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This article aims to explain the role of philosophical anchors and research paradigms in business research, and how they can be extrapolated in the transformative era of automation, digitalization, hyperconnectivity, obligations, globalization and sustainability (ADHOGS) in the midst of disruption, volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (DVUCA).

This article entails a general review based on the 3Es of exposure, expertise and experience, delving into the ontological, epistemological, methodological, axiological and rhetorical aspects of the major research paradigms—i.e. positivism, post-positivism, constructivism, interpretivism and pragmatism—and their interplay with the emergent trends shaping business research.

This article underscores the multifaceted nature of business research in the modern day, with an increasing need for blending, or shifting between, research paradigms to address the complex issues arising from automation, digitalization, hyperconnectivity, obligations, globalization and sustainability (ADHOGS). This article also highlights the nuanced interplay between research paradigms and theoretical perspectives, demonstrating the rich, diverse potential of business research inquiries.

While this article provides a broad overview of the interplay between research paradigms and emerging trends, future research could explore each of these interplays in greater detail, conducting empirical studies or utilizing specific case studies.

Researchers and practitioners should be open to adopting, combining or switching between different paradigms according to the demands of their research questions, context and trends shaping the business landscape, thereby underscoring the need for methodological flexibility and reflexivity in business research.

The shift toward embracing digital transformations and integrating sustainability in business research holds significant implications, driving socially responsible and sustainable business practices at the micro-level, and by extension, industrial revolution and sustainable development at the macro-level.

This article offers a holistic and contextualized view of the philosophy of science and research paradigms for business research, bridging the gap between philosophical foundations and contemporary research trends.

The aim of this paper is to benchmark the quality of web sites of major public accounting (PA) firms by seeking the opinions of potential clients and analysing the data to establish best quality practice for PA web sites.

The study was conducted in a controlled laboratory setting in which potential clients of PA firms used a modified version of the WebQual™ questionnaire to evaluate the web sites of six leading PA firms. Design science provided the guiding paradigm but its weaknesses were ameliorated by drawing on constructivism and pragmatism to provide context and practicality for the research.

The study established web site quality profiles of six leading PA firms. The interpretation of findings is influenced by axiology and rhetoric and are both unbiased (determined by statistical means) and biased (influenced by the researchers' values). Data analysis clearly showed that the usability construct reflected the highest quality at all levels while riskiness was the construct with the lowest quality level.

The use of multiple paradigms (design science, constructivism, and pragmatism) produced the desired insights to determining web site quality issues for the PA sector for the key reason that they complemented each other rather than being in conflict. However, the usefulness of the approach is dependent on follow‐up research to confirm the findings with the PA firms concerned and to monitor any action taken by them in response to the study's findings.

By benchmarking a number of PA web sites, practices within the sector will be able to learn from the findings and be able to improve the quality of their web sites thereby retaining the competitive edge to meet their clients' needs.

The paper reflects on the value of the multi paradigm approach to web site quality research design and conduct and discussion of findings. It was concluded that design science provided the necessary research rigour while the other two paradigms enabled the researchers to bring their worldviews on ontology, epistemology, axiology and rhetoric to the research.

Understanding the most appropriate research philosophy to underpin any piece of scholarly inquiry is crucial if one hopes to address research problems in a manner distinct from those already evidenced across extant literature. Distinct philosophical ideas and positions are often associated with specific research designs, therefore influencing the research approach adopted in any given study. Identifying an appropriate philosophical approach requires robust comprehension of how philosophical positions differ, alongside a reflective understanding of one's own perceptions and beliefs regarding what knowledge and reality “are” and how new knowledge is discovered, developed, and/or confirmed. This chapter therefore discusses different research paradigms and philosophies in order to identify core distinctions therein, highlighting the advantages and the challenges associated with different philosophical approaches to research along the way.

Mixed methods research is an approach for blending quantitative and qualitative data analyses in a single study. It emerged as an alternative to the dichotomy of qualitative and quantitative traditions in the past 20 years. Some strengths of mixed methods research include the ability to generate and test theory, the capability to answer complex research questions, and the possibility of corroborating findings.

We argue the mixed methods approach fits well with comparative education studies because they seek to acquire data to make sound and meaningful comparisons about the experience and performance of education systems in different countries. By nature, comparative education attempts to explain why educational systems vary and to explore how education relates to wider social factors and forces. It consists of both confirmatory and exploratory inquiries that are based on the fundamental belief that education can be improved in all nations. Essentially, the mixed methods approach can adequately support the goals of comparative education studies, with its quantitative components serving the confirmatory objectives and the qualitative components attending to the exploratory end.

In this study, we conducted a survey of articles published between 2000 and 2014 in Comparative Education Review, Comparative Education, and Compare to discern the changes in patterns and preferences of dominant research methods. By surveying the three major journals in the field, we hope to reveal the means by which comparative education is conducted in its constituency. At the very least, we believe our study can provide important reference points for speculation about where comparative education might be headed in terms of methodology and methods.

This study aims to correct errors in, and comment on the claims made in the comment papers of Rigdon (2022) and Henseler and Schuberth (2022), and to tidy up any substantive oversights made in Cadogan and Lee (2022).

The study discusses and clarifies the gap between Rigdon’s notion of scientific realism and the metaphysical, semantic and epistemological commitments that are broadly agreed to be key principles of scientific realism. The study also examines the ontological status of the variables that Henseler and Schuberth claim are emergent using emergence logic grounded in the notion that variables are only truly emergent if they demonstrate a failure of generative atomism.

In scientific realism, hypothetical causal contact between the unobserved and the observed is a key foundational stance, and as such, Rigdon’s concept proxy framework (CPF) is inherently anti-realist in nature. Furthermore, Henseler and Schuberth’s suggestion that composite-creating statistical packages [such as partial least squares (PLS)] can model emergent variables should be treated with skepticism by realists.

Claims made by Rigdon regarding the realism of CPF are unfounded, and claims by Henseler and Schuberth regarding the universal suitability of partial least squares (PLS) as a tool for use by researchers of all ontological stripes (see their Table 5) do not appear to be well-grounded.

Those aspiring to do science according to the precepts of scientific realism need to be careful in assessing claims in the literature. For instance, despite Rigdon’s assertion that CPF is a realist framework, we show that it is not. Consequently, some of Rigdon’s core criticisms of the common factor logic make no sense for the realist. Likewise, if the variables resulting from composite creating statistical packages (like PLS) are not really emergent (contrary to Henseler and Schuberth) and so are not real, their utility as tools for scientific realist inquiry are called into question.

This study assesses PLS using the Eleatic Principle and examines H&S’s version of emergent variables from an ontological perspective.

This paper presents a review of research methodologies used in addressing problems in the financial management of property and construction journals from 2005 to 2020.

Content analysis of 258 research papers published in the Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction was carried out, enabling the exploration of research approaches, epistemology, strategies, data collection and data analysis methods used in addressing problems researched in the area of financial management of property and construction

The findings show that quantitative approaches and methods dominate, whereas qualitative and mixed methods were prominent in-depth understanding of a topics were needed. Interestingly, almost a third of the publications did not adopt quantitative approaches. In some journal issues, there was relatively high use of qualitative and multi-method approaches and up to 12% of the articles published over the past 16 years could be described as based on pragmatism.

An important implication of this paper is that a conventionally number-based area of research does not preclude the use of qualitative and mixed approaches. The findings are only generalisable to the Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction.

Financial management researchers could benefit greatly by considering pluralistic approaches more in the design of their studies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is an original synthesis of the articles published between 2005 and 2020. It provides new insight into the use of research methodologies by authors and how they have been combined to address their research problems. It further investigates an old issue or question about methodological choice-making using new evidence and original empirical work.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the way of how teaching in general and teaching of mathematics in particular can be reinvented by drawing on the perspective of pragmatism. Drawing on long‐standing traditions of John Dewey’s “laboratory model” of learning to teach and Charles Peirce’s semiotic view of scientific inquiry, the design of the lesson study can be reframed or extended through the methodological orientation to reinvention.

The theoretical framework of reinvention for lesson study, following a pragmatic approach, might offer a methodological orientation for mathematics teachers to foster increased self‐awareness in improving their own practices. The conceptualisation of such an orientation, which leads to the reinventing of teaching in mathematics classrooms, begins with an examination of two pragmatic theories: Dewey's concept of experience and Peirce's concept of practical belief and judgement. The methodological orientation for reinvention grounded on these concepts will then be outlined and elaborated.

Reinvention is a productive “triad of change” through which new possibilities of facilitating the student's learning can be created. Teachers will experience such change by experimenting with their students. In the context of teaching mathematics, reinventing teaching involves the action of an agent carrying out the conversions of mechanisms which bring forth a change of language, the transformation of gaze, and the moulding (the metamorphosis) of the individual who does the act of teaching.

The paper offers a theoretical framework of reinvention for lesson study through which teachers’ self‐awareness can be enhanced by improving their own practices. Through the undertaking of pedagogical experiments, teachers are becoming more aware of the need to learn from the learners in order to teach more effectively through the reinvention and unlearning of their own teaching.

Work-based research is the applied form of work-based learning (WBL) and has been described as the systematic and methodical process of investigating work-related “problems”. Such problems can either be associated with specific workplaces and domains of practice or may more broadly be described as practical, social or real-world in nature. However, the specific characteristics of work-related problems for organisations and society have yet to be explained, and inadequate problem definition, multiple and competing goals, and lack of agreement on cause-effect relationships have hampered understanding. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of work-related problems and provides examples from real-world contexts in Australia.

The paper provides models and examples of standard and non-standard work-related problems based on prior research and current practice.

Research paradigms view work-related problems as either definable and solvable or ill-defined, complex, difficult to describe and not easily rectified. The former view is concerned with “high ground problems” associated with traditional research methods; the latter with “lowland, messy, confusing problems” more frequently associated with the social sciences. Irrespective of orientation and definition, work-related problems have one thing in common: they are typically messy, constantly changing and complex, and many are co-produced and wicked.

Despite difficulties with identifying and isolating the various types of work-related problem, the paper establishes the importance of doing so for the practitioner. The definition and examination of work-related problems contribute to an evolving formulation of WBL and its application to private organisations, government agencies and work more generally.

Research fields that may imperil one's privacy and dignity present particular methodological challenges to researchers. Gaining a closer look into such fields therefore requires a subtle research design. The present study aims to look at the research of donor insemination (DI) in Israel in order to show the methodological variety required for the study of diverse aspects of this sensitive field of practice.

The authors applied a sequential mixed design whose flexibility allowed us to gain access to a relatively broad range of spheres of practice. They started with two qualitative strands, policy analysis and semi‐structured interviews with doctors, which conveyed the state's and professionals’ perspectives. However, when the authors wanted to study DI recipients, the medical staff ruled out any direct contact on grounds of patient confidentiality and singled out questionnaires as the only acceptable method. On the basis of the previously acquired knowledge, they devised a questionnaire which was delivered to DI recipients in five clinics in Israel. In the last strand of the project, they analyzed the donor registry in another DI clinic, which gave a glimpse into recipients’ (and staff's) preferences and choices regarding the donors themselves.

The diverse data that had been gathered could support a comprehensive argument about the political‐professional‐cultural shaping of DI as a last resort, somewhat dubious solution to male infertility. The study showed how, in this extremely sensitive field of life and practice, the pragmatic mixing of methods played a vital enabling role.

The paper takes a fresh look at a relatively unaccessible, under‐studied field of social policy and practice, and suggests a methodological approach to this sensitive field.

The objective of this study is to investigate how country risk, different political actions from the government and bureaucratic behavior influence the activities in industry supply chains (SCs) in emerging markets. The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of these external stakeholders’ elements to the demand-side and supply-side drivers and barriers for improving competitiveness of Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry in the way of analyzing supply chain. Considering the phenomenon of recent change in the RMG business environment and the competitiveness issues this study uses the principles of stakeholder and resource dependence theory and aims to find out some factors which influence to make an efficient supply chain for improving competitiveness. The RMG industry of Bangladesh is the case application of this study. Following a positivist paradigm, this study adopts a two phase sequential mixed-method research design consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches. A tentative research model is developed first based on extensive literature review. Qualitative field study is then carried out to fine tune the initial research model. Findings from the qualitative method are also used to develop measures and instruments for the next phase of quantitative method. A survey is carried out with sample of top and middle level executives of different garment companies of Dhaka city in Bangladesh and the collected quantitative data are analyzed by partial least square-based structural equation modeling. The findings support eight hypotheses. From the analysis the external stakeholders’ elements like bureaucratic behavior and country risk have significant influence to the barriers. From the internal stakeholders’ point of view the manufacturers’ and buyers’ drivers have significant influence on the competitiveness. Therefore, stakeholders need to take proper action to reduce the barriers and increase the drivers, as the drivers have positive influence to improve competitiveness.

This study has both theoretical and practical contributions. This study represents an important contribution to the theory by integrating two theoretical perceptions to identify factors of the RMG industry’s SC that affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. This research study contributes to the understanding of both external and internal stakeholders of national and international perspectives in the RMG (textile and clothing) business. It combines the insights of stakeholder and resource dependence theories along with the concept of the SC in improving effectiveness. In a practical sense, this study certainly contributes to the Bangladeshi RMG industry. In accordance with the desire of the RMG manufacturers, the research has shown that some influential constructs of the RMG industry’s SC affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. The outcome of the study is useful for various stakeholders of the Bangladeshi RMG industry sector ranging from the government to various private organizations. The applications of this study are extendable through further adaptation in other industries and various geographic contexts.