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The capability approach is a normative framework that seeks to evaluate the quality of life through the evaluation of individual freedoms. It is behind the Human Development Index and it is increasingly applied in educational research, mostly in topics related to inequalities and curriculum development. This chapter provides an overview of the use of the capability approach in higher education. It first outlines its two versions, the evaluative version of Sen and the relational version of Nussbaum, arguing their complementary nature. Second, it points out its major critiques, namely the difficulties in its operationalisation. Finally, it reviews some examples of its application in higher education research, focusing mostly in Western-based contributions.

The paper aims to examine the relationship between creating capabilities and political liberalism. It argues that the reality of climate change calls for the capabilities approach to be more rooted in a relational anthropology which the Aristotelian ethical tradition is more akin to.

It discusses how traces of this ethical tradition can be found in Nussbaum's capabilities approach itself: affiliation as an architectonic capability leads to the common good being the end of political action, and practical reason as an architectonic capability leads to reasoning being structured by concerns for the common good.

The paper suggests some practical implications of an Aristotelian version of the capabilities approach.

The paper seeks to build an account of social justice based on the capabilities approach with Aristotelian roots.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical account of how firms make choices between dynamic capability-based and ad hoc problem-solving approaches toward strategic change.

A model has been developed to answer the questions of how and under what conditions firms develop appropriate approaches to handle strategic change.

Drawing upon structural inertia theory (SIT) and the resource-based view (RBV), the model predicts that firms, regardless of their age and size, are more likely to adopt an ad hoc problem-solving approach to handle change in both highly dynamic and low-dynamic environments. However, in moderately dynamic environments, a dynamic capability-based approach may be more appropriate, depending on which theoretical logic (SIT or RBV) the decision is made.

The paper builds on the useful distinction made by Winter (2003) in terms of the ways to handle organizational change and extends the recent research on temporary vs sustainable competitive advantages to investigate how firms tackle strategic change within the contexts of both environmental dynamism and organizational attributes.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the value of the “capability approach” as an alternative framework for understanding and conceptualising the role of Refugee Community Organisations (RCOs) and other providers for groups conventionally considered “hard to reach”.

A study of the education services of RCOs, drawing primarily on semi-structured interviews with 71 users, is put forward as a case study for how the capability approach can be operationalised.

The capability approach is found to offer various valuable insights, relating to its appreciation of the multi-dimensional nature of human wellbeing, the significance of individual diversity, and the importance of human agency.

The case study is based on a relatively small purposive sample, and may have limited external validity. As the research design proved strong for exploring how RCOs develop their users’ capabilities but weak for exploring if and how they may also constrict them, further research in this area is required.

A number of valuable attributes of the capability approach are highlighted for broadening the understanding, the role of RCOs and other service providers.

The paper outlines the potential of the capability approach to contribute to policymaking related to RCOs and other providers, and to debates relating to social exclusion, cohesion and integration.

The paper draws attention to the value of the capability approach within the field of migration research.

The human development and capability approach (HDCA) and its associated participatory method is receiving growing attention as a useful conceptual development for comparative international education. HDCA challenges the economism so prevalent in world development thinking and, instead, looks at development as a process of enhancing persons’ incrementally achieved substantive freedoms from deprivations. The centrality of the person replaces the centrality of income growth.

The application of HDCA to the study of the role of education that promotes social justice change is illustrated by using an empowerment-capability framework to the long-term study of the benefits of village schooling for rural girls in western China.

Using HDCA to identify influences on social change, we derive a much more nuanced and valuable multi-dimensional view of human development, which enables us to draw broad implications for more effective policy. National policies should use a multi-dimensional informational base including equality, sustainability, and non-market dimensions of well-being as well as market production.

Purpose: Case studies are detailed empirical investigations into a complex entity that emphasize the uniqueness of the case and are valuable for making a theoretical contribution. We aim to reveal the types of theoretical contributions case study research can make to the field of strategy and management and explore how case study design can create the opportunities for making a theoretical contribution.

Methodology/Approach: The dynamic capability approach focuses on the firm-specific processes through which firms integrate, build, or reconfigure resources. A comprehensive review of case studies in this field is conducted in five search engines, resulting in a data set of 13 in-depth case studies.

Findings: We demonstrate that using case studies to extend and refine theory enhances knowledge in the field of dynamic capabilities. In strategy and management research, case studies identify and refine constructs and their relationships, develop and confirm propositions, and embed constructs within a larger set of relationships. We reveal that sampling strategy, research setting, and multiple lenses are aspects of case study design that create opportunities for making a theoretical contribution.

Practical Implications: We suggest that case study researchers strategically and purposefully sample cases, vary the setting conditions, or draw upon numerous research fields to make a theoretical contribution.

Originality/Value of Paper: Going beyond the current discussion, we show that case studies have the potential to extend and refine theory. We shed new light on how dynamic capabilities can benefit from case study research by discovering the antecedents that shape the development of capabilities and determining the boundary conditions of the dynamic capabilities approach.

Central to Martha Nussbaum's development of the capability approach into a theory of social and global justice is her addition of the notion of a capability threshold below which no dignified human life can be lived. This capability threshold identifies a standard for distributive justice that any decent political order must secure for all citizens. It is this threshold that is the intended focus of this paper.

Examining her most recent statement of the capability approach, Nussbaum's arguments that the threshold should be locally set by each nation in accordance with their history and traditions, and that all nations currently fail to satisfy the threshold condition, are assessed.

This paper shows that if Nussbaum's arguments are accepted, then the central function of a threshold as a tool of discrimination is undermined. If all nations fail to meet their locally set threshold, then there is no clear basis for the global redistribution that Nussbaum regards as necessary. Indeed, what basis there is could even justify counter‐intuitive redistribution from poorer to richer nations.

This paper concludes that if the capability approach is to be developed into a theory of social justice, then, rather than being set locally at different levels, the capability threshold may need to be a genuinely global one. Only then can the threshold discriminate between unjust political orders and those that are at least minimally just.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight issues with current methodologies and rationales used to model the achievement of high business performance in operations management studies, particularly those dealing with the trade‐offs – cumulative capabilities concepts. The paper also attempts to provide solutions to these problems.

A conceptual approach and critique of previous methodologies and rationales is utilised. In particular, use is made of a “thought experiment” in order to illustrate the issues that need to be addressed.

Widely accepted approaches and rationales used to model the achievement of high levels of performance are limited. This is particularly true when more recent theoretical developments in the field are considered. Thus, more comprehensive methodologies, rationales and terminologies that resolve the identified difficulties are necessary. To address this issue, this paper offers a more holistic way to examine the relationships between two or more competitive criteria.

The main implications are related to research methodologies, rationales and approaches.

The paper makes two important and novel contributions to this area of research: it brings the attention to problems that have been largely ignored, and it provides solutions to these issues. The results should be of interest to researchers in the area of strategic/operations management, especially those interested in the modelling of high levels of firm performance, as represented by the trade‐offs and cumulative capabilities concepts.

The purpose of this paper is to address the problem of ensuring that the capabilities are in place to identify when a project can no longer deliver value and to take appropriate action to terminate the project.

Focus groups with project management practitioners were used to collect in-depth qualitative data. This was then supplemented with a questionnaire, which included both closed questions and the opportunity for free text answers.

The problem of getting better at stopping projects is both common and difficult to solve. It has many facets, which include complex people and cultural issues, processes and procedures as well as financial reporting and project governance. In order to improve, therefore, it is useful to address these different facets in a coordinated way using a capability approach with a focus on business value.

The data from practitioners are retrospective, as their actions were not actually observed by the researchers as they were happening. This means that faulty recollection may influence the results but, it also allows for insights from reflection to be incorporated.

An organizational capability approach focusing on all three aspects of capability; people, processes and technology, can help organizations get better at stopping projects. Specific recommendations are provided and analyzed in terms of their respective capability focus.

If performance in terminating projects is improved, it has the potential for significant benefits and cost saving for society in terms of improved government services and the ability to halt projects around new policy initiatives when emerging evidence shows they will not work.

It provides detailed practitioner input on the problem of stopping projects and suggests recommendations for improvement in the context of a structured organizational capability approach with reference to a particular framework, IT-CMF.

The growth, diversity and applications of research into dynamic capabilities (DCs) have resulted in the whole literature on DCs becoming a complex and disconnected body of knowledge. This has led to criticisms of the subject of DCs as being vague, tautological and without practical value. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to synthesize the diverse scholarly literature about DCs and develop a more integrated understanding to minimize the reported apparent vagueness.

In this paper, the authors review various relevant themes on DCs using a selection of 133 articles published in 22 recognized, top-tier management journals during the period between 1990 and 2016, with an aim to build a structured and integrated theory. For this, morphological analysis (MA), a systems-thinking technique, is applied.

MA is applied to develop a multi-dimensional conceptual framework comprising five dimensions and 26 variants that enable a structured representation of the conceptual foundations of DCs. Further, the authors identify 81 individual DCs noted by various scholars; elucidate assumptions and antecedents relevant to the DCs approach; structure the key characteristics; and expound the input factors, impacting factors, desired outcomes and assessment yardsticks.

This would be a useful resource for researchers working in the area of DCs to explore opportunities for future research.

The MA framework helps managers to look at DCs more holistically, and hence would help them in developing, managing and retaining DCs in organizations.

This study is the original work contributed by the authors and has no specific organizational reference. This research implies new directions to look beyond individual DCs in firms toward a more integrated theory building.