Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Stefanie ReissnerORCiD, Professor Andrea Whittle
This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by Emerald Publishing Limited, 2022.
For re-use rights please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
Purpose – The aim of this review paper is to identify the methodological practices and presentational styles used to report interview-based research in ‘leading’ management and organisation journals. Design/methodology/approach – This paper reviews a sample of 225 articles using qualitative interviews that were published in management, human resource management, organisational behaviour, and international business journals listed in the Financial Times 50 list between 2009 and 2019. Findings – The review found diversity and plurality in the methodological practices used in these studies and the presentational styles used to report interview research. Originality – To make sense of this plurality, we map these practices and styles against the onto-epistemological paradigms identified by Alvesson (2003; 2011). The paper contributes to calls for philosophical diversity in the evaluation of qualitative research. We specifically articulate concerns about the use of practices in interview-based studies that derive from the positivistic logic associated with quantitative research. Practical implications – The findings are expected to help doctoral students, early career scholars, and those new to using qualitative interviews to make decisions about the appropriateness of different methodological practices and presentational styles. The findings are also expected to support editors, reviewers, doctoral examiners, and conference organisers in making sense of the dissensus that exists amongst qualitative interview researchers (Johnson et al., 2007). These insights will also enable greater ‘paradigmatic awareness’ (Plakoyiannaki and Budhwar, 2021, p. 5) in the evaluation of the quality of interview-based research that are not restricted to standardised criteria derived from positivism (Cassell and Symon, 2015).
Author(s): Reissner SC, Whittle A
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management
Year: 2022
Volume: 17
Issue: 1
Pages: 61-83
Print publication date: 03/03/2022
Online publication date: 07/09/2021
Acceptance date: 11/08/2021
Date deposited: 12/08/2021
ISSN (print): 1746-5648
ISSN (electronic): 1746-5656
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
URL: https://doi.org/10.1108/QROM-03-2021-2118
DOI: 10.1108/QROM-03-2021-2118
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
