Grounded Theory in Sustainable Energy Initiatives

The purpose of this chapter is to raise awareness by introducing ideas that are generally based on transition studies and grounded theory (GT). In addition, to support us to understand phenomena such as green building investment decision making, changing energy saving behavior, and diffusion of smart grids and energy systems, these ideas also help developing interventions to reduce climate change through renewable energy technologies. Since energy systems are important determinants of social structure and complexity, and also because little attention has been paid to the social dynamics of energy transition in a social setting, the use of GT as a qualitative research methodology suitable to study this social phenomena can be helpful in this regard.

The Use of Grounded Theory Methodology in Theory Building

The chapter discusses the qualitative analysis method of the grounded theory (GT) and its application in the generation or building theory. The emphasis in the GT approach is on building theory rather than validating the existing theories. The GT methodology has been a topic of interest to management researchers and is intellectually challenging. In order to enhance understanding and skills for continuous professional development and to improve conditions, theory building should be considered a vital activity. In new circumstances where social systems cannot provide a certain predictive power, the need for new theories is felt. The topics discussed in this chapter revolve around theory and theory building; inductive, deductive, and abductive approaches to constructing theory; levels, functions, components, and evaluation of theories; research methods used in theory development; and in particular, the GT method and its application in theoretical coding and the reliability of this approach in serving these purposes.

The Grounded Theory Methodology in Organization Studies Within Qualitative Research

It is believed that the grounded theory (GT) approach works best for researchers who are concerned about the gap between academic and practical research because of the importance they place on applied research. The chapter aimed to explain the GT methodology and identify its application in organizational research context. In this regard, the theory-research-development-practice cycle, the factors affecting the choice of organization research methodology, and the types of qualitative research methods have been studied by comparing four qualitative methods of case study, GT, phenomenological study, and content analysis. Also, in this regard, the four main GT schools including Glaserian classic GT, Straussian GT, Charmazian constructivist GT, and Clarkeian situational GT, as well as the GT process involving the phases of data collection, coding, memo-ing, sorting, and validation are discussed in detail.

Explaining Empowering Employees by Grounded Theory Methodology

This chapter initially studies the concept of empowerment. Then, it moves on to a review of empowerment approaches, strategies, and processes. It also provides an overview of the application of the grounded theory in employee empowerment, and empowerment in nursing and the health services in particular. It is concluded that empowerment as a dynamic process results from the interrelationship between personal, culture, and organizational factors. To put it in other words, it is required in the process of empowerment that both the structure of the organization and the employees' perception of themselves and their roles undergo changes. This chapter provides discussion on factors influencing employee empowerment, such as supportive manager, employee resistance to challenge managers, communication without dialogue to recognize employees' viewpoints, manager's lack of visibility and employees' inability to interact with the manager, as well as organizational contexts such as budget, education, increasing authority and self-confidence, and participative decision-making.

Grounded Theory in Practices of Technology Management

The present study explores the application of grounded theory (GT) methodology in various aspects of technology management (TM) including technology commercialization, adoption, and transfer. These processes, resulting from the actions of different actors and organizations, are recognized as key factors in promoting innovative capabilities in organizations. In order to facilitate the successful implementation of TM measures, specific mechanisms need to be designed, the first of which is to identify the drivers and obstacles. As one of the most common methods in the field of management research for qualitative theory building instead of quantitative hypothesis validation, GT's application in this regard is to analyze the drivers and barriers and develop a conceptual model relevant to each function. This chapter discusses the GT application in theory building in the field of TM research.

Using Grounded Theory Methodology to Explore Women's Sense of Insecurity

The focus of this chapter is reviewing the studies on sexual harassment and sexual violence, focusing on definitions, statistics, forms, consequences, and prevention strategies. Moreover, it concerns the grounded theory (GT) as a qualitative research methodology and provides a comparison between this methodology and constructivist GT that is considered to be more compatible with feminist inquiry. To study the theories with inappropriate or inadequate features and to study the subject under investigation, such as the analysis of women's sense of insecurity, GT methodology seems most appropriate. This chapter provides a detailed discussion of the impact of sexual violence on mental and physical health as well as social well-being, all of which may be equally long-lasting. Preventive strategies, as mentioned in this chapter, are concerned with changing people's attitudes and behaviors by formulating and implementing appropriate policies and empowerment programs.

A Grounded Theory Approach for the Study of Organizational Burnout

Burnout is a kind of psychological withdrawal as a particular response to stress. As a costly coping mechanism, it can have adverse impacts on the motivation, performance, and personal wellbeing of special service providers. Ineffectiveness of direct and active problem-solving efforts gives rise to the burnout response. The professions dealing with high levels of stress, including healthcare, social work, police work, teaching, and customer services are regarded as the occupations most at risk of burnout. There is limited qualitative research and in particular grounded theory (GT) on a subjective definition of job burnout by employees. The present study is organized to contribute more qualitative studies to concentrate more on the application of GT approach in the field of occupational burnout. Since it examines current studies of occupational burnout that focused on GT, it is of particular value.

Grounded Theory Approach in Knowledge Management

Knowledge management (KM), as a new field having many concepts and strong conceptualization, is a vital business process in organizations that, because of the nature of knowledge, is closely linked to individuals. Because sociological research is mainly qualitative and KM contains sociological components, KM can take advantage of methods such as grounded theory (GT) approach that are specific to qualitative research. Accordingly, the chapter provides an understanding of the use of GT in KM. For this purpose, the chapter focuses on understanding process of transforming knowledge into wisdom, presenting KM model, determining factors of knowledge sharing, and consequently, developing a framework of knowledge sharing and determining the critical success factors (CSFs) of KM and their relationships within a model.

Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility With Grounded Theory Approach

This chapter is going to review and analyze the literature of the applications of grounded theory (GT) in corporate social responsibility (CSR). It is organized in three sections: definitions of CSR, the position of qualitative research methods and GT in the practices of CSR, and applications of GT in CSR. It particularly focuses on two paradigm models of CSR behavior and a paradigm model of sustainable behavior of farmers. Interviews, observations, and written materials such as CSR reports are the tools used to collect data in GT. Individuals, groups, or institutions can include the participants of studies in this regard and are selected regarding their relationship with the CSR-related phenomenon. The memos written by the CSR researchers are about the conceptual and theoretical ideas formed in the process of analysis. The phases of GT in CSR studies, including open coding, axial coding, and selective coding, are explained in this chapter.

Exploratory Analysis in Information Systems Area

Providing an overview of grounded theory (GT)'s approaches to information systems (IS) research to IS researchers who are now interested in applying GT is the goal of the chapter. Also, research contributions about the application of GT in IS, qualitative perspectives on IS research, the types of GT approaches used in IS research, and the GT study guidelines in IS are presented in this chapter. Examples of GT in IS research, which provide a description of the methodology and references to more detailed presentations, are also included, especially from the field of software engineering and system development. It should be noted that using the GT methodology is time consuming and requires high accuracy, and it starts with a phenomenon that the researcher finds is not well explained by existing theories. In such research, data sampling should provide a broad, in-depth, and pluralist view of the phenomenon under study, and a literature review on the phenomenon should be provided.