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Unlike quantitative studies, interview data generally cannot be validated; yet, they are typically the only evidence of the research. This study develops protocols for using verbatim interview quotations in research and for assessing the quality of interview quotations.

This research reviews 20 empirical papers using in-depth interviews containing 600 interview quotations to examine authors' approaches to verbatim interviewee quotations. The research analyses the sample papers for interview transcript handling, selection of quotations, the number and length of interview quotations, how they are placed and presented, the proportion of interviewee voices reproduced in quotations and the disclosure of protocols for translating and editing quotations. This paper includes illustrative interview quotations as exemplars of best practice.

Given the modest discussion of the principles influencing the reproduction of quotations in research, this study develops a framework for evaluating prior research. Researchers use a wide variety of practices to reproduce interview quotations in accounting research. The issues derived from this review, and their application to interview-based papers, frame an argument for a general set of quality criteria and protocols rather than rigid rules for assessing qualitative work. These criteria can serve as anchor points for qualitative evaluation.

There is little guidance on the use of interview quotations in qualitative research which this study bridges.

The aim of this review paper is to identify the methodological practices and presentational styles used to report interview-based research in “leading” management and organisation journals.

This paper reviews a sample of 225 articles using qualitative interviews that were published in management, human resource management, organisational behaviour and international business journals listed in the Financial Times 50 list between 2009 and 2019.

The review found diversity and plurality in the methodological practices used in these studies and the presentational styles used to report interview research.

The findings are expected to help doctoral students, early career scholars and those new to using qualitative interviews to make decisions about the appropriateness of different methodological practices and presentational styles. The findings are also expected to support editors, reviewers, doctoral examiners and conference organisers in making sense of the dissensus that exists amongst qualitative interview researchers (Johnson et al., 2007). These insights will also enable greater “paradigmatic awareness” (Plakoyiannaki and Budhwar, 2021, p. 5) in the evaluation of the quality of interview-based research that is not restricted to standardised criteria derived from positivism (Cassell and Symon, 2015).

To make sense of this plurality, the authors map these practices and styles against the onto-epistemological paradigms identified by Alvesson (2003, 2011). The paper contributes to calls for philosophical diversity in the evaluation of qualitative research. The authors specifically articulate concerns about the use of practices in interview-based studies that derive from the positivistic logic associated with quantitative research.

This paper aims to examine the current practice of reporting on translation issues in qualitative, interdisciplinary accounting research. Based on an analysis of the methodological consideration of the translation of quotations from non-English interviews and additional interviews with experienced researchers, the authors aim to develop recommendations for the reporting on such translation procedures in future accounting research relying on interviews not conducted in English.

The analysis is based on papers published in four highly ranked interdisciplinary accounting journals: Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ), Accounting, Organizations and Society (AOS), Critical Perspectives on Accounting (CPA) and Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management (QRAM). The subjects of the analysis are publications of non-English-speaking researchers who conducted non-English interviews and therefore were confronted with translation issues when attempting to get published in these English-language journals. Additionally, to gain deeper insights into reporting decisions on language and translation issues, the authors conducted interviews with experienced researchers in the field of qualitative, interdisciplinary accounting research whose mother tongue is not English. The authors combine these empirical insights with current developments in translation studies.

As suggested by translation studies, translation is an act of sense making and reconstruction of meaning, and therefore is a complex task that needs to be carried out with caution. However, the findings suggest that in current interdisciplinary, qualitative accounting research, the reporting of language and translation issues, especially with regards to the translation of quotations from interview data, have so far received only limited attention. The authors therefore call for more awareness of and sensibility toward dealing with language and translation issues, which should be reflected in more transparent reporting on translation processes to support the credibility and authenticity of qualitative accounting studies based on non-English interviews.

This paper is limited to the reporting on the methodological consideration of translating quotations from non-English interviews in papers published in AAAJ, AOS, CPA and QRAM between 2004 and 2015. For future accounting research that relies on such interviews, the authors call for more transparency and provide specific recommendations. This in turn should strengthen the awareness that language and translation are factors to be considered and reported.

This paper is the first to develop recommendations for the reporting of translation processes in accounting research studies, which are based on interviews not led in the English language.

The market in trafficked children bought and sold for sexual exploitation is one of the most inhumane transnational crimes that appear to have been facilitated by globalisation and its many effects, such as growing disparity in wealth between North and South. Child sex trafficking (CST) in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) is an extremely complex problem, deeply rooted in historical injustice, gender inequality and poverty. In addition to the complexities of the child trafficking issue, the organisations that seek to combat CST are themselves not always a united force and display their own internal and inter-agency complexities. The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the key complexities of responding to CST in Thailand and Cambodia.

The methodology for this research consisted of 22 semi-structured interviews with anti-child trafficking experts in Thailand and Cambodia, in addition to field observations in various child sex tourism hubs in Southeast Asia.

The complexities of the CST problem in Thailand and Cambodia are discussed as well as analysis of the internal and inter-agency barriers faced by the organisations that seek to combat CST. The research finds that, due to limitations in donor funding, anti-trafficking organisations face difficulties in effectively responding to all aspects of the CST problem. The recommendation is made for improved advocacy networking against this transnational crime. Recent success stories are highlighted.

The research for this paper involved semi-structured interviews with staff from non-government organisations and United Nations agencies, but not with government representatives. The lack of available data from Thai and Cambodian government representatives limits the ability of the researcher to evaluate the effectiveness of anti-trafficking organisations’ response to the child trafficking issue. Also lacking is the voice of child trafficking victims, the key beneficiaries of anti-trafficking organisations’ aid and advocacy efforts.

There is an abundance of literature on the subject of CST but a dearth in scholarly literature on the subject of advocacy and policy responses to CST in Southeast Asia. This paper provides a valuable contribution the knowledge base on child trafficking by analysing both the complexities of the CST issue and the complexities, for anti-trafficking organisations, of effectively combating CST in the GMS.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the new digital services to improve information access and, in particular, on the findings of a user satisfaction survey, at the University of Calabria, with the digital collection service (Emeroteca Virtuale) provided by CIBER[1], a national consortium of university libraries.

After a literature review, a questionnaire was carefully prepared and submitted to a sample of 1,350 patrons, 20 of whom were also interviewed. Quotes from users are reported, showing feelings and observations. Additionally, a usability test was performed in order to assess the usability and usefulness of Emeroteca Virtuale. Frequency of use, as well as reasons for use and non‐use of the service were investigated and results are reported in this paper, using graphs and citing quotes from interviewed users, adding a qualitative perspective to the research.

Findings have enabled the defining of the level of users' satisfaction and also evaluating the impact on users of this digital service.

The limitations of this research are discussed and some recommendations about new activities to plan for service improvement are also defined.

As there was no previous study of this kind at the University of Calabria, this work can be considered useful in order to fill the gap and is a good starting point for further improvements.

This paper describes the approach to studying leadership within the interpretive paradigm that the author undertook for their doctoral research.

For the study, qualitative data were collected via in-depth interviews and the researcher's systematic reflections. The analytical process consisted of database design and management followed by cyclical interview and cross-interview analyses and integration of the researcher's reflections.

The paper showed that integrating various qualitative methods in pragmatic ways that better align with the research scope, along with a systematic approach to studying complex phenomena—such as leadership—generated richer and more cohesive perspectives.

This paper provides a detailed account of how the qualitative data collection and analysis methods were used, which could be replicated or adapted for future research within the interpretive paradigm.

The paper helps students and junior researchers make sense of qualitative data analysis and interpretation by offering practical tools to tackle the diverse processes of qualitative research.

This paper is based on the Author's doctoral research, recording their experience with engaging in qualitative research.

This study aims to examine the influence of managerial perceptions on the strategic responses adopted by four Colombian organizations when facing a political crisis.

To address this research, face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with Colombian managers, consultants, journalists, government officials, and industry experts, and triangulated with documents and archival data.

The findings show that the response adopted by each organization was significantly influenced by their manager's perception of the crisis and, consequently, was prone to producing a particular performance outcome.

The authors’ findings constitute a strong warning call to managers and management teams about the possibility of falling into the “mirror trap”, through which their organizations will adopt strategic responses influenced by their own perceptions of crises.

These findings suggest that managers can affect performance through their individual assessment of a crisis as a threat, an opportunity, or neither one nor the other.

The purpose of this paper is to present results and analysis from a case study on ethical dilemmas faced by client-side project management employees of a large Australian University.

A single case study approach was adopted using the property services division's experience of potential ethical dilemmas that staff were exposed to as a focus for the unit of analysis. Data were triangulated by interviewing the Deputy Director of the division, a programme manager, a project manager and a client (stakeholder) with experience of dealing with the division. Each person was interviewed and the interview transcribed and analysed using grounded theory to make sense of the data.

Four potential ethical dilemmas were identified: fraud/bribery/corruption; favouritism and special treatment; occupational health and safety and duty of care; and professionalism and respect for others. Leadership, governance structure and (organisational and national) culture supported initiative and independent thinking through cause-and-effect loops and consequences and this meditated and influenced how these dilemmas were dealt with.

This was just one case study in one cultural and governance setting. Greater insights and confidence in conclusions could be gained with replication of this kind of study. This study was part of a broader study of ethics in project management (PM) that consisted of eight other cases studies by others in the wider research team, also a quantitative study has been undertaken with results to be presented in other papers/reports. The main implication is that governance and workplace culture are two key influences that moderate and mediate an individuals inherent response to an ethical dilemma.

Clients (project owners or POs) and their representatives (PORs) hold a pivotal role in ensuring that PM work takes place within an environment characterised by high ethical standards yet the authors know that all PM parties, including client-side PORs, are faced with ethical dilemmas. What do the authors mean by an “ethical dilemma” and how may POs ensure that their PORs behave ethically? This paper provides practical guidance and demonstrates how ethical dilemmas can be analysed and appropriate action taken.

Ethics in PM has profound implications for value generation through projects. Project managers need sound guidance and processes that align with society's norms and standards to be able to deliver project value so that commercial or sectarian interests do not dominate project delivery at the expense of society in general.

This paper provides a rare example of a case study of project teams facing ethical dilemmas. The PM literature has few cases such as this to draw upon to inform PM theory and practice.

This study sets out to explore how people account for their translation, negotiation and shaping of environmentally relevant practices as information practices in their everyday life during the holidays and asks further how these narratives can be seen as accounting for situated information practices. It aims to focus on how summer guests holidaying in southern Sweden talk about how they connect different kinds of common everyday life practices to environmental information.

The investigation was carried out over a period of five months during 2008. It is based on seven semi‐structured interviews with nine owners of summer cottages in a holiday village in southern Sweden, three field visits to the village, one including a guided tour, as well as textual analysis of official documents and a local journal. A qualitative thematic analysis, together with a theoretical reading, brings together the intertwined narratives on environmental and information practices, which emerged in the interviews with close readings of textual documents. The resulting themes were given additional meaning by relating them to observations from field visits.

First, there is no obvious link between people's theoretical knowledge of environmental issues and their actual practices in everyday life. This is also the case for those aware of the impact individual practices are said to have on the environment and on society at large. Second, certain objects and the practices tied to them seem to have become carriers of environmental information in themselves. They are so routinely connected to environmental issues that people “think” through them, when they account for how they think about the environment in a way that has meaning to them.

Focusing on the situated information practices involved in creating meaning on environmental issues could have implications for how we think about information campaigns and policy making regarding environmental issues and lifestyles.

This paper suggests that a strong focus on the various perceived and constructed roles of information might contribute to conceptualise more robustly the role of objects and practices for conveying and enacting environmental issues and help to counter the de‐coupling of private and institutional responsibilities.