The purpose of this paper is to propose that mixed methods research is complementary to traditional qualitative or quantitative research, also that pragmatism is an attractive philosophical partner for mixed methods. A key feature of mixed methods research is its methodological pluralism that can lead to superior research. The research question is whether ‘pragmatism’ as a philosophical choice to combine positivism and interpretivism can lead to an appreciation of 'what works' in practice? (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2010). The paper posits that pragmatism supports the use of different research methods and that a continuous cycle of inductive, deductive and when appropriate, abductive reasoning, produces useful knowledge and serves as a rationale for rigorous research. Firstly, the so called “paradigm wars” of quantitative or qualitative analysis are briefly reviewed; and the tenets of pragmatism are explained. A comparison is made of the different approaches and the value of applying abduction techniques to ‘surprising facts or puzzles’. Secondly, the literature regarding the ubiquity of abduction techniques is explored. Third, two recent empirical case studies in the airline and engineering sectors are summarised. Abductive thinking was key to explaining empirical phenomenon relating to competition, and in particular how leading UK and German multinationals developed rather different approaches to outsourcing. Finally, in conclusion, mixed methods were found to combine numerical and cognitive reasoning that led to a ‘best answer’ to data that otherwise could not be adequately explained. Furthermore, the application of different approaches can lead to research and subsequent management decisions that reflect both the interplay of social and scientific aspects of the world today. 

The role of academic faculty is research, teaching, and service. In an environment that requires research, there appears to be little published discussion of the scholarly activity conducted by proficient researchers. There are few researched and published papers on researcher’s activities and habits to conduct research. The lack of research on the activities of researchers leads to the practice of research viewed as mysticism. An exhaustive search of research into the factors and scholarly activities of academic business researchers is presented in this paper to understand what researchers do to generate and produce research. The review is intended to capture current ‘best research practice’, as guidance for developing researchers who are themselves seeking to become established. A framework of factors and activities impacting on the tertiary institute researcher is developed, and journal papers are reviewed. The review indicates that researchers are influenced by daily activities, personal characteristics, career stages, and institutional environments. A number of environmental factors appear to affect productivity of researchers and personal qualities of researchers are also found to be important. Career, time allocation, and performance assessment impacts are discussed. 

Factors affecting productivity and particularly IT‑enabled productivity increase have been and still remain the major concern for many business sectors. While previously researchers investigated what factors and their complementary relationships affect organizational productivity, organizational economists came to the conclusion that an organization cannot be regarded anymore as a black box since it is not an organization per se that conducts the very work but its resources with the basic elements being a single worker and a single IT system. Currently, it is proposed that we understand organizational internal mechanisms and their functioning for productivity through the lens of complementarity theory and maintain that when factors are synchronized correctly they can bring significant productivity increase. Identification of the complementarity factors and their synchronization bring, however, a major challenge for research methodology. Unlike conventional studies where a few variables independent of each other cause a reaction to dependent variables, in the context of complementarities, the assumption is closer to the real‑world experiences where a set of factors interact with each other to affect one or several dependent variables. The present paper addresses this difficulty of researching complementary factors for an individual knowledge worker and their productivity. The approach taken here is to use multiple and different research methods in a complementary manner, so that the results from each study of the same kind of phenomenon uncover new insights that cannot be derived from any such single study. The results from this multi‑method approach demonstrate new insights into the interplay between the studied factors that condition the productivity of knowledge workers and show the importance of analysing a complex phenomenon with complementary research methods. 

Discussions on policy and management initiatives to facilitate individuals throughout working careers take place without sufficient insight into how career paths are changing, how these changes are related to a modernization of life course biographies, and whether this leads to increased labour market transitions. This paper asks how new, flexible labour market patterns can best be analyzed using an empirical, quantitative approach. The data used are from the career module of the Panel Study of Belgian Households (PSBH). This module, completed by almost 4500 respondents consists of retrospective questions tracing lengthy and even entire working life histories. To establish any changes in career patterns over such extended periods of time, we compare two evolving methodologies: Optimal Matching Analysis (OMA) and Latent Class Regression Analysis (LCA). The analyses demonstrate that both methods show promising potential in discerning working life typologies and analyzing sequence trajectories. However, particularities of the methods demonstrate that not all research questions are suitable for each method. The OMA methodology is appropriate when the analysis concentrates on the labour market statuses and is well equipped to make clear and interpretable differentiations if there is relative stability in career paths during the period of observation but not if careers become less stable. Latent Class has the strength of adopting covariates in the clustering allowing for more historically connected types than the other methodology. The clustering is denser and the technique allows for more detailed model fitting controls than OMA. However, when incorporating covariates in a typology, the possibilities of using the typology in later, causal, analyses is somewhat reduced. 

In the UK context, it is important to acknowledge that there are multiple change drivers in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that result in a proliferation of foci. Gornitzka (1999) and Allen (2003) suggest that the distinctiveness of governance, professional autonomy and the tradition of academic freedom in HEIs should be reflected in change processes, and therefore traditional frameworks for change could be adapted in an attempt to research and manage change. This paper explores how theoretical and practical tools for managing and researching change can be integrated in order to support change, whilst reflecting on the methods used. The journey of the authors towards the development of a holistic framework for researching and supporting change in Higher Education (HE), with a focus on two HEIs, is explored. The synergies of Lean Management (Wincel and Krull, 2013), Appreciative Inquiry (Cooperrider and Srivastva 1987), and Participatory Action Research (Greenwood et al, 1993) are examined through three stages of practice‑based fieldwork to establish their positioning within a holistic tripartite framework for researching and supporting organizational change. The benefits and challenges of this framework are discussed with attention to the importance of future research to provide more evidence of the impact of this framework. 

Nickel mining commenced in New Caledonia in 1868 and continues to be the major business activity of that region. Traditionally the mining sector has polarized New Caledonian society via a complex mix of economic, cultural and environmental issues. In 1999 the New Caledonian and French governments initiated a future‑focused program of “rééquilibrage” or rebalancing of opportunities for the New Caledonian indigenous Kanak people. “Rééquilibrage” aims to create a new identity for all New Caledonians – an identity that builds upon the multicultural mix of modern New Caledonia. A critical component of this rebalancing is the commencement of a major new world‑class nickel mining venture at Koniambo (in the Kanak Northern Province) in 2014 and this venture is majority Kanak owned and operated. The literature confirms that no published review of how New Caledonians view this venture has been completed since its opening. Such a review is important because New Caledonians must vote on 4/11/2018 on the issue of independence from France. Discourses are ways of representing the world – the processes, relations and structures of the social world, that is, the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs of people. This research centres upon the contemporary social beliefs, i.e. the social discourses that circulate in relation to the Koniambo project. The investigation of these discourses must ensure that all stake‑holder voices are represented accurately, that the investigation is not simply a one‑dimensional “cost/benefit analysis”, and that the amplitude of the voice does not dictate its relative importance within the overall discourse ensemble. This research fits within sociology, and within this domain, the research uses the following empirical investigative approaches: actor‑network theory, historiography and critical discourse analysis (for core data analysis). Actor‑network theory facilitates the identification of stakeholder relationships within New Caledonian society, regardless of how subtle or transient the relationships may be. In this sense, actor‑network theory produces a maximised intersection of the Koniambo project across New Caledonian social life. Historiography provides the vital context that describes the social structures and social practices in which social beliefs are formed and constantly evolve. It is not possible to fully describe these beliefs unless we have a comprehensive, longitudinal appreciation of this overall context. Finally, critical discourse analysis is utilised to unpack fully the beliefs that are identified. Discourse analysis utilises the results from the historiography and actor‑network theory research components to unpack the expressed opinions and beliefs and even policies that link stakeholder entities. In this manner the project results will be most representative of the current discourses concerning a flagship project of “rééquilibrage”.