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1 – 10 of 960Phenomenology has a long tradition as a qualitative research method in the social and health sciences. The application of phenomenological methods to understand lived experiences…
Abstract
Purpose
Phenomenology has a long tradition as a qualitative research method in the social and health sciences. The application of phenomenological methods to understand lived experiences and subjectivities offers researchers a rich tapestry of methodological approaches, often however, the availability of these methods to researchers is tempered as a result of inflexible ideas regarding their use. This article aims to highlight the uniting features between approaches.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper begins by offering a brief overview of the two traditions within phenomenology, the descriptive and interpretive approaches and traces the development of each one. It then presents an overview of the commonalities shared by both approaches in with particular reference to the philosophical and methodological cohesion between them.
Findings
Frequently, the literature fails to focus on how these methodologies can be used together, and instead foregrounds the ontological and methodological differences between them. While an overview of some of the more vociferous debates within phenomenology are included and acknowledged, the paper calls for a focus on the shared goals of the phenomenological project.
Originality/value
This article aims to illustrate that, while recognising differences, the two phenomenological traditions have more in common that unites them, and argues that once this is applied pragmatically, a multiplicity of phenomenological traditions are available to researchers.
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Edicleia Oliveira, Serge Basini and Thomas M. Cooney
This article aims to explore the potential of feminist phenomenology as a conceptual framework for advancing women’s entrepreneurship research and the suitability of…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to explore the potential of feminist phenomenology as a conceptual framework for advancing women’s entrepreneurship research and the suitability of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to the proposed framework.
Design/methodology/approach
The article critically examines the current state of women’s entrepreneurship research regarding the institutional context and highlights the benefits of a shift towards feminist phenomenology.
Findings
The prevailing disembodied and gender-neutral portrayal of entrepreneurship has resulted in an equivocal understanding of women’s entrepreneurship and perpetuated a male-biased discourse within research and practice. By adopting a feminist phenomenological approach, this article argues for the importance of considering the ontological dimensions of lived experiences of situatedness, intersubjectivity, intentionality and temporality in analysing women entrepreneurs’ agency within gendered institutional contexts. It also demonstrates that feminist phenomenology could broaden the current scope of IPA regarding the embodied dimension of language.
Research limitations/implications
The adoption of feminist phenomenology and IPA presents new avenues for research that go beyond the traditional cognitive approach in entrepreneurship, contributing to theory and practice. The proposed conceptual framework also has some limitations that provide opportunities for future research, such as a phenomenological intersectional approach and arts-based methods.
Originality/value
The article contributes to a new research agenda in women’s entrepreneurship research by offering a feminist phenomenological framework that focuses on the embodied dimension of entrepreneurship through the integration of IPA and conceptual metaphor theory (CMT).
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Jill Fenton Taylor and Ivana Crestani
This paper aims to explore how an academic researcher and a practitioner experience scepticism for their qualitative research.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how an academic researcher and a practitioner experience scepticism for their qualitative research.
Design/methodology/approach
The study applies Olt and Teman's new conceptual phenomenological polyethnography (2019) methodology, a hybrid of phenomenology and duoethnography.
Findings
For the researcher-participants, the essence of living with scepticism means feeling a sense of injustice; struggling with the desire for simplicity and quantification; being in a circle of uneasiness; having a survival mechanism; and embracing healthy scepticism. They experience the essence differently and similarly in varied cultural contexts. Through duoethnographic conversations, they acknowledge that while there can be scepticism of their work, it is important to remain sceptical, persistent and curious by challenging traditional concepts. Theoretical and practical advances in artificial intelligence (AI) continue to highlight the need for clarifying qualitative researcher roles in academia and practice.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the debate of qualitative versus quantitative research. Its originality is in exploring scepticism as lived experience, from an academic and practitioner perspective and applying a phenomenological polyethnography approach that blends two different traditional research paradigms.
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Brajesh Mishra, Avanish Kumar and Ishaan Mishra
The study explores the evolution of Indian domestic electronics manufacturing post-economic reforms and also investigates the lack of natural growth stages among Indian…
Abstract
Purpose
The study explores the evolution of Indian domestic electronics manufacturing post-economic reforms and also investigates the lack of natural growth stages among Indian start-up/SME electronics manufactures.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical framework is inspired by Dawar and Frost's survival strategy theory that local companies may follow to overcome competitive threats from MNCs. The study adopts a qualitative methodology, more precisely, a phenomenological approach to walking through policy/regulatory reforms amid market distortions, technological gaps and colonial mindset from the perspective of Indian domestic electronics manufacturers. The study has adopted Gioia method of data analysis to inductively suggest a few research propositions.
Findings
The phenomenological approach revealed eight essential structure (essence) narratives to explore the complex issue that plague the industry: make in India, made in India, preferential market access strategy, equitable market access strategy, blue ocean strategy, competitive positioning strategy, technical capability and importance of policy/regulatory arbitrage.
Practical implications
The situation of Indian electronics manufacturing units is comparable to the bonsai tree situation, where natural evolution in business stages does not exist; they are born and die as start-ups/MSMEs. The study advocates for equitable market access by removing market distortions. The long-term solution may lie in making available locally manufactured products as a dependable alternative to the imported products or produced locally by MNC OEMs in terms of cost, quality, technology, volume, after-sale service and integrated supply chain.
Originality/value
While the favorable FDI policies, digital India and make-in India initiatives have strengthened domestic electronics production, it is yet to significantly impact India's position in global trade, including manufacturing and exports.
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Alexandra Sewell, Anastasia Kennett, Rebecca Williams and Harry South
Mental ill health is on the rise amongst undergraduate students and has been investigated using both positivist/quantitative and exploratory/qualitative research methods. However…
Abstract
Purpose
Mental ill health is on the rise amongst undergraduate students and has been investigated using both positivist/quantitative and exploratory/qualitative research methods. However, the lived experiences of mature students who have mental ill health have not been directly investigated. A limited research literature suggests that challenges particular to mature undergraduate students can cause mental ill health or exacerbate existing needs. Further research exploring the lived experiences of mature undergraduate students with mental ill health is thus warranted.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was adopted to explore lived experiences of mental ill health for mature students in higher education. The interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) explores the experience of higher education mature students who self-identify as having mental ill health. Five participants were interviewed about their personal stories and perceptions.
Findings
The study found that participants interpreted the experience of mental ill health as very difficult with no redeeming features reported. A lack of control over mental ill health experiences was contrasted with attempts to control mental ill health, whether successful or not, in order to progress with their learning. Participants conceptualised being mature undergraduate students as a last chance succeed in life, education or a career. This increased stress that interacted with their mental ill health symptoms.
Research limitations/implications
IPA calls for a small, homogenised participant sample. This limits generalisation of the research findings. Recruitment criteria welcomed participants who self-identified as experiencing mental ill health, leading to potential bias in reported lived experiences.
Practical implications
The research findings highlight the value of considering the lived experience of students experiencing mental ill health whilst studying. Whilst general approaches to support can be successful, this research demonstrates how higher educational professionals must orient towards an ideographic perspective when considering how to provide individualised, inclusive support for students experiencing mental ill health. A discussion on how this can be actualised is provided.
Social implications
The research provides impetus to the perspective that students have unique lived experiences of mental ill health, and that this is particularly so for mature undergraduate students. A key social implication of this is that, whilst positive based, one-size fits most, interventions for students experiencing mental ill health are useful, higher education educators must also be cognizant of unique, dynamic experiences each student will have. As such, there is a need to move towards a relational, dialogic approach when considering and designing tailored support.
Originality/value
Mature undergraduate students who experience mental ill health are at risk of not reaching their potential. Yet despite this, exploration of mature undergraduate student's experiences of mental ill health is nascent in the academic literature. Research considering their unique perspectives as an avenue to develop joint compassionate understandings and interactions between students and educators are additionally scant. The current study begins to address this dearth of exploration and commentary. It provides an idiosyncratic, novel inquiry into this important issue.
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Helen Williams and Katrina Pritchard
This chapter draws upon our experiences of using materials in research interviews. We build on the work of Woodward (2016, 2020) by reflexively exploring how our use of material…
Abstract
This chapter draws upon our experiences of using materials in research interviews. We build on the work of Woodward (2016, 2020) by reflexively exploring how our use of material objects; in this case, Lego enabled both participants and researchers to connect more fully with the entrepreneurial phenomena under investigation (Williams et al., 2021). In doing so, we unpack how our use of objects reveals the research interview as a more complex phenomenon than is typically represented (Gubrium et al., 2012).
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Zainab Shahzadi Javid, Zohra Nazeer, Rozina Sewani and Abdullah Laghari
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of using mobile devices as an instructional tool on teachers' creativity and to promote their usage as instructional tools…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of using mobile devices as an instructional tool on teachers' creativity and to promote their usage as instructional tools in educational settings. The research also studies the perceptions of teachers on the effect of using mobile devices as an instructional tool on their creativity and what features of mobile devices are believed to help in terms of enhancing their creativity.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative inquiry used an interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) method for inspecting the professional capabilities of Pakistan's primary and secondary school teachers. Data were gathered from nine individuals through interviews. Three themes regarding creativity emerged from the study data.
Findings
It is found that the use of mobile devices as a teaching tool significantly increases teachers' creativity by enabling them to manifest their creativity and explore different pedagogical vistas in which they can use a wide variety of instructional resources and tools. Using mobile devices as a teaching tool improved three skills: motivation, self-confidence and communication skills. Mobile applications, cameras and portability of these devices are among the features that teachers considered to have encouraged their creativity.
Research limitations/implications
Finding the obstacles and difficulties teachers have while utilizing these tools to demonstrate their creativity may be valuable for future studies. First, because respondents were teachers from elementary and secondary classes, the population was not entirely homogenous, even though they had adequate help. Second, only semi-structured interviews were utilized for data gathering in this study. Further data collection methods, including observational research or participant-written reflective diaries, are thought to have been preferred.
Practical implications
For future research, it may be interesting to determine whether the results of this study can be applied to other demographic groups. Based on this study, it is also recommended to conduct a quantitative study to know teachers' perceptions of the impact of these devices on creativity, since these studies can have promising results for teachers.
Social implications
Through the use of various materials, tools and activities, these devices provide several distinctive teaching alternatives. Because of this, using it as a teaching tool gives teachers the ability to tailor courses to a range of learner types. Additionally, having easy access to a multitude of online resources and the capacity to interact with others helped in ideation. The teachers experienced feelings of motivation, self-confidence and a desire to impart information, all of which are traits of creative teachers. Based on the findings of this study, we may now think about using mobile devices in the classroom to encourage teachers' creativity.
Originality/value
The outcomes of this research indicated that teachers' creativity is strongly influenced by their use of mobile devices as instructional tools. This paper advances the understanding of teachers’ creativity by highlighting their lived experiences. This study is novel because it highlights how these devices have the potential to be used as instructional tools, which has not been highlighted by any study so far.
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Erlinda N. Yunus and Erni Ernawati
This study aims to examine the positive impact of strategies on the viability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in times of crisis. Specifically, it investigates the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the positive impact of strategies on the viability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in times of crisis. Specifically, it investigates the influence of resource utilization as an initial survival strategy on innovation practices and SMEs’ performance. It further assesses the potential impact of government aid and partnerships on the relationship between resource utilization and innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a mixed-method approach that integrates phenomenology and quantitative research. This phenomenological study conducted in-depth interviews with 23 SME owners. Based on qualitative findings, a quantitative research design was developed, and this study surveyed 352 SMEs. Structural equation modeling was used for hypothesis testing.
Findings
Resource utilization as an initial survival strategy has a positive effect on increasing organizational innovation practices and ultimately affects business performance. Furthermore, government support and external partnerships significantly enhance the relationship between resource utilization and innovation.
Practical implications
The COVID-19 pandemic brought a crisis for businesses but has provided many positive transformations. SME entrepreneurs should sustain their survival strategies and seize external support to enhance their potential. Due to the pandemic, various efforts have created innovations, honed business resiliency and increased competitiveness.
Originality/value
SMEs struggled with the crisis and responded by utilizing many retrenchment strategies. This study is among the first to provide empirical evidence of an emergency response that has resulted in fruitful impacts. The findings can be generalized to represent the behavior of SMEs, especially in emerging countries.
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Brandy Pieper and Masha Krsmanovic
The purpose of this study is to examine whether implicit bias exists within the graduate admissions process at a large public research university in the Southeast United States…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine whether implicit bias exists within the graduate admissions process at a large public research university in the Southeast United States. Additionally, this research sought to identify the type of strategies graduate faculty in the USA use to assess their implicit bias and the support they may need to better recognize and gauge implicit bias during the graduate application review process.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used the use of a qualitative, phenomenological research design by conducting individual interviews with graduate faculty members that serve on admissions committees.
Findings
The findings revealed six themes in relation to the purpose of the study – bias recognition, faculty perceptions of their own bias, faculty perceptions on the bias of others, strategies for the application review process, admission committee safeguards and the need for implicit bias training.
Originality/value
The study outcomes are discussed in relation to the prior research and literature on this phenomenon. Additionally, the study presents research and practical implications, including actionable strategies for how its results can be practically applied.
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Efe Imiren, Paul Lassalle, Samuel Mwaura and Katerina Nicolopoulou
This paper, through empirical evidence, presents a framework for exploring how entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of building legitimacy in a digital context. In so doing, this…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper, through empirical evidence, presents a framework for exploring how entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of building legitimacy in a digital context. In so doing, this paper goes beyond the seemingly forgone conclusion that legitimacy is important for the entrepreneur's success by focusing on the contextualised mechanisms through which digital legitimacy is built.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical findings are drawn from semi-structured interviews conducted with 21 digital entrepreneurs in Nigeria, a leading example of the West African context and analysed using a phenomenological approach.
Findings
The paper shows how digital entrepreneurs in a non-Western context draw on an aspect of legitimation in the digital space, and in particular, highlights three mechanisms via which this takes place, namely: digital shielding, digital curating and digital networking. Presented via an inductive approach, the three mechanisms described in the paper provide a scaffold for thinking about and understanding entrepreneurial legitimacy within a contextual framework, which incorporates institutional, cultural and digital dimensions.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature on digital entrepreneurship by empirically identifying and theoretically elaborating themes that are important for understanding how entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of digital entrepreneurship and build entrepreneurial legitimacy in complex contexts.
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