Articles featured in the April 2024 edition of the Journal of Management Inquiry are accessible via open access through June 2024.
APRIL 2023 – Volume 33, Issue 2
CURATED
Honing the Craft of Qualitative Data Collection in Extreme Contexts
Payal Sharma, Madeline Toubiana, Kisha Lashley, Felipe Massa, Kristie Rogers and Trish Ruebottom
Vol. 33(2) 99–114
DOI: 10.1177/10564926231194271
https://journals.sagepub.com/stoken/default+domain/TDKHZQTJJHHWAZ3FMKJJ/full
Over the past several years, there has been ongoing dialog within our academic journals and the profession regarding the value of examining extreme, unconventional, or unsettling contexts in management research. These conversations have highlighted that perhaps more than ever, we as a society are facing unprecedented grand and perplexing challenges, and conducting research in unconventional or extreme settings can reveal complex dynamics or relationships that we may not understand otherwise. Less discussed, however, are methodological considerations for conducting research in unique contexts. As such, we aim to extend the explicit discussion of effective strategies for scholars who consider the perspectives and workplace realities of unusual or unconventional populations. We bring together a collection of reflective essays rooted in the authors' experiences of collecting data from extreme contexts or unusual samples. We highlight how these rich experiences in the field required the authors to modify or extend methodological conventions with the goal of guiding scholars pursuing research in similarly unconventional contexts.
Keywords: qualitative methods, interviews, qualitative research, stigma
ESSAYS
Strategizing Together for a Better World: Institutional, Paradox and Practice Theories in Conversation
Rikke Rønholt Albertsen, Shahzad (Shaz) Ansari, Katrin Heucher, Marc Krautzberger, Ann Langley, Pauline Charlotte Reinecke, Natalie Slawinski and Eero Vaara
Vol. 33(2) 115-130
DOI: 10.1177/10564926231210238
https://journals.sagepub.com/stoken/default+domain/PCXIZSKK5XHKDVRT4RSZ/full
In this article, based on a Symposium held at the 2022 Academy of Management Meeting, we present a moderated discussion between established scholars in the field of grand challenges-Shahzad (Shaz) Ansari, Natalie Slawinski, and Eero Vaara- focusing on the role of institutional, paradox, and practice theories in research on grand challenges. Our goal for the symposium was to bring these theoretical perspectives into conversation, reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of the lenses, and discuss potential intersections for future research on grand challenges. We present the panelists' prepared remarks as well as the interactive discussion covering four topics: the limitations of existing concepts and theories, materiality, impact, and relations between theory and practice. As part of these four discussion topics, we also present questions and reflections from the audience. We conclude by summarizing insights gleaned from the symposium about critical gaps and avenues for future research.
Keywords: institutional theory, paradox, business and society, process thinking, sustainability
EMPIRICAL
Logic Plasticity and Bounded Custodial Work in Inter-Institutional Projects
Israël Fortin
Vol. 33(2) 131–150
DOI: 10.1177/10564926231165680
https://journals.sagepub.com/stoken/default+domain/MAIKDSDSCCUMHAUGU3YP/full
I studied competing institutional logics in inter-institutional projects in aerospace to understand which logic would prevail when several logics compete in temporary organizing. While competing logic tensions between academia and the industry were expected, I additionally found competing logic tensions between multinationals and suppliers. I argue that the competing logic tensions originated from the informal roles that emerged from the interactions among the partners in the projects, which were predetermined by the complementary knowledge that initially justified the collaborations. These informal roles activated custodial work among the partners, which was bounded by logic plasticity. Contrary to what was expected, the more rigid logics prevailed over the most plastic logics in temporary organizing.
Keywords: institutional theory, innovation, qualitative methods, tensions, teams
Closing the Product Utility Gap: How Tech Entrepreneurs Imagine Unknown Client Markets
Stephan Manning
Vol. 33(2) 151–164
DOI: 10.1177/10564926231178208
https://journals.sagepub.com/stoken/default+domain/VYTUFE5RK2SREXZHSNJJ/full
What drives the entrepreneurial imagination of unknown client markets? Based on a multi-case study of tech entrepreneurs operating out of Boston, this study examines this under-researched question. Findings suggest that tech entrepreneurs imagine unknown client markets in increasingly sophisticated ways, starting from envisioning primary users of the product, to considering multiple parallel client populations, to imagining interdependent client groups using the product in complementary ways. This evolution in thinking seems to be driven by product utility gaps - perceived gaps between the range of product uses and client constellations in which the product can create value. Importantly, at an early stage of the entrepreneurial process, these product utility gaps do not result from market feedback, but from ongoing reciprocal imagination of client markets and underutilized product value. Findings inform research on entrepreneurial imagination and opportunity idea formation, and the strategizing of business ecosystem relationships.
Keywords: business ecosystem, entrepreneurial imagination, tech entrepreneurship, value creation
Multiple Identities in High Reliability Organizations: A Case Study
Samir L. Vaz, Gabriela X. Maia, Reed E. Nelson and Éder Henriqson
Vol. 33(2) 165–183
DOI: 10.1177/10564926231178238
https://journals.sagepub.com/stoken/default+domain/IWMCZZIQBR9GB6VQJN2Z/full
It is generally accepted that consensus about the features of the "high reliability" identity allow organizations performing hazardous activities to act in an error-free manner. This work challenges this assumption, providing evidence of multiple identities in a High Reliability Organization. We conducted an inductive case study in a large oil and gas producer, whose top executives emphasized safety as a central and distinctive feature of the company. Our analysis was based on extensive data: presentations, interviews, observation, and conversations. The results permit us to describe two organizational identities of safety on offshore oil platforms: "controlling" and "caring." We found that managers and workers interpreted safety both as imposing "strict sanctions" and possessing "meaningful value." They expressed the organizational identity through varying forms of antinomies: authoritative versus respectful interactions and resisting versus adapting actions. These dynamics of identity help us better understand the organizational process of "becoming" highly reliable.
Keywords: organizational identity, high-reliability, safety, ambivalence
'Running Towards the Bullets': Moral Injury in Critical Care Nursing in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Martyn Griffin, Peter Hamilton, Oonagh Harness, Nicki Credland and Robert McMurray
Vol. 33(2) 184–202
DOI: 10.1177/10564926231182566
https://journals.sagepub.com/stoken/default+domain/KDNAJP8W7J2KZDBGUMCC/full
The COVID-19 pandemic placed unprecedented strain on healthcare professionals around the globe, particularly those working in intensive care units. It was reported that instances of moral injury – a betrayal of what is ethically right by those in positions of power – were widespread in these organizational settings. In this paper, we explore these emerging findings to ask: What are the experiences and implications of moral injury in critical care nursing during the pandemic? Drawing on 103 interviews with 54 critical care nurses, we offer insights into the experience of moral injury in a workplace experiencing crisis, focusing on (i) unsafe staffing levels, (ii) inadequate equipment, and (iii) inability to provide patients with a dignified death. We provide accounts of the implications of moral injury ranging from debilitating anxiety to post-traumatic stress disorder and sectioning, as well as widespread feelings of anger and guilt leading to an intention to leave the profession.
Keywords: healthcare, qualitative research, well-being
The Editors and Editorial Board of JMI thanks Sage Publications for its generosity in sharing published articles openly.
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Richard Stackman
Professor
University of San Francisco
San Francisco CA
(415) 422-2148
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