Problematising access: reflections on ethnography in a bureaucratic organisation
Journal of Organizational Ethnography
ISSN: 2046-6749
Article publication date: 14 March 2023
Issue publication date: 4 April 2023
Abstract
Purpose
The article aims to explore the methodological implications of gaining access into a bureaucratic organisation for an ethnographic research project. It broadens the understanding of this crucial part of ethnographic research and problematises the notion of access by questioning the view of access as an official, singular and straightforward moment prior to fieldwork.
Design/methodology/approach
The article is based on 10 months of ethnographic fieldwork at the office of a Dutch health insurance company.
Findings
In this article, the author shows that research in a bureaucratic setting requires a deep level of reflexivity especially in order to maintain access and deepen the relationships in the field.
Originality/value
The study of bureaucratic organisations is a relatively new field of investigation for anthropologists and is becoming more popular. The question of how to study these types of organisations in terms of access has not yet been fully addressed through an ethnographical lens.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author thank Anouk de Koning, Wiebe Ruijtenberg and author’s colleagues in the ‘Moralising Misfortune’ research project for their comments on earlier versions of this paper and Nandini Bedi for the English editing. The author is also thankful for the constructive feedback provided by the two anonymous reviewers. This article was made possible by funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement 682467).
Citation
Buskermolen, N. (2023), "Problematising access: reflections on ethnography in a bureaucratic organisation", Journal of Organizational Ethnography, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 76-87. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOE-06-2022-0012
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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