analysis of management training
• Radical structuralist
– Historical analysis of employment relations
Research in Focus 1.8
Page 20
 Influences of personal values on
business research
• The personal beliefs or the feelings of
researcher affect every stage of research
process, from the choice of research area
to the interpretation of results.
• If we recognise that research cannot be
value-free, we can attempt to limit its
constraint on objectivity.
 Influences of personal values on
business research (continued)
• Feminist writers (among others) argue for
consciously value-laden research, in which
the researcher empathises with the
researched and encourages reciprocity.
Page 21
 Practical considerations

• May influence or determine choices on:

– research strategy
– design
– method
– resources & costs.
• May be influenced or determined by:
– nature of the topic
– people being investigated
– political acceptability.
Page 23
 Criteria in business research

• Reliability – are measures consistent?

• Replication/replicability – is study
repeatable?
• Validity – are conclusions well-founded?
Page 24
 Types of validity

• Measurement (or construct) validity – do

measures reflect concepts?
• Internal validity – are causal relations
between variables real?
• External validity – can results be
generalised beyond the research setting?
• Ecological validity – are findings applicable
to everyday life?
Page 25-26