The Routledge Companion to Qualitative Research in Organization Studies

by Raza Mir (Editor), Sanjay Jain (Editor)

This comprehensive book collects contributions from leading international scholars to highlight the diverse qualitative approaches available to organizational researchers, each grounded in its own philosophy. The editors provide a cutting edge, globally oriented resource on the state of qualitative research methodologies, helping readers to grasp the theories, practices, and future of the field.

Beginning with an overview of qualitative methodologies, the book examines ways in which research employing these techniques is conducted in a variety of disciplines, including entrepreneurship, innovation, strategy, information systems, and organizational behavior. It offers timely updates on how traditions like case studies, ethnographies, historical methods, narrative approaches, and critical research are practiced today and how emerging trends, including increasing legitimacy and feminization, are impacting the domain. The final chapters provide templates for engaging with the future as well as essays that critically assess how qualitative inquiry has evolved within organization studies. Readers will become acquainted with contemporary tools for conducting qualitative studies, learning to appreciate the emerging domains of qualitative inquiry within a dynamic and complex organizational world.

Doctoral students and early-career researchers in organizational studies, especially those engaged with general management, organizational behavior, human resource management, innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategy, will benefit from reading this relevant and inclusive handbook.

Review
"This volume brings together an impressive group of qualitative scholars and thoughtful perspectives on how to do high quality research. The numerous examples from published and ongoing research provide a useful resource for organizational scholars and other social scientists. I am eager to use this volume in my research and teaching."

Martha S. Feldman, University of California, Irvine, USA

"Mir and Jain have put together an exciting and informative text. The chapters cover a range of topics from valuable reflections on tried and tested methods by experienced qualitative researchers to innovative approaches to drive the use of qualitative methods forwards. I expect that this text will be a key resource for all levels of researchers interested in developing an informed use of qualitative research methods."

Paula Jarzabkowski, University of London, UK

"This is a breath of fresh air, reflecting the spirit of our times, in which qualitative researchers are not so much required to defend the validity of their research as to keep reflecting on what they do in order to reconsider their premises, update their methods, and refine their understandings. Mir and Jain have put together a well-thought out, multivocal collection of chapters, ranging from the philosophical underpinnings of qualitative research to methodologies, contexts of application, and personal reflections, which will be useful to all practitioners of qualitative research, new and seasoned, alike."

Haridimos Tsoukas, University of Warwick, UK and University of Cyprus, Cyprus

"This extraordinary collection of papers on qualitative research methods is remarkable for both its quality and its breadth. Its papers appropriately encompass attention to rigor and to artistry in qualitative research. Setting the stage with the historical perspective―seminal research across fields from biology to psychiatry was qualitative in nature―the book goes on to provide sophisticated and practical insights into such topics as the use of single cases, the role of context, sources of inspiration, and navigating publication."

Amy C. Edmondson, Harvard Business School, USA

About the Author
Raza Mir is the Seymour Hyman Professor of Management at William Paterson University, USA. He is also the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Philosophy in Organization Studies, published in 2015.

Sanjay Jain is Assistant Professor of Management at the Nazarian College of Business at California State University―Northridge, USA.