Developing a general scientific methodology on tenets from Mario Bunges philosophy

Kybernetes ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 622-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Joh. Adriaenssen ◽  
Jon-Arild Johannessen
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Action Theory ◽  
Scientific Methodology ◽  
Systemic Thinking ◽  
Content Type ◽  
General Methodology ◽  
General Scientific ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a general scientific methodology on tenets from Mario Bunge’s philosophy. Design/methodology/approach – Systemic thinking and conceptual generalisation. Findings – A general scientific methodology based on tenets from Mario Bunge’s philosophy of social science. Research limitations/implications – Using quantitative methods to conduct a research to test Asplunds motivation theory and North’s action theory. Practical implications – How to conduct a research based on a systemic perspective. Social implications – An advantage of linking a systemic perspective to organisational psychology studies is that it may result in new ways of looking at old problems and bring new perspectives to the methods used. One explanation may be the fact that while researchers within various organisational psychology subject fields are largely specialists, the systemic perspective is oriented towards general scientific methodology. Originality/value – The authors have not seen anybody who have tried to apply systemic thinking as a general methodology for research.

Approaches to supervising work-based learning students’ workplace research

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Talbot ◽  
Andy Lilley
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Contextual Framework ◽  
E Learning ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to outline a small research project designed to explore the practices of the UK work-based learning (WBL) tutors in facilitating formal research projects in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected using a short questionnaire to practitioners administered electronically and a daylong workshop where issues were discussed in greater depth by participating tutors. Findings – The main findings are that there is a degree of agreement by WBL tutors about the distinctiveness of WBL research projects; that although there is increasing use of technology to support delivery only one institution is using e-learning as the principal means of delivery; emphasis is upon a relatively small number of techniques and there is a strong preference for qualitative over quantitative methods. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation of the study is the relatively small number of active participants. However, this is the only study of its kind and the results offer insights into an important element of pedagogic practice in WBL. Practical implications – The project enabled the identification of common approaches and facilitated discussion of problems shared by WBL tutors across the field. There appears to be a consensus that situated investigation exists within a different contextual framework to traditional academic dissertation projects and that the focus is therefore necessarily on generating data as the basis for active problem solving. Originality/value – This is the only empirical study of practice in respect of facilitating research projects on WBL programmes in higher education.

How fund managers in Malaysia make decisions

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samsukri Glanville bin Mohamad Glanville bin Mohamad ◽  
Chad Perry
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Finance ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Western Country ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fund Managers ◽  
Interview Research ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Investment Process ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how fund managers in a non-Western country like Malaysia follow investment processes developed in the West and taught in the finance departments of universities. Design/methodology/approach – This convergent interview research investigates how fund managers in Malaysia actually make their decisions, and develops a framework about their investment process. Findings – Understanding the economy was important for the managers but was an ongoing learning process. Their analyses sometimes started bottom-up or top-down, but all followed a four-layer process. The managers did not believe the investment process could be quantified. Research limitations/implications – Convergent interviewing is meant to be a first step in a complete research program. So, future researchers could consider extending the research to different periods, different research settings in other countries like Singapore, India or Indonesia, different types of investors and different methodologies like surveys. Practical implications – Practitioners should build on their experience, and understand principles of behavioral finance. Students in business schools should be taught in an experiential way, and school staff should use qualitative methods like convergent interviewing in their research projects. Originality/value – Contributions centre on the article’s behavioural finance findings that experience and non-quantitative methods are the core of Malaysian investment managers’ decision-making, and on its detailed description of the unusual research methodology in finance of convergent interviewing.

scholarly journals Two snapshots reinforcing systemic thinking and responsibility

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Barter ◽  
Sally Russell
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Final Analysis ◽  
Discussion Paper ◽  
Systemic Thinking ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Systemic Understanding ◽  
Common Future ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the concept of sustainable development through the lens of two United Nations (UN) publications, Our Common Future (1987) and the 25-year update Resilient People: Resilient Planet (2012). The analysis attempts to highlight how sustainable development requires a systemic understanding and this in turn necessitates an imperative of responsibility. To reinforce its case, the paper highlights how sustainable development has never been about saving the environment and to think so is naïve. In the final analysis, the paper outlines how a systemic understanding is a key concern for organisational leaders and in turn a responsible understanding of humanity's entwinement with, rather than separation from, all that surrounds us. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a discussion paper that weaves together existing literature. Findings – The aim of the paper is to reinforce systemic thinking and an imperative of responsibility. Practical implications – The arguments offered highlight how systemic thinking and the associated responsibility that comes with this view are necessary for realising sustainable outcomes. Originality/value – Weaving together and reinforcing arguments that highlight systemic thinking and responsibility.

International management challenges of professional service firms: a synthesis of the literature

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ciara O’Higgins ◽  
Tatiana Andreeva ◽  
Nekane Aramburu Goya
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
International Management ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to identify what international management challenges professional service firms (PSFs) face and why they face them. Design/methodology/approach This study carries a focussed thematic literature review of 102 empirical articles. This paper uses content analysis to extract and aggregate challenges identified by researchers in their fieldwork and then analysed this data using qualitative and quantitative methods. Findings This study identifies 10 international management challenges that PSFs face and a number of causes for these challenges. The analysis also suggests that the distinctive characteristics of PSFs generate some of the international management challenges for PSFs. Practical implications This study helps PSF managers understand the international management challenges they may face depending on the specifics of their company, thus helping them better prepare their internationalisation. Originality/value This study contributes to providing a greater understanding of what is holding PSFs back in their internationalisation and why. It demonstrates that distinctive characteristics of PSFs may predict the challenges that PSFs will face, thus paving the way for further research on international management in PSFs and for the development of the diagnostic tool for practitioners that could help them to identify which challenges they should prepare for most.

Topics and methods in forensic accounting research

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. DiGabriele ◽  
Wm. Dennis Huber
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
Forensic Accounting ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purposes of this paper are to highlight those topics of forensic accounting that have received little or no attention in the forensic accounting research that has been published in forensic accounting research journals; discover what research methods have been most commonly used; and identify research methods that have been infrequently used. Design/methodology/approach – This is a descriptive research study that explores the topics and methods used in forensic accounting research published in forensic accounting journals. Findings – Fraud and quantitative methods make up the largest percentage of topics and research methods published in forensic accounting journals. Research limitations/implications – Limited to forensic accounting journals. Results suggest forensic accounting researchers are using mimetic topics and methods of accounting research. The absence of diversity in forensic accounting research topics and methods has the potential to compromise the overall contribution of forensic accounting research. Practical implications – This paper identifies gaps in topics and research methods in forensic accounting research to encourage research in diverse topics using diverse methods that will be valuable to forensic accountants. Originality/value – This original research is the first to survey and classify research published in forensic accounting journals according to topic and method.

Understanding tag functions in a moderated, user-generated metadata ecosystem

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 490-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayse Gursoy ◽  
Karen Wickett ◽  
Melanie Feinberg
Keyword(s):  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Science Methods ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Science Methods ◽  
Communicative Context ◽  
Build Systems ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Discursive Context

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate tag use in a metadata ecosystem that supports a fan work repository to identify functions of tags and explore the system as a co-constructed communicative context. Design/methodology/approach Using modified techniques from grounded theory (Charmaz, 2007), this paper integrates humanistic and social science methods to identify kinds of tag use in a rich setting. Findings Three primary roles of tags emerge out of detailed study of the metadata ecosystem: tags can identify elements in the fan work, tags can reflect on how those elements are used or adapted in the fan work, and finally, tags can express the fan author’s sense of her role in the discursive context of the fan work repository. Attending to each of the tag roles shifts focus away from just what tags say to include how they say it. Practical implications Instead of building metadata systems designed solely for retrieval or description, this research suggests that it may be fruitful to build systems that recognize various metadata functions and allow for expressivity. This research also suggests that attending to metadata previously considered unusable in systems may reflect the participants’ sense of the system and their role within it. Originality/value In addition to accommodating a wider range of tag functions, this research implies consideration of metadata ecosystems, where different kinds of tags do different things and work together to create a multifaceted artifact.

MNCs’ R&D talent management in China: aligning practices with strategies

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1086-1106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Qianqian Li ◽  
Katherine Xin ◽  
Vlado Pucik ◽  
William X. Wei
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Talent Management ◽  
Multinational Companies ◽  
Emerging Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Practical Recommendations

Purpose This paper aims to propose practical recommendations in accordance with the strategic roles played by research and development (R&D) in multinational companies (MNCs). Design/methodology/approach This study applies a qualitative method to investigate the talent management (TM) practices implemented in MNCs’ R&D units. Findings The findings identify four R&D strategies and four sectors of TM practices. Furthermore, there exists an alignment between R&D strategies and TM practices. Research limitations/implications This paper has several limitations. This qualitative research is exploratory, and larger samples or quantitative methods are needed to ensure the wider applicability of the findings. When possible, longitudinal studies yield superior results in revealing the evolving strategic roles of R&D subsidiaries and their TM practices. The authors used China as the research context, and similar studies in other emerging countries with active R&D activities are required to further validate or complement the findings in this study. Practical implications This study has some practical implications for companies with regard to aligning their TM practices with R&D strategies. Originality/value R&D units play an increasingly significant role in MNCs and TM is a key issue. However, there is a lack of TM research focusing on R&D employees by taking strategies into account.

scholarly journals Commentary: exposing a research bias or a relic of research practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-29
Author(s):  
Rebekah Russell-Bennett ◽  
Mark Scott Rosenbaum ◽  
Ryan McAndrew
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Quantitative Studies ◽  
Inductive Research ◽  
Research Bias ◽  
Service Oriented ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to represent a response to issues raised in the continuing quantitative-qualitative debate by Valtakoski (2020). Which appeared in a Journal of Services Marketing (JSM) special issue on qualitative research in service-oriented research. Design/methodology/approach The authors performed a content analysis of 1,268 papers that were published in JSM (1987-2019). In addition, the authors had data that is held in JSM’s manuscript central submission portal. Findings The analysis shows that while there is a dominance of quantitative methods in the journal, the proportion of qualitative papers is growing. During 2014-2019, 83.4 per cent of submitted papers to JSM represented quantitative research and 14 per cent represented qualitative research; however, 75 per cent of accepted papers were quantitative and 25 per cent were qualitative/mixed methods. Thus, the proportion of published qualitative studies are increasing and have a higher chance of receiving an acceptance decision compared to quantitative studies. Additionally, the largest percentage of qualitative papers published in JSM derive from corresponding authors outside of North America. Research limitations/implications Service researchers who opt to use inductive research methods, which tend to use qualitative research, will not confront discrimination based solely upon the use of a research methodology among editors or reviewers at JSM. Practical implications JSM welcomes qualitative research that has rich practical implications. Originality/value This study is one of the first to provide authors with a detailed analysis and responses to the qualitative-quantitative debate in marketing.

Criminal business model and the governance of seized and confiscated businesses

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 46-60
Author(s):  
Guglielmo Faldetta ◽  
Carmelo Provenzano
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Criminal Organizations ◽  
Business Cases ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The main purpose of this paper is to analyze what happens to a business model when the governance of the focal organization changes, particularly when it has to re-shape its transactional network. Design/methodology/approach The paper reviews literature on governance structure of criminal organizations and uses two case studies to show two different approaches in re-shaping the business transactional network after the seizure from Mafia organization. Findings The paper finds three different approaches about governance structure in criminal organizations and describes what happens to a business model when the governance of the focal organization changes as is the case of the seizure and confiscation of Mafia businesses. The paper shows that when a judicial administrator is able to effectively build a new transactional network, the business he manages can survive and can also give good performance. Research limitations/implications The paper provides two business cases, but this is not enough to give empirical evidence; this could be provided through other case studies or through quantitative methods using surveys or data provided by the Italian courts. Practical implications The paper has some potential managerial implications, in particular for the judicial administrator. He should encourage the construction of a new transactional network, first analyzing the existing network, going deeply into the content and the motivators of the relationships with the stakeholders, and deciding if such relationships can be re-formulated or must be left. Originality/value The originality of the paper is that it analyzes criminal organizations using well-known approaches, applying them to the case of seized and confiscated business.

Experimentalist systems in manufacturing multinationals

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 362-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary B. Herrigel
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Action Theory ◽  
Stakeholder Involvement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Qualitative Case Studies ◽  
Institutional Rules ◽  
Effective Operation ◽  
Governance Processes ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to apply experimentalist framework to understand self-optimizing efforts within German manufacturing multinationals. Benefits and characteristic obstacles to diffusion are discussed. Mechanisms for combatting obstacles are outlined. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative case studies, interview-based research, processual and reflexive action theory are applied to the governance of manufacturing-based multinational enterprises. Findings Uncertainty is an ineradicable element in multinational companies (MNC) FDI operations. Self-optimizing systems, many with an experimentalist character, are a pervasive form of response to this uncertainty. Obstacles to the diffusion and effective operation of self-optimization are chronic and, indeed, endogenously generated. But as a result, so are superordinate efforts to undercut the continuous emergence of obstacles. MNC development is, thus, characterized by continuous self-recomposition. Research limitations/implications Implication is that managers and management theorists should focus as much on the management of dynamic process and learning that results in the recomposition of institutional rules as they do on the constraining and enabling effects of those rules. Practical implications Superordinate mechanisms for the disruption of incipient insulation and exclusion are crucial for the implementation of successful experimentalist (learning) systems. Social implications Transparency, stakeholder involvement in MNC governance processes has positive implications for learning, innovation and competitiveness. Originality/value This paper presents the application of experimentalist learning theory to MNC global governance.

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