Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods for International Business

by Rebecca Piekkari, Catherine Welch

Overview

This innovative Handbook draws together and reflects on the specific methodological challenges that an international business scholar is likely to face when undertaking a qualitative research project.

With a practical, hands-on approach to methodological debates, the Handbook raises concerns specific to international business scholars. Covering the entire life cycle of a research project from its philosophical underpinnings to publication hurdles, the book explores existing practices and gives voice to multiple, even contrasting perspectives. This invaluable source of experiential knowledge, as well as conceptual understanding, has been achieved by a truly international authorship.

Including fascinating vignettes written by senior academics, the result is a guide that will be indispensable. Capturing the experiences and practices of qualitative researchers, the Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods for International Business should be on the bookshelves of students and scholars of IB, researchers in international management and marketing, and teachers of cross-cultural and IB research methods.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781843760832
Publisher:	Edward Elgar Publishing
Publication date:	08/28/2004
Series:	Research Handbooks in Business and Management series
Pages:	640
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.52(d)

About the Author

Edited by Rebecca Piekkari, Professor of International Business, Aalto University, School of Business, Finland and Catherine Welch, Chair of Strategic Management, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Table of Contents

Contents:
Vignette: Observations from a Lifetime of Interviewing
Jean J. Boddewyn
Foreword
Peter J. Buckley
Vignette: Interviews: A Key Data Source in International Business Research
Arvind Parkhe
PART I: TRENDS AND PROSPECTS IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS RESEARCH
Vignette: Theory is not Reality
Jan Johanson
1. Qualitative Research Methods in International Business: The State of the Art
Rebecca Marschan-Piekkari and Catherine Welch
2. Empirical Research in International Management: A Critique and Future Agenda
Richard B. Peterson
3. Towards a Postcolonial Research Paradigm in International Business and Comparative Management
Robert Westwood
4. Hermeneutic Methodology and International Business Research
Niels G. Noorderhaven
PART II: CASE STUDY RESEARCH
Vignette: The Many Skills of the Case Researcher
Robert W. Scapens
5. Designing and Conducting Case Studies in International Business Research
Pervez Ghauri
6. The Architecture of Multiple Case Study Research in International Business
Pieter Pauwels and Paul Matthyssens
7. The Role of Negative Personal Experiences in Cross-cultural Case Study Research: Failure or Opportunity?
Karen Grisar-Kassé
8. First Put in the Sugar, Then the Eggs . . . Or the Other Way Round? Mixing Methods in International Business Research
Leila Hurmerinta-Peltomäki and Niina Nummela
PART III: INTERVIEWING IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS RESEARCH
Vignette: Getting the Ear of the Minister
Henry Wai-chung Yeung
9. Interview Studies in International Business Research
John D. Daniels and Mark V. Cannice
10. Improvisation and Adaptation in International Business Research Interviews
Ian Wilkinson and Louise Young
11. Language and Languages in Cross-cultural Interviewing
Rebecca Marschan-Piekkari and Cristina Reis
12. Interviewing in the Multinational Corporation: Challenges of the Organisational Context
Rebecca Marschan-Piekkari, Catherine Welch, Heli Penttinen and Marja Tahvanainen
13. The Interview in International Business Research: Problems We Would Rather Not Talk About
Stuart Macdonald and Bo Hellgren
PART IV: ALTERNATIVE METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES
Vignette: Seeing and Experiencing Culture
Mary Yoko Brannen
14. The Ethnographic International Business Researcher: Misfit or Trailblazer?
Malcolm Chapman, Hanna Gajewska-De Mattos and Christos Antoniou
15. The Relevance of Ethnography to International Business Research
Diana Rosemary Sharpe
16. Interpreting the International Firm: Going Beyond Interviews
Hans De Geer, Tommy Borglund and Magnus Frostenson
17. Critical Discourse Analysis as a Methodology for International Business Studies
Eero Vaara and Janne Tienari
PART V: RESEARCHING OUTSIDE THE TRIAD
Vignette: Eating Alone and Other Experiences
Russell Belk
18. Contextualising Fieldwork: Reflections on Conducting Research in Eastern Europe
Snejina Michailova
19. Conducting Qualitative Research in Vietnam: Ethnography, Grounded Theory and Case Study Research
Nancy K. Napier, Suzanne Hosley and Thang Van Nguyen
20. The Role of Culture in Conducting Trustworthy and Credible Qualitative Business Research in China
Giana M. Eckhardt
21. An Outsider in India
Elisabeth M. Wilson
22. The Rhythms of Latin America: A Context and Guide for Qualitative Research
Victoria Jones
PART VI: FROM ANALYSIS TO PUBLICATION
Vignette: Against Today’s Fashion: Experiences from the ‘Review Front’
Dirk Matten
23. Ensuring Validity in Qualitative International Business Research
Poul Houman Andersen and Maria Anne Skaates
24. Computer-assisted Qualitative Data Analysis: Application in an Export Study
Valerie J. Lindsay
25. Writing About Methods in Qualitative Research: Towards a More Transparent Approach
Tatiana Zalan and Geoffrey Lewis
26. ‘Writing it Up’: The Challenges of Representation in Qualitative Research
Sara L. McGaughey
27. Getting Published: The Last Great Hurdle?
Denice E. Welch and Lawrence S. Welch
28. Publishing Qualitative Research in International Business
Julian Birkinshaw
Vignette: Case Studies in Construction: Recollections of an Accidental Researcher
Stewart R. Clegg
Index

Editorial Reviews

'This book is recommended for academic libraries supporting international business research, international business scholars involved in qualitative research projects, and international organizations with a need to conduct or understand qualitative business research.'

Denise J. Johnson

‘The Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods for International Business provides an excellent resource for IB researchers. It combines practical advice and theoretical discussion, addressing and exploring many of the issues that challenge scholars who undertake qualitative research and summarizing trends and debates in the field. As a Handbook, it would be of special interest to doctoral students starting out on their research careers but it would also be a valuable source for reference by academics who are more established in the field of IB.’

Anna Soulsby

‘This is an excellent book on an important topic, namely how to conduct qualitative research in international business. It is a great collection of thoughtful chapters written by scholars that have themselves struggled with all the problems in conducting qualitative research. The book is obviously filling a gap in the literature on methodology in international business and it is a must for Ph.d. students and other researchers considering conducting qualitative research. The book deserves to be widely read and carefully studied.’

Torben Pedersen

‘Suffice to say that all researchers (be them familiar or not with qualitative research) and doctoral students in the field will find this Handbook insightful if not essential. Challenging ideas are put forward, useful tips and models discussed in detail, not to mention the numerous practical advice ranging from the theoretical underpinning of the research undertaken to personal experiences in unfamiliar places in the world.’

Axèle Giroud

'Suffice to say that all researchers (be them familiar or not with qualitative research) and doctoral students in the field will find this Handbook insightful if not essential. Challenging ideas are put forward, useful tips and models discussed in detail, not to mention the numerous practical advice ranging from the theoretical underpinning of the research undertaken to personal experiences in unfamiliar places in the world.'

Axele Giroud

‘The editors and authors are to be commended for an engaging, useful and thought provoking end product which will be read with pleasure (and I hope will provoke some anger too) and will be a useful guidebook. It is my hope that this book will stimulate more, and better research in the international business field.’

From the foreword by Peter J. Buckley

‘A significant and timely addition to the literature on qualitative research methods in international business. The volume contains a wide yet integrated range of contributions from well-known authors. The book will be of major value to qualitative researchers because of its approach which is both academic and experience-based; and its coverage which includes important but frequently ignored topics such as “Researching outside the Triad”, as well as contributions on case study research, interviewing, alternative methodologies and getting published.’

Stephen Young

‘This edited book on qualitative research methods in international business is probably the most comprehensive of all in its genre. Contributors to this volume are seasoned researchers who share not only difficulties and hidden pitfalls in qualitative research but also the joy of gaining richer – sometimes unexpected – insights into cultural and managerial issues transcending national boundaries than traditional quantitative research would uncover. It is a must read for all researchers in international business research.’

Masaaki Kotabe

‘This is a volume which will be immensely helpful to younger scholars working on IB related topics. It contains valuable insights on a whole range of qualitative research techniques written by experienced practitioners. I commend it unreservedly. It deserves the widest possible circulation.’

John H. Dunning