A constructivist grounded theory study into the experiences of coached executives was undertaken to develop theory about the coaching process. The analysis reported in this paper was undertaken in parallel with the analysis to resolve the main concern of the study; that of theorising the coaching process. The purpose of this complementary analysis was to capture adaptations of the standard processes used for data collection and data analysis that facilitated the theoretical direction taken in the research. The starting point of the process is the careful, well‑researched and purposive selection of the “right” first participant, and the end point is theoretical saturation of thematic categories with all variations within the category elucidated. Selection of the first, key respondent was enabled through networking, and the interview data were in‑vivo coded before being converted to gerunds using an additional intervening step in Saldana’s (2016) analytic process. This mechanism converted static descriptive codes to active process codes, enabling the extraction of implicit meanings which facilitated the emergence of theoretical propositions and linkages between codes and categories. Subsequent respondents were selected on a theoretical basis. The role of the literature in achieving theoretical saturation was facilitated by adopting a reflexive stance and incorporting sensitising consultation of scholarly sources as part of the analytic process applied to each interview transcript in turn during the theoretical sampling process. The inclusion of the literature in this way facilitated the coding of the dimensions of and variations within each category. 

As markets become increasingly complex it is more and more important that we understand their underlying market networks. While much research has been conducted into the inter‑relationships and impacts between the firm and the network, less attention has been paid to the study of the whole network itself. Understanding the origins, structures, and potential futures of whole market networks is vital to the understanding of whole markets. This is particularly the case in light of the multiplicity of societal and institutional conditions attached to an increasingly globalized economy. The insertion of technology into incumbent markets such as finance or healthcare causes market and network evolutions that firms must understand if they are to navigate them safely. Traditional business research methods are, however, often locked to the firm perspective through case study approaches, or quantitative network analyses. Despite some recent methods that take a more situated, biographical approach, a bird’s eye view of the whole network remains elusive. Anthropological methods offer assistance ‑ both in making sense of the evolution of the network within the market context, and in understanding the intricacies of such networks. Unfortunately, the concept of network analysis remains disconnected across disciplines apart from some exceptions such as Berthod, Grothe‑Hammer and Sydow’s (2016) combining of social network analysis with ethnographic research methods to produce ‘Network Ethnographies.’ We build on that approach, combining market network research methods with ethnographic research methods, illustrated through case examples from our research in the connected health domain. We illustrate ethnography’s potential for in‑depth capture of network detail, showing how ethnographic methods can be used to understand each player’s position and function within that system, as well as reflecting the life and culture of the whole network. 

The field of entrepreneurship is yet to exhaust the gamut of qualitative design choices for use in researching the entrepreneurial process. For this reason, this paper proposes that insider action research (IAR), with its iterative, immersive and emergent form of inquiry, presents a pragmatic design choice for understanding the nature of uncertainty surrounding the digital entrepreneurial process. Since entrepreneurship in the digital context is a highly dynamic and fluid process, IAR appears well‑suited for use in researching the phenomenon. Yet, the paucity of its application in entrepreneurship research, and less so in the emerging digital space, is rather puzzling. Thus, using a real time case study of a new venture creation process in the e‑learning sector, this paper contributes by elucidating how this mode of inquiry might be set up and applied in digital entrepreneurship experimentation. Even though the longitudinal study at hand is still unfolding, the completion of two IAR cycles serves to demonstrate how a symbiotic interweaving of new venture creation and new knowledge production can provide the basis for extracting valuable insights about the digital entrepreneurial process. 

Psychogeography refers to the loose interface between psychology and geography. Specifically it examines how we impact on the environment and the environment impacts on us. As a process it involves intimately observing the environment and seeing what may have been previously unobserved. Participants then construct meaning from these observations. This paper describes how we used a time‑limited psychogeography approach followed immediately by a focus group as research method. The aim was to determine if examining participants’ work environment would potentially enable them to identify enablers and barriers to career success. The findings from these two short interventions are compared to the more often used semi‑structured interview approach to reveal that the psychogeography provided another lens to the research. Interestingly factors that were uncovered in the psychogeography and focus groups were generally different to those identified in the interviews. The participants were a group of high‑potential academic women at a large public university in Western Australia. They were enrolled in a career and leadership development program aimed at assisting women access promotions and other senior roles leadership within the university Much of the women’s career development literature focuses on ‘fixing women’ and not the system. To that end we wanted to use a method, in addition to interview questions, to uncover aspects of the corporate environment that might impact on women’s decisions to progress their careers. We asked participants to dérive, stroll or wander within their university campus with a view to observing any ‘career enablers and barriers at work’. To not impose any further burden on their time, and to manage the wealth of data generated by the psychogeography, we asked the women to immediately share their insights through a structured focus group discussion. Participants found the psychogeography exercise a novel approach to discovering and rediscovering their work environment. The findings revealed aspects of the work environment that had not previously been overt. These included participants’ appreciation of students having fun and a carnival atmosphere within the campus yet a simultaneous concern at the lack of quiet spaces to support scholarship and research; a disparity of investment in infrastructure improvements across various schools and faculties, which led to discussions of how disparately workload was managed by different managers; staff being segregated from students and other staff with security doors; the number of steps at the university and the impact this would have on some people with a disability. One pleasing and unexpected outcome of the psychogeography exercise was the level of energy and collegiality it generated. The exercise was conducted at an early stage in an eight‑month career development program and its use heightened participant’s awareness of aspects of their work environment’s impact on career success that may have otherwise remained uncovered or unexamined. Our view is that psychogeography; within a limited timeframe is a valuable method to employ. When the data from such a method is captured though a focus group the impost on participant’ times is lessened, the quality of data is retained with the combined research method producing novel findings that may be different to other more traditional qualitative research methods. In our case, they helped uncover aspects of university culture and enculturation to which many research participants had been previously oblivious. 

This article offers an approach to conducting qualitative research in Management Studies by providing researchers with guidelines to apply Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR). Although in the pursuit for structure, management researchers may be cautious of using qualitative research, CQR offers a structured qualitative research design option. The article explains how an adapted CQR design aligns well with most structured qualitative research methods. To describe an adapted CQR method, a research example based in Management Studies was used. This research example involved the development of a comprehensive theoretical framework that identified the various components of organisational reputation and reputation management and aimed at describing the role of social media within this framework. The primary research design of the research example consisted of two phases. The first phase comprised of an organisational policy document analysis. The second phase consisted of qualitative in‑depth, semi‑structured interviews with various departmental or divisional heads aimed at enriching the data collected using document analysis of specific policy documents. In both phases, a research team was employed as well as an auditing or verification system in keeping with the CQR method, where the research team considered the data codes, data coding, analysis and interpretation throughout the research process. This article further outlines the process followed and provides coding structures, which could be adopted for other similar studies. Ten CQR guidelines are proposed, which management researchers could apply when using document analysis in Management Studies as well as three guidelines for using interview transcripts from semi‑structured interviews. The CQR research process foundation was the research team approach adopted when analysing, coding and reporting on data collected. The adoption of a method such as CQR, or a modified version thereof, allows for a team of researchers to institute a process of validation to the research process and the results by thoroughly examining their own individual understandings of the data. 

Delphi is a frequently used research method in the information systems (IS) field. The last fifteen years have seen many variants of the Delphi Method proposed and used in IS research. However, these variants do not seem to be properly derived; while all variants share certain characteristics, their reasoning for differentiation inconsistently varies. It seems that researchers tend to create “new” Delphi Method variants, although the underlying modification of the Delphi Method is, in fact, minor. This leads to a heterogeneity of Delphi Method variants and undermines scientific rigor when using Delphi. The study addresses this deficit and (1) identifies different variants of Delphi and determines their characteristics, (2) critically reflects to what extent a clear distinction between these variants exists, (3) shows the clearly distinguishable Delphi Method variants and their characteristics, (4) develops a proposed taxonomy of Delphi Method variants, and (5) evaluates and applies this taxonomy. The proposed taxonomy helps clearly differentiate Delphi Method variants and enhances methodological rigor when using the Delphi Method. 

The difference between art and research is that, whereas art can speak for itself, research must be explained. Unlike research, art invites open interpretation from the viewers, without any need to justify or explicate its existence or the artist’s intentions. Research however, by its very nature, is a cognitive and rational product – at least in its final stages. The appreciation of postmodern perspectives in academia has given rise to methodologies for first‑person inquiries and arts‑based methods. Arts methods may provide the researcher with great insights into a research question, however the inquiry needs to be situated in a rational and philosophically aligned research framework. In this paper I present Alchemy Methodology as a theoretical framework for such research. It has been developed as an application of the pure phenomenology of Edmund Husserl, and it uses arts practice and subjective insights to inform and transform this data into universal, phenomenological insights. Alchemy Methodology is based on three principles: • that the unconscious mind is far superior to logic and cognition when it comes to navigating the complex research question, but ... • that the unconscious can only speak through images and metaphor, which ultimately must be translated through rational thought and language • that the arts‑based methods embedded in Alchemy Inquiry, can take the researcher from the most subjective reflections to the most intersubjective, universal outcomes This paper shows how the researcher can use arts practice to inspire unconscious responses to a research question, and frame these methods in a research construction, which is rigorous and informed by pure, European Phenomenology. It takes issue with a common misconception of phenomenology in research, arguing that twentieth century modernism has skewed Husserl’s transcendental philosophy into something obscure and nonsensical.