Thomas Greckhamer, Lousiana State University, US
Tine Köhler, University of Melbourne, Australia
Jane K. Lê, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, Germany
Standing Working Group (SWG) 14 provides a platform to connect and build a community of scholars developing innovative and impactful qualitative research methods to advance organization theory.
A focus on research methods is essential to the advancement of organization studies. Rigorous and innovative qualitative research
methods have the potential to enable empirical research that produces field-transforming theoretical insights. Hence, they
are critical to the development of organization studies as an empirical and theoretical field. Indeed, organizational researchers
are increasingly illuminating the important relationship between methods and theory (Bansal et al., 2018; Gephart, 2004; Köhler
et al., 2025; Pratt, 2008; Pratt & Bonaccio, 2016).
Our academic aim with this SWG is to provide a platform for scholars to advance the qualitative research methods debate. We
seek to consolidate and advance qualitative organizational research methods scholarship by bringing together researchers working
on critically examining and extending such methods in ways that enable an exciting new generation of organizational research.
Our three objectives are thus:
1. Supporting Innovative and Flexible Qualitative Research
This SWG will help to advance qualitative research methods in ways that safeguard their flexibility and potential for ‘creative
bricolage’ (Cilesiz & Greckhamer, 2022; Pratt, Sonenshein & Feldman, 2022), enabling ongoing access to varied questions, contexts
and data
(e.g., Denzin & Lincoln, 2017; Gehman et al., 2018; Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Pratt et al., 2022; Yin, 2009), ultimately facilitating
innovation (Lê & Schmid, 2022) and ‘theoretical divergence’ (Cornelissen, 2017).
2. Advancing Methodological Approaches that Support Theorizing
This SWG brings together researchers who seek to create and equip an analytic toolbox of advanced analytical techniques that
facilitates “disciplined imagination” (Weick, 1989), “conceptual leaping” (Klag & Langley, 2013; Langley, 1999), “generative
doubt” (Locke et al., 2008; Locke et. al., 2022), “contemplation” (Bartunek, 2019), and “interpretive rigor” (Mees-Buss et
al., 2022) that are so central to emerging contribution in organization studies.
3. Building a European Community of Qualitative Research Methods Scholars
This SWG will enrich the academic community via a concerted effort to bring together qualitative research methods scholars,
complementing efforts on the North American continent (e.g., RMD@AOM, CARMA). Building a stronger European base that embraces
philosophically and methodologically rich European scholarship will be beneficial for qualitative methods scholars. This will
diversify and invigorate organizational research.
Thomas Greckhamer is the William Rucks IV Endowed Chair and Professor of Management at Louisiana State University. He earned his PhD from the
University of Florida. His research focuses on configurational and discourse-oriented approaches to strategic management,
qualitative research methodology, and qualitative comparative analysis. His research has been published in leading journals
including Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Management, Organization Science, Organization Studies,
Organization, and Organizational Research Methods. He is currently associate editor at Organizational Research Methods.
Tine Köhler is Professor of International Management at the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on Global Teamwork and Research
Methods and Statistics. Her main research interests include cross-cultural management, communication and coordination, group
processes, qualitative research methods, research design, meta-analysis, and regression. She is co-editor-in-chief of Organizational Research Methods and former associate editor of Academy of Management Learning and Education and Organizational Research Methods. Her work has been published in leading journals such as Journal of Management, Organizational Research Methods, Human Resource Management, Journal of International Business Studies, Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, and Psychological Methods.
Jane Lê holds the Chair of Strategic Management at the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. She studies practices and processes
in organizations to better understand how people respond to strategic complexity. She is passionate about qualitative research
and qualitative research methods. Her preferred method involves immersive real-time observation of organizations, utilizing
such data to uncover consequential process dynamics. She has published interpretive work in the Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Organization Studies, and Strategic Organization, among others. She is currently associate editor at Organizational Research Methods and past editor of Research Methodology in Strategy and Management.