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Inspired by objective hermeneutics (Oevermann, 1984, 1996, 1999; Oevermann et al., 1979; Weller, 2010; Wohrab-Sahr, 2003) and qualitative validation (Adcock and Collier, 2001; Martis, 2006; Maxwell, 1992), the authors present this essay with the aim of proposing an objective hermeneutic approach to qualitative validation.

In order to develop this approach, the authors consider the contributions of Martis (2006) and Maxwell (1992) about theoretical–empirical validity, Adcock and Collier's propositions (2001) regarding the conceptualization and evaluation of phenomena through specific levels, tasks and stages of validation and the principles of objective hermeneutic interpretation proposed by Wohlrab-Sahr (2003).

Three main contributions are considered: theoretical–empirical validity (Martis, 2006; Maxwell, 1992); levels of validation – theoretical framework, systematized concept, indicators and results (Adcock and Collier, 2001); stages of validation – content validity, convergent validity and nomological validity (Adcock and Collier, 2001); and principles of objective hermeneutic interpretation – sequential interpretation, mental–experimental explanation of possible interpretations, preservation rule, literal character of interpretation, totality, reflection about knowledge used in the analysis and group of interpreters (Wohrab-Sahr, 2003). These contributions were related to establishing a framework that illustrates the proposed objective hermeneutic approach to qualitative validation.

The authors intend to offer to the scope of organization studies an alternative for validation, so that the voices of the researched can be heard. Furthermore, the authors seek to guide researchers as to how to respect and protect what is heard, in order to avoid any invasion of others' discourse.

This chapter is an attempt at designing a post-positivist way of understanding policy evaluation and practices while exploring a hermeneutic approach toward integrating technology into schools. In this chapter, the author mainly focuses on three central themes on understanding policy making and evaluation: (a) type of practice (b) nature of knowledge, and (c) issue of evaluation. For each of the themes, the author compares a technical-positivist model of understanding policy making and evaluation with a way of understanding drawn from a hermeneutic approach. The former model is committed to and realized by means of an instrumental and objective knowledge for integration; the latter is connected to human existence, who we already are, and who we want to become. In the chapter, the author designs a practical policy and integration unit to partially describe the ethical, political, practical, and deliberative dimensions of the hermeneutic approach toward integrating technology into classroom practices.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an innovative branding method based on the hermeneutical approach and interpretive theory, to respond to the need of a simple and effective tool to build corporate identity through an industrial brand identity design and, being a new business, has been considered the brand perception of their stakeholders as the main input to analyze.

The case study of a small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME), that produces nanomaterials for the business-to-business (B2B) industrial market, is used to design the new hermeneutic branding method. The methodology process has been structured in four phases that have marked the investigation and that correspond to four different levels of knowledge that, in succession, between them, constituted the so-called hermeneutic circle.

This new approach allowed us to understand the social phenomenon related to the brand: its characteristic, context and the brand itself. Though hermeneutic analysis has confirmed that business strategy is only part of a more complex system of brand management, it must also consider the competitive environment and the views of the stakeholders.

This paper contributes to research on industrial branding by adopting the hermeneutical approach in managerial practice. This paper is the first of its kind in detail modelling the design phases of a B2B brand, providing an operational tool for marketing specialists.

There is a lack of research studies in the methods for designing industrial brands. The contribution of this paper lies in proposing a new interpretative approach that, acknowledging the different expectations of the stakeholder in the supply chain, allows to draw a B2B brand that communicates the system values of the product and company.

The purpose of this paper is to examine knowledge-creating interaction in developing an innovation in a multidisciplinary research community with hermeneutic phenomenology, to understand how previous experiences and future prospects shape the process and to examine the circumstances, which support or limit knowledge creation.

The approach of this study is phenomenological and the empirical case study has been conducted using ethnography. The data consist of field notes, videos, interviews and documents of a BCDC energy consortium, developing energy weather forecast (EWF) in a new type of research environment.

The results indicate that the role of actual interactive events was crucial in the development of EWF. Hermeneutic approach illustrated that the roots of that event were in the past experiences of the participants and the circumstances, which promoted the development of the innovation, but the acknowledgment of the future prospects was crucial in finalizing the process. The role of a leader organizing the interaction and collaborative work was also substantial.

The results of this study could be used to plan and organize knowledge creation processes in organizations, especially in universities and research communities, striving to create multidisciplinary research environments and practices.

This study proposes a new approach based on hermeneutic phenomenology to examine it in a unified way, by focusing on the key aspects of elements affecting knowledge-creating interaction.

From scholars' view, there are various research approaches to investigate the city and its spaces. However, there is a need to examine the city and its spaces from the residents' perspective. Hermeneutic phenomenology might be applicable and valuable. Also, communication is a requirement for successful participatory planning and spatial analysis. Architects, urban designers and landscape architects must possess intersubjective competencies to communicate and engage with the public. Hermeneutic knowledge is the source for developing these intersubjective capabilities essential for communication. All design preparation and execution steps require distorted-free communication, starting with defining a problem and ending with implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

The paper aims to test the applicability of hermeneutic phenomenology in urban studies. The author examines the right to the city and producing space in Cairo, Egypt. Besides web pages, documents and social networks, data sources vary, including proverbs and poems. Semiotics is the qualitative research technique used to interrogate the collected material using qualitative data analysis software.

Cairo's growth is the outcome of the division of labor, administration and power dynamics. Egyptians' right to take part in Cairo's planning and management is the issue. Hermeneutic phenomenology is an approach to perform spatial environmental investigations. It could inform decision-making, ensure the planning process's validity and guarantee people's ownership of planned projects.

Phenomenology allows for inside and outside the understanding of a spatial phenomenon. The current focus of architectural and planning schools' curricula is on technical actions. These schools consider increasing the dose of social sciences in their curricula. Educators could teach students how to use hermeneutic phenomenological research methodologies. Using hermeneutic knowledge in communication encourages public engagement in formulating and implementing projects, thus ensuring their long-term viability.

This study aims to describe the m-learning experience of school students and teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic and explores the factors influencing the continuance intention of m-learning.

Semistructured interviews of 24 students and 09 teachers of schools in national capital territory (NCT) Delhi, India were conducted over 03 months and transcribed verbatim. A hermeneutic phenomenological design was used to interpret the text and bring out the “lived experiences” of m-learning.

The following 15 themes or factors influencing continuance intention emerged through the hermeneutic circle: (1) actual usage, (2) attitude, (3) context, (4) extrinsic motivation, (5) facilitating conditions, (6) intrinsic motivation, (7) perceived compatibility, (8) perceived content quality, (9) perceived mobile app quality, (10) perceived teaching quality, (11) perceived usefulness, (12) satisfaction, (13) self-efficacy, (14) self-management of learning and (15) social influence.

The study offers insightful recommendations for school administrators, mobile device developers and app designers. In addition, suggestions for effectively using m-learning during disasters such as COVID-19 have been provided. Several future research directions, including a nuanced understanding of m-assessment and online discussions, are suggested to enhance the literature on m-learning continuance.

The study enriches the literature on m-learning continuance. A qualitative approach has been used to identify relevant factors influencing m-learning continuance intention among secondary and higher secondary level (Grades 9 to 12) school students and teachers in India. In addition, a conceptual framework of the relationships among the factors has been proposed. Further, an analysis of the lived experiences of m-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic indicated several issues and challenges in using m-learning during disasters.

The purpose of this study is to understand the meaning of the term well-being as conceptualised by parents, grandparents, principals and teachers in the Irish primary education system.

A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was adopted to understand the nature and meaning of the phenomenon of well-being. Interviews were carried out with 54 principals, teachers, parents and grandparents from a representative sample of primary schools in Ireland. Each participant was asked the same, open, question: “What does well-being mean to you?” Responses were transcribed verbatim and analysed using a combination of the principles of the hermeneutic circle and Braun and Clarke’s framework for thematic analysis.

Three conceptualisations of well-being were identified (1) well-being is about being happy, (2) well-being is about being healthy and safe and (3) well-being is something you “do”.

To the best of our knowledge this paper is the first of its kind to describe how well-being is conceptualised by adults in Irish primary school contexts. In particular it highlights how neoliberal conceptualisations of well-being as a “thing”, a commodity exchanged on assumptions of individualism, moralism and bio-economism, have crept into the education of our youngest citizens.

Mainstream health economics labours under a misleading understanding of the nature of the topic area and suffers from a concomitant poverty of thinking about theory and method. The purpose here is to explore this critical position and argue that health economics should aspire to being more than a technical discipline. It can, and should, engage with transformative discourse.

It is argued that the hermeneutic sciences, emphasising interpretation not instrumentality or domination, offer a route into the change to which one seeks to contribute. The article specifically focuses on the way Habermas provides insights in his approach to knowledge, reason and political economy. How he emphasises complexity and interaction within cultural milieu is explored and primacy is given to preserving the life‐world against the encroachments of a narrow rationalization.

The argument for a critical re‐imagining of health economics is presented in three stages. First, the antecedents, current assumptions and critical voices from contemporary economics and health economics are reviewed. Second, the way in which health is best understood via engaging with the complexity of both the subject itself and the society and culture within which it is embedded is explored. Third, the contribution that hermeneutics, and Habermas's critical theory, could make to a new health economics is examined.

The paper offers a radical alternative to health economics. It explores the shortcomings of current thinking and argues an optimistic position. Progress via reason is possible if one reframes both in the direction of communication and in the appreciation of reflexivity and communality. This is a position that resonates with many who challenge prevailing paradigms, in economics and elsewhere.

A framework for achieving what Heidegger referred to as a “fusion of horizons” of understanding, was developed during a study into the experience of a group of older adults receiving care. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The interpretive hermeneutic phenomenological methodology provided strategies for enabling a researcher to shift his or her understanding to be closer to that of the older adult receiving care, to better understand the experience of receiving care from the perspective of a recipient. Older adults participated in research exploring their everyday lived experiences, and contributed to the researcher’s understanding of the personal impact of care.

The older adults in this study perceived care in essentially relational terms, and raised the importance of maintaining personal autonomy and relationships as central to maintain meaning in daily life. This framework for successfully achieving a “fusion of horizons” during research is discussed and proposed as a potential strategy for also supporting active participation by adults in their own care provision.

This strategy might be used as a way of enhancing the engagement, safety and satisfaction of older adults, thereby also assisting to protect them from potentially negative influences of power differentials impacting on their care experience.

This paper aims to explore how and why volunteers share knowledge and engage in other related knowledge activities. The paper offers an interpretation of participants’ multiple realities to enable a better understanding of managing volunteer knowledge, which ultimately underpins organisational performance and effectiveness.

A qualitative, hermeneutic phenomenological study of volunteers (n = 28) at UK music festivals was conducted through in-depth interviews (n = 9), diaries (n = 11) or both (n = 8). This interpretivist approach adopted purposive sampling to recruit participants through (social) media.

The findings illustrate how and why volunteers share knowledge that is attributed to a successful process of volunteering, which enables effective knowledge management and knowledge reproduction. Where volunteers’ motivations are satisfied, this leads to repeat volunteering. Knowledge enablers and the removal of barriers create conditions that are conducive for knowledge sharing, which have similar characteristics to conditions for continuance commitment. Where volunteers do not return, the organisation leaks knowledge.

Although high-quality research standards were maintained, participant self-selection may result in overly positive experiences. Future research might explore the impact on knowledge sharing of negative volunteering experiences.

Practical recommendations include factors that contribute to effective volunteer co-ordination and volunteering experiences, which are enablers for knowledge sharing. These fall within two categories, namely, areas for continuance (i.e. those aspects that should be maintained because they contribute to effective volunteer co- ordination and experiences) and areas for improvement (i.e. those aspects of volunteer co-ordination that are either currently lacking or require development or enhancement).

This paper’s original contribution is demonstrated through the use of hermeneutic phenomenological methods in the exploration of individuals’ perspectives of knowledge sharing in the context of temporary organisations. This paper provides value to academics studying knowledge management and volunteer management, and practitioners managing volunteers.