Summary
The overall aim of this paper is to explore the nature of the methodology employed in research published in some of the top business and management journals, with a view to understanding aspects of the creation of management knowledge. The article commences with a review of earlier research and commentary on the nature and appropriateness of competing research methodologies and designs. It reports the early bias in favour of positivism and quantitative methodologies, and explores the evolving recognition of the potential contribution of phenomenological research design and qualitative methodologies. An analysis was conducted of the research methodologies adopted by 120 articles drawn from twenty leading management journals published between 1991 and 2000. The findings section discusses key characteristics of authorship, and aspects of the research methodologies adopted. The conclusion notes the wide range of different methodological approaches adopted in pursuit of the development of management knowledge, and different research agendas. Further research needs to characterize and profile the relationship between these agendas and specific methodological approaches, and to develop understanding of the specific contributions of quantitative and qualitative approaches and their associated paradigms.
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Extract
Research and Knowledge Building in Management Studies: An Analysis of Methodological Preferences
Introduction
The main objective of this study is to review and explore the research methods, which have been used by scholars and researchers in the business and management field in recent years. The importance of this study relies on the fact that an examination of the use of research methods is needed to investigate possible patterns emerging over the last two decades of the twentieth century. Examination of such patterns may provide some insights into the possible future development of research methodology (Scandura, 2000; Karami, 2002). Therefore it is important to study the value of approaches in management research. Research into management should reflect the dynamics of change. The question is: what type of methodology is appropriate in management studies?Philosophers of science and methodologists have been engaged in a long standing epistemological debate about how best to conduct researc...See the full content of this document
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