Boundary activities and readiness for ... - Projekti-Instituutti

Research methodology and data
whereas pure deduction may inhibit creative development of new insights
and novel theory (Lukkari & Parvinen, 2008). Abductive research, in turn,
is characterized as a dialogue between theory and empirical data. The
abductive research process starts with an empirical phenomenon or
observation, and the researcher aims to apply, extend and refine existing
theories to explain the findings (Spens & Kovácks, 2006). Abductive
research is closer to inductive approaches, such as grounded theory (Corbin
& Strauss, 1990; Glaser & Strauss, 1999), than deductive approaches. Still,
compared to inductive studies, in abductive research the continuous
interplay between theory and empirical observation is emphasized, as the
approach builds more on refining and expanding existing theories, which is
also the purpose of the present study.
The abductive case study methodology follows the case study approach,
which refers to the detailed investigation of a limited number of cases (such
as organizations or groups) within their real life context to gain an
understanding of the phenomenon under study (Meyer, 2001; Voss,
Tsikriktsis, & Frohlich, 2002; Yin, 1994). From the researcher’s perspective,
cases are complex configurations of events and structures in concrete
spatial and temporal contexts, preserving the character of the phenomenon
under study (Dubois & Araujo, 2004). Case research has several
advantages: it allows a holistic view of the phenomenon in question (Meyer,
2001), it may lead to new and creative insights, and it can have great
validity with practitioners (Eisenhardt, 1989; Voss et al., 2002).
The case study approach is particularly suitable for the current study due
to several reasons. Firstly, case studies have been advocated as especially
appropriate for answering “how” and “why” types of questions (Yin, 1994),
which most of the research questions of the current study also represent.
Secondly, case studies are described to suit situations where the boundaries
between the research phenomenon and its context are unclear (Dubois &
Araujo, 2004; Yin, 1994). This applies to the current research because
based on the literature review, the investigated phenomena, change
programs, are in many ways embedded in their context, and the early stage
of a change program is characterized by high ambiguity. Furthermore, case
studies are particularly suitable for theory building (Eisenhardt, 1989;
Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007; Voss et al., 2002). Although there has been a
lot of debate on what constitutes theory, there seems to be a common
agreement that a theory describes factors (concepts, variables or
constructs) and their relations and provides an explanation of why a logical
connection exists between them (e.g. Nayak, 2008; Whetten, 1989).
The present study aims to extend and refine the existing theoretical
understanding in the interaction between empirical data and existing
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