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