Collaborative Research Design

Collaborative Research Design

Per Vagn Freytag Louise Young Editors Collaborative Research Design Working with Business for Meaningful Findings 123

Editors Per Vagn Freytag University of Southern Denmark Kolding Denmark Louise Young University of Southern Denmark Kolding Denmark and Western Sydney University Sydney Australia ISBN 978-981-10-5006-0 ISBN 978-981-10-5008-4 (ebook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5008-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017940542 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Foreword Interaction Between Business Research and Business Practice Collaboration or Arm s Length? Who, outside academia, is interested in scientific knowledge development about business and business markets? Business managers? Government policy makers? Other stakeholders? These categories ought not only to be interested in research results but also in contributing to the research process, from problem formulation to considering any impact of research results. But are they? Do they find academic research relevant for them? Do they understand or are they aware of the reports communicated in academic journals? (Likely not.) Regardless of how we answer these questions, as academic researchers we should recognize them as of utmost importance. How can our research become more interesting and valued outside academia? In this book, these issues are discussed with reference to methods used in scientific inquiries focused on business in the context of business markets. The overall idea is that research ought to be more collaborative between academia and practice. Knowledge should be seen as co-created. A better balance among research and business perspectives on research should be achieved. This asks for reevaluation of research methods as regards interaction between research practice and business/market practice as well as the role of quantitative vs. qualitative research. Mainstream research dominating academic marketing research is rather negative to co-creation ideas and qualitative research. It is quite reductionist and asks for increasingly rigorous methods. The editors of this book suggest a reinterpretation of rigorous to mean rigorous relevance in business markets contexts. I agree and hope that such a reinterpretation will help to avoid rigor mortis depending on overemphasis on what is believed to be rigorous methods. Research could be basically theory driven, method driven, or problem driven. There is of course interaction between the three forces, but one of them might dominate. Collaborative research must to an important extent be problem driven, giving also the business community an important role in problem formulation. v

vi Foreword Problem formulation might also involve a broader set of actors such as government agencies and other stakeholders, especially when societal dimensions, such as sustainability, innovation, and regional development, are important. An example of a Swedish research program on business marketing that involved collaboration and co-creation is the following. In Sweden, the Marketing Technology Center (MTC) was founded in 1973 by IVA (The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences) and IFL (The Swedish Institute of Management, the further management education arm of the Stockholm School of Economics). MTC got widespread support from Swedish industry. The purpose was to develop and communicate knowledge about marketing, especially producer goods marketing, in interaction between academia and business. IVA and MTC established a problem-driven research project Marketing for Competitiveness engaging an academic research team with a common background as regards ongoing theorizing efforts. The team got unprecedented access to managers for open interviews, loosely guided by interview guides, at different levels in major Swedish firms with subsidiaries around the globe. The report, published as a book in Sweden, sold over the next several years 30,000 copies, both to academia and to business. A follow-up research program helped finance six dissertations and resulted in a number of academic publications. Thus, collaborative research is more than a one-to-one relationship. It takes place over time in a societal context favorable to such interaction with regard to problem identification, theoretical and methodological competencies, access to financial and human resources, and opportunities for communication of results outside academic publications. To conduct collaborative research, a mutual interest must evolve that stimulates substantive interaction before, during, and after a research project. Relevance of the research must be judged as high for both parties to motivate the human, organizational, and financial resources deployed. Academic rewards for this type of research are, however, not self-evident. A serious threat is the extent to which academic research is driven by intra-academic priorities in the context of journal specialization, journal rankings, citations, and number of published articles. Leaving business to a large extent uninterested. Therefore, the present volume is a most welcome addition to the literature on research methods that allows and stimulates collaborative research. Lars-Gunnar Mattsson Stockholm School of Economics

Contents Part I Introductory Remarks 1 Doing Quality Collaborative Research with Business... 3 Louise Young and Per Vagn Freytag Part II Research Models and Processes 2 Understanding the Process of Empirical Business Studies: The Influence of Methodological Approaches... 21 Anne-Mette Sonne, Mads Bruun Ingstrup and Anders Peder Hansen 3 Theory Building: Using Abductive Search Strategies... 45 Kristian Philipsen 4 A Framework for Undertaking Conceptual and Empirical Research.... 73 Susanne Wiatr Borg and Louise Young 5 The Palette of Literature Reviews Available for Critical Realists... 93 Majbritt Rostgaard Evald Part III Research Methods for Information Gathering and Generating 6 Interviewing Like a Researcher: The Powers of Paradigms.... 125 Majbritt Rostgaard Evald, Per Vagn Freytag and Suna Løwe Nielsen 7 Using Workshops in Business Research: A Framework to Diagnose, Plan, Facilitate and Analyze Workshops... 155 Pia Storvang, Bo Mortensen and Ann Højbjerg Clarke 8 Tangible Business Interviews... 175 Jacob Buur vii

viii Contents 9 Multi-method Systematic Observation: Theory and Practice... 195 Sana Marroun and Louise Young 10 The Use of Experiments in Business Research... 223 Anders Haug Part IV Analysis and Presentation of Findings 11 Analysis of Qualitative Data: Using Automated Semantic Analysis to Understand Networks of Concepts... 251 Louise Young and Kristin B. Munksgaard 12 Displaying Research Results... 285 Winie Evers, Ian Wilkinson and Per Vagn Freytag Part V Researching in the Present and Future 13 Vignettes in Critical Theory Investigations... 313 Grethe Heldbjerg and Dennis van Liempd 14 Improvising in Research: Drawing on Theatre Practices... 341 Henry Larsen and Preben Friis 15 Computer Simulation and Agent-Based Models as a Research Method.... 377 Fabian Held and Ian Wilkinson Part VI Overview and Conclusion 16 Good Qualitative Research: Opening up the Debate... 401 Catherine Welch 17 Bringing It All Together and Leaving It All up to You!... 413 Per Vagn Freytag and Louise Young