Search results

The purpose of this paper is to explore the application of social theory as conceptual methodology in the design of case study research.

The authors examine how social theory can be used to design case study research when the choice of theory is made before or during the empirical enquiry. Rather than simply presenting the elements of design, the focus is on the ways the elements relate and connect to each other, i.e. how a researcher can design each step to facilitate the work that needs to be done in the others.

A circular research design starts and finishes with the theory. The conceptual tools that social theories offer can be used to guide researchers into the empirical field and out of it. A conceptually driven design facilitates the interconnection between the various steps of a research project and can keep theory, research problem and data closely connected.

There is a role for systematic research design in interpretative case studies in management accounting and control. Although this paper uses strong structuration theory, the circular design proposed can be applied for other social theories and methodologies where an abductive approach is appropriate.

There are very few papers that explicitly demonstrate the implications of research design choices in case study research. In particular, the authors contribute to discussions on the conduct of interpretative research in management control and demonstrate that, especially for structuration theory, a conceptual methodology approach to research design, data collection and analysis can lead to theoretical insight.

The extensive distribution of fake news on the internet (FNI) has significantly affected many lives. Although numerous studies have recently been conducted on this topic, few have helped us to systematically understand the antecedents and consequences of FNI. This study contributes to the understanding of FNI and guides future research.

Drawing on the input–process–output framework, this study reviews 202 relevant articles to examine the extent to which the antecedents and consequences of FNI have been investigated. It proposes a conceptual framework and poses future research questions.

First, it examines the “what”, “why”, “who”, “when”, “where” and “how” of creating FNI. Second, it analyses the spread features of FNI and the factors that affect the spread of FNI. Third, it investigates the consequences of FNI in the political, social, scientific, health, business, media and journalism fields.

The extant reviews on FNI mainly focus on the interventions or detection of FNI, and a few analyse the antecedents and consequences of FNI in specific fields. This study helps readers to synthetically understand the antecedents and consequences of FNI in all fields. This study is among the first to summarise the conceptual framework for FNI research, including the basic relevant theoretical foundations, research methodologies and public datasets.

Students' simplistic observations and uninspired solutions for social-ecological dilemmas were the motivation for this study. The purpose of this paper is to foster systemic thinking in students and study the role of the lecturers.

The research was designed as a self-study action-research (AR), which was carried out by the lecturers of an environmental citizenship course in a teachers' college. The paper describes three AR circuits, expressed in three stages of field mapping by students: group mapping at the beginning of the course, initial individual field mapping and field mapping prior to action design.

Analyzing the maps after each stage allowed for design modifications. The findings indicate that field mapping helped students better understand the complexity of a social-ecological system and their role within it. Lecturers were required to maintain a delicate balance between teaching and supporting the students' first-hand experience as environmental citizens.

The study's conclusions are based on a case study and are therefore presented dialectically rather than as global generalizations.

Mapping the field of action can serve as a powerful tool in fostering a system approach to environmental citizenship in many educational settings.

The paper presents the use of Kurt Lewin's field theory for environmental education and for fostering environmental citizenship based on systemic and ecological thinking. The diversity of students' conceptualizations of the complexity of a social-ecological system, as revealed in this study, calls for further research of field-mapping as a teaching method.

This paper attempts to rebut criticisms of, and give further clarifications to, arguments about the nature of sociological explanation previously made by Martin (2011).

Here, arguments initially derived through historical reconstruction of theory are instead drawn out from our common stock of experiences. Aspects of the argument that were complex as initially presented are simplified here, and the maximum contrast between this approach and the more conventional is made.

The implications for practice are many; most important, the claim of Martin (2011) – rejected by Bradford (2013), as critiqued herein – to offer a coherent alternative to our current understanding of the task of explanation, if successfully demonstrated, suggests a reorientation of sociological research toward the production of intersubjectively valid cartographies and away from causal or pseudo-causal accounts.

Social theorists who are willing to seriously think about what lies in between our practice and knowledge as sociologists and as actors – to do the research.

The value of the paper, therefore, derives from its capacity to dispel common misunderstandings of Martin (2011), and to allow social researchers as well as social theorists, to make use of a coherent vocabulary for the development of social research, which otherwise would remain inaccessible to them.

The purpose of this article is to review the importance of theory in social enterprise research.

The article presents and relates previous work on theory borrowing, theory extension and theory generation to social enterprise research.

Theoretical embeddeness and social relevance are important for the legitimacy of social enterprise research.

Social enterprise research offers a promising array of opportunities for theory extension and development.

In the social sciences, practical relevance is important for good theory development. Better theories have the potential to improve practice.

The article applies previous research on theory borrowing, extension and development to the context of social enterprise research.

Entrepreneurship evolves in and around fields, particularly around the creation of opportunities. A central problem remains that entrepreneurial opportunities are both distributed among and co-created by embedded actors. We propose framing this in cultural terms as a “multiverse problem,” whereby entrepreneurial possibilities are understood within the bounds of a field, but also through traversing adjacent topographies. We argue that a focus on entrepreneurial moments captures important dynamics that bring together adjacent possibles, leading to drastically different pathways. The usefulness of this argument is illustrated in this paper through the articulation of a cultural cartographic approach to mapping and realizing entrepreneurial possibilities. We develop four principles of cultural cartography, apply them to several examples, and demonstrate implications to cultural entrepreneurship and adjacent theoretical traditions.

Organizational Development and Change (ODC) has been called to aid organizational greening goals. Carbon labeling of products by organizations is a common greening strategy. However, its effectiveness is dependent on supportive consumer behavior. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is used to explain actor choice in buying low carbon products (LCPs). Actual buying behavior of 873 subjects in China, a country new to carbon labeling, demonstrated that Declarative norms, Attitude, and Perceived behavioral control explained significant variance in actual buying behavior of LCPs. The TPB model may be better served by observing actual behavior versus behavioral intention. Revisions to the TPB model for diagnosis and interventions in behavioral change are indicated. ODC should revert to theoretically informed practice versus the increasing reliance on A-theoretical tools and techniques.

Operations and supply chain management (OSCM) is a theoretically and philosophically fragmented field. Researchers must consider how they use theory and explain empirical phenomena. This paper aims to use critical realism to introduce more coherence into this fragmented field.

This paper draws on existing critical realism and abduction literature and this study uses a research process from two PhD projects to investigate critical realism’s role in OSCM research. This paper uses a narrative approach to collect data over a long timeframe, capturing data not commonly used in OSCM research.

Research that struggles to bridge the gap between theory and data benefits from critical realism, which provides a philosophy and associated methods to identify a suitable theory and guide researchers when they encounter obstacles. While clear steps often outline established methods, researchers are sometimes unable to identify when their research process has reached an obstacle. This paper argues that such obstacles can be treated as “crossroads” offering new research opportunities when correctly evaluated and addressed.

Importantly, researchers should be able to reflect upon their own research processes, enabling a better understanding of these processes and the discovery of new research directions. Researchers can use critical realism, abduction and systematic combining to bridge the divide between theory and data in OSCM.

This paper contributes to the field’s discussion regarding the roles of critical realism and abduction, synthesizing multiple academic sources, highlighting critical realism’s importance and providing a novel means of addressing difficulties in navigating an eclectic research area. This paper offers a philosophical alternate to the field, which is often instead considered from a positivistic standpoint. The paper is valuable to researchers in the OSCM field, who can use the research to improve their selection of data and theories, as well as their understanding of their own research processes.

Any career is marked by luck, both good and bad, as well as by hard work interspersed by times of uncertainty, fits and starts, and learning from one's mistakes and successes. But beyond these outcomes and actions, I owe an enormous debt to people who have shaped me and made life the challenging and rewarding journey it is. My family of origin and extended family were incredibly supportive in personal and functional ways. So many mentors and teachers influenced what I know and who I am. Many students, colleagues, secretaries, computer and library staff, and group chairs and deans provided the help, inspiration, and friendship guiding my career behind the scenes. My wife, son, and daughter sustained me through times of tears and joy, as did my community of faith. All these relationships were foundational to any contributions I may have made to attitudes, social action, and theory of mind; methodology, statistics, and philosophical foundations of research; sales force, organization, and health behaviors; emotions, ethics, and moral behavior; and marketing and managerial practice. For me, my career contributions are secondary to the relationships within which I was fortunate to engage.

Informed by the Bourdieusian construct of the social field, the purpose of this paper is to explore how different aspects of the educational field and the sub-field of English language teaching in Iran influence diverse components of the professional identity of high school EFL teachers. To this aim, the impact of the power hierarchization structure, distribution of capitals and field autonomy, as important aspects of the social field theory, is investigated in relation to Iranian EFL teachers’ professional identity construction.

Van Manen’s (1990) hermeneutic phenomenological research method was adopted to analyze the data obtained through the semi-structured interviews and reflexive journals from 15 Iranian EFL teachers at high schools.

The hermeneutic phenomenological analysis of the data yielded to the extraction of one global, three organizing and six basic themes. The global theme was the educational field and professional identity. The resulting organizing themes were: first, autonomous field and teachers’ commitment; second, asymmetric power relation and teachers’ autonomy; and, finally, cultural capital and teachers’ motivation. This study revealed how the complex and multi-dimensional nature of the power relations between the field of education and power influenced the professional identity of EFL teachers.

This dynamic representation of the inherent complexities of the educational context contributes to a more profound understanding of the role of the micro and macro contextual factors in formulating teachers’ professional identity. The implications of this study are further explained.

Hereby, the authors declare that all the procedures of data collection and analysis have been just done by the researchers.