Something borrowed, something new: Challenges in using qualitative methods to study under-researched international business phenomena

Abstract

This article responds to calls for IB researchers to study a greater diversity of international business (IB) phenomena in order to generate theoretical insights about empirical settings that are under-represented in the scholarly IB literature. While this objective is consistent with the strengths of qualitative research methods, novel empirical settings are not always well aligned with methods that have been developed in better-researched and thus more familiar settings. In this article, we explore three methods-related challenges of studying under-researched empirical settings, in terms of gathering and analyzing qualitative data. The challenges are: managing researcher identities, navigating unfamiliar data gathering conditions, and theorizing the uniqueness of novel empirical settings. These challenges are integral to the process of contextualization, which involves linking observations from an empirical setting to the categories of the theoretical research context. We provide a toolkit of recommended practices to manage them, by drawing on published accounts of research by others, and on our own experiences in the field.

Rigour vs. Reality: Contextualizing Qualitative Research in the Low‐Income Settings in Emerging Markets

“…Although this reframing of rigour resonates with recent contributions advocating craftmanship (Bell and Willmott, 2020) and the use of heuristics (Mees-Buss, Welch and Piekkari, 2020) in qualitative management research, our new concept emphasizes the possibility of reconciling rigorous with contextualized research. While such reconciliation has been suggested previously (Welch, 2022;Welch et al, 2011; see also Reuber et al, 2022), this need is particularly acute in research on lowincome settings. The concept of rigour-within-context allows qualitative management researchers to produce temporally and spatially situated theories that are better at explaining empirical phenomena and hence also advance global management knowledge through analytical generalizability (Tsui, 2004).…”

“…, 2019; Reuber et al. , 2022). This alternative view suggests that since intellectual craftsmanship is ‘[i]rreducible to a formula, or to a set of protocols’, rigour should not be equated with the rigid application of rules (Bell and Willmott, 2020, p. 1378; Welch and Piekkari, 2017).…”

“…Instead, a more craft-based (i.e. involving tacit skills and imagination), context-specific view of rigour is gaining traction (Bansal and Corley, 2011;Bell and Willmott, 2020;Mees-Buss, Welch and Piekkari, 2020;Reay et al, 2019;Reuber et al, 2022). This alternative view suggests that since intellectual craftsmanship is '[i]rreducible to a formula, or to a set of protocols', rigour should not be equated with the rigid application of rules Willmott, 2020, p. 1378;Welch and Piekkari, 2017).…”

“…While these situations may occur in any society and at any income level, they are typically more acute in low-income communities due to 'social pressure, dependency relationships within the community and poverty' (de Lima, 2020). In such situations, it is important that researchers consider the power imbalances when analysing and interpreting their findings on an understudied setting (Reuber et al, 2022).…”

“…The means to achieve rigour-withincontext include: contextualizaƟon of the research process and methods, contextualizaƟon of the research findings, and contextualizaƟon of the researcher A researcher may also hold many identities in the eyes of the informants and hence may face role conflicts (Reuber et al, 2022). These roles include that of researcher, foreigner and in some cases guest in one's home.…”