Qualitative research practices and family business scholarship: A review and future research agenda

Abstract

A B S T R A C TIn spite of various calls for a wider application of qualitative research in the family business field, it is our contention that the full potential of qualitative inquiry is not being fully realized. Part of the reason for this relates to the tendency to promote methods choice and diversity rather than addressing the foundational questions and processes which underlie qualitative research choices. These tendencies obscure attention to the reasons why researchers choose qualitative methods and the kinds of foundational issues about family businesses that are brought to light through qualitative research. To address this, we undertake an analysis of the most-cited articles using qualitative methods from an annotated bibliography of family business studies. From this, we identify the strengths and weaknesses of extant qualitative studies in family business research and argue for the need to re-orientate calls in family business research towards the foundational questions (rather than methods) that underline qualitative inquiry.

How family firms execute open innovation strategies: the Loccioni case

“…Due to the novelty of the topic and given this study's research question, the authors conducted an in-depth exploratory case study (Yin, 2003). This method is particularly suited to answering "how" questions (Yin, 2003), and appears appropriate to gain in-depth understanding of how management processes unfold in family firms and how family governance shapes processes, such as executing open innovation (De Fletcher et al, 2016).…”

Perceptions of Knowledge Sharing Among Small Family Firm Leaders: A Structural Equation Model

“…For this reason, we call for a broader view on the nature of knowledge sharing and knowledge use in general in small family firms. We join calls for more substantive qualitative work on family firms to uncover the intricate relational complexities impacting on knowledge contribution and knowledge use (Fletcher, De Massis & Nordqvist, 2016), and crucially a greater examination of the follower's role in knowledge sharing, most interestingly that of nonfamily employees (Xi, Kraus, Filser & Kellermanns, 2015).…”

Going private: A socioemotional wealth perspective on why family controlled companies decide to leave the stock-exchange

“…Berrone et al (2012) highlight the importance of case studies for understanding the context of socioemotional wealth considerations. Herein, we argue that process research allows the understanding of underlying motives and changes in preferences of owners and managers over time, which typically cannot be grasped by survey studies (Fletcher, Massis, & Nordqvist, 2015). In a similar vein, Miller and Le Breton-Miller (2014) criticize existing quantitative SEW research for making assumptions based on indirect measures without actually observing it.…”