Reflections on Choosing the Appropriate Level of Abstraction in Social Science Research.
Journal
Management and Organization Review
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2014-09-05
Author(s)
Abstract
Although researchers often do it subconsciously, every explanation involves choosing a level of abstraction at which the argument proceeds. The dominant North American style of research in Organization Theory, Strategy, and International Business encourages researchers to frame their explanations at the highest level of abstraction where country‐level contextual factors are suppressed or ignored. Yet to provide powerful explanations for recent developments in China, researchers are drawn to a greater level of context specificity. This tension is evident in the Child and Marinova (2014) paper. One way to reduce the tension is to identify general causal mechanisms that combine in different ways to produce different results depending on context. This research strategy is more effective than seeking invariant, general patterns of development across all times and places.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons
Volume
10
Number
3
Start page
381
End page
389
Pages
8
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Contact Email Address
peter.murmann@unisg.ch
Eprints ID
255361
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Name
Murmann-2014-Management_and_Organization_Review.pdf
Size
146.76 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
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