Seminar synopsis
This seminar aims to revisit and challenge the status quo of the business and management research methodology terrain by presenting innovative, emergent and occluded alternative and original ways of conducting research on, and within, organizations and organizational contexts. Conventions and orthodoxies govern many domains and that of business and management academia is no different. In terms of dominant research, methodological approaches, papers and publications are frequently pushed to adhere to particular styles and ‘rules’ of variously inductive or deductive approaches in order to comply with journal and academy norms and expectations. Some argue that this risks epistemological regurgitation and stagnation and produces a monotone appearance of research. Perhaps more importantly, we are quite often left thinking: ‘okay the paper has followed all the roles and conventions and technically is an excellent paper, but ‘so what?’ In other words, really what new do we learn and how does this move knowledge forward in a sincere and impactful way? The seminar draws together a blend of established and mid-career research work to consider their ideas and the state and progress of research methodology in the academy and academic careers.
Programme
Session 1
9.00-9.15 introductions and welcome
9.15 - 9.45 speaker 1/ 9.45-10.00 speaker 1 Q&A
Dr Simon Smith, Oxford Brookes University (UK)
Dynamic qualitative research: The impact of being different
10.00-10.30 speaker 2/ 10.30-10.45 speaker 2 Q&A
Prof Jessica Lichy, IDRAC (France)
Visual Ethnography
Outline – The focus is on how we can collect data using (i) Rich Picture Technique (RP) based on sketches produced by the participants, and (ii) auto-driven photo elicitation interviews (PEI) where photographs are taken by the participants themselves and brought to the interview, to explore their thoughts and experiences.
Lichy, J. (in press). ‘Managing consumption for a cleaner future … but what’s in it for me?’, Question(s) de Management. Article [202063]
Lichy, J. & McLeay, F. (2018). Bleisure: motivations and typologies, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 35(4), 517-530.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2017.1364206 Winner of the ‘2018 JTTM Martin Oppermann Article of the Year’ Award.
10:45 - 11: 00 break
11.00.11.30 speaker 3 / 11.30 -11.45 speaker 3 Q&A
Prof Jill Johnes, University of Huddersfield (UK)
Efficiency Measurement and Applications
Outline: Efficiency measurement is routed in the costs and production literature. This presentation provides an overview of the efficiency measurement research methodology drawing on empirical applications in both public and private sectors.
Johnes, J. (2021). ‘Applications of Production Economics in Education’, in Handbook of Production Economics: Survey of Applications. Ray, S. C., Chambers, R. G. & Kumbhakar, S. C. (eds.). Singapore: Springer Singapore, p. 1-47 47
Izzeldin, M., Johnes, J., Ongena, S., Pappas, V. & Tsionas, M. (2021). ‘Efficiency convergence in Islamic and conventional banks’, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, 70, 24 p., 101279.
11.45-12.15 speaker 4/ 12.15-12.30 speaker 4 Q&A
Assoc. Prof Seun Kolade, De Montfort University, (UK)
The Case for Transdisciplinarity
Outline: this session explores how transdisciplinary projects provide unique opportunities for scholars across a wide range of disciplines to generate new research designs and hybrid methodologies from the pool of expertise and perspectives in the project team. We will also explore how the boundary-spanning synergies created in such projects can be better suited to tackling complex societal problems and generating outputs that are more robust and original, more accessible and more relevant to industry stakeholders and non-academic audience.
Kolade, O., Smith, R., Obembe, D., Taiwo, A., Eyong, J., James, S., & Kibreab, G. (2022). Picking up the pieces: social capital, psycho-social support and livelihood recovery of displaced populations in Northeast Nigeria. Journal of Development Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2022.2032669
Oyinlola, M., Schröder, P., Whitehead, T., Kolade, O., Wakunuma, K., Sharifi, S., et al. (2022). Digital innovations for transitioning to circular plastic value chains in Africa, Africa Journal of Management, 0 (0), pp. 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322373.2021.1999750.
12.30-1.30 lunch break
Session 2
1.30-2.00 General chaired review discussion on the morning sessions between all speakers and attendees
2.00-2.30 speaker 5/ 2.30-2.45 speaker 5 Q&A
Dr Viktor Dorfler, Strathclyde University, UK
Insider Insight: The Importance of Bracketing
Outline: this talk builds on 5 qualitative studies within a phenomenological framing, conducted in settings of science, haute cuisine, banking, and neurodiverse population. The investigated topics include intuition, creativity, threshold concept, and AI ethics.
Viktor Dörfler & Colin Eden (2014) Research on Intuition using Intuition, Sinclair, Marta (Ed.) Handbook of Research Methods on Intuition, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK, 264-276. DOI: 10.4337/9781782545996.00031
Viktor Dörfler & Marc Stierand (2021) Bracketing: A Phenomenological Theory Applied Through Transpersonal Reflexivity, Journal of Organizational Change Management, 34(4): 778-793. DOI: 10.1108/JOCM-12-2019-0393
2.45-3.15 speaker 6/ 3.15-3.30 speaker 6 Q&A
Prof Tony Wall, Liverpool John Moores, University, UK
Yoko Ono and the Performative Peculiarities of Practice-as-Research
Outline: Can you imagine a world where screaming in a museum (cf. Voice piece for Soprano) or where the public is asked to place a wish on a tree (cf. wish tree) – in themselves –answer a research question? This session explores the peculiar world of practice-as-research where artworks are – in themselves – committed to the provocative creation and critique of ‘performances’ (the rituals, habits, everyday acts as well as what they embody and how they implicate). The session draws from a 4 year-long international project and entertains possibilities about how practice-as-research might present itself in business and management research.
Wall, T. (2022) 3 mins for slow work, online China, India, Pakistan, London, 23rd March.
Wall T, Clough D, Österlind E, Hindley A. (2018). Conjuring a 'Spirit' for sustainability: A review of the socio-materialist effects of provocative pedagogies, Sustainability and the Humanities, Cham, Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95336-6_17
3.30-3.45 break
3.45 - 4.30
General summative discussion/Q&A
4.30 close
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Provider Information
BAM Research Methodology Special Interest Group
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Who Should Attend?
The event speaks to Sections A2, A3, B2 and C2 as detailed in the BAM Framework
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Speakers
Dr Jessica Lichy
Passionate for ‘digital’, Jessica Lichy has a post-doctoral ‘HDR’, PhD and MBA in online/digital consumer behaviour, adopting an inter-generational and cross-cultural approach. She is employed as a research professor at IDRAC Business School (France), and works as a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Technology Entrepreneurship, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. Her research interests include Big Data and digital transformation from an end-user perspective and business model engineering. Research-in-progress includes examining the co-evolution of social technologies and technology-enhanced living. Jessica guest edits special issues for ranked journals, organises research conferences with international partner institutions, and actively develops a number of collaborative academic projects for co-publishing and funding applications.
Dr Seun Kolade
Profile
Dr Seun Kolade is an Associate Professor in Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship at De Montfort University (DMU), where he also leads the African Entrepreneurship Cluster. His research activities cover the broad areas of digital transformation, transformative entrepreneuring, social capital, refugee entrepreneurship, and SME strategies in turbulent environments. A Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a consultant for the British Council, Dr Kolade has authored more than 60 academic outputs. He is the lead editor of the Palgrave Handbook of African Entrepreneurship (2021).
Selected publications
Kolade, O., Smith, R., Obembe, D., Taiwo, A., Eyong, J., James, S., & Kibreab, G. (2022). Picking up the pieces: social capital, psycho-social support and livelihood recovery of displaced populations in Northeast Nigeria. Journal of Development Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2022.2032669
Oyinlola, M., Schröder, P., Whitehead, T., Kolade, O., Wakunuma, K., Sharifi, S., et al. (2022). Digital innovations for transitioning to circular plastic value chains in Africa, Africa Journal of Management, 0 (0), pp. 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322373.2021.1999750.
Adegbile, A., Sarpong, D., Kolade, O. (2021). Environments for Joint University-Industry Laboratories (JUL): Micro-level Dimensions and Research Implications. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120888
Atiase, V. Y., Kolade, O. and Liedong, T. A. (2020) The emergence and strategy of tech hubs in Africa: Implications for knowledge production and value creation, Technological Forecasting and Social Change. Elsevier, 161(December 2020), p. 120307. doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120307.
Dr Viktor Dorfler
I am a scholar, consultant, teacher, and speaker. As a practitioner, I spearheaded the development of AI software, while my scholarly research focuses on talent, creativity, intuition, and the grandmaster-apprentice relationship. I conducted in-depth open-ended interviews with 20 top scientists, including 17 Nobel Laureates, in order to understand the thinking of scientists at the highest level of mastery. My book What Every CEO Should Know About AI has just been published by the Cambridge University Press, prior to which I have co-edited the Handbook of Research Methods on Creativity with Marc Stierand.
My relevant methodological publications:
- Viktor Dörfler & Colin Eden (2014) Research on Intuition using Intuition, Sinclair, Marta (Ed.) Handbook of Research Methods on Intuition, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK, 264-276. DOI: 10.4337/9781782545996.00031
- Viktor Dörfler & Marc Stierand (2021) Bracketing: A Phenomenological Theory Applied Through Transpersonal Reflexivity, Journal of Organizational Change Management, 34(4): 778-793. DOI: 10.1108/JOCM-12-2019-0393
- Obafemi Olekanma, Viktor Dörfler & Farhad Shafti (2022) Stepping into the Participants' Shoes: The Trans-Positional Cognition Approach (TPCA), International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21: 1-15. DOI: 10.1177/16094069211072413
- Marc Stierand & Viktor Dörfler (2014) Researching Intuition in Personal Creativity, Sinclair, Marta (Ed.) Handbook of Research Methods on Intuition, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK, 249-263. DOI: 10.4337/9781782545996.00030
Prof Jill Johnes
Jill has been Professor of Production Economics at the University of Huddersfield since January 2015, and has been involved in teaching, research and leadership roles in higher education for more than 30 years. She has an established and excellent record in teaching, and this is recognised in the award of a Pilkington Teaching Award from Lancaster University in 1991, and a National Teaching Fellowship (NTFS) in 2011. Jill’s core research examines organisational efficiency using frontier estimation techniques typically in the context of education. From a combination of widely-cited journal publications and two highly influential books, Jill has gained a prominent national and international research reputation in education economics. She was invited on to a working group by the Royal Society and the British Academy to produce a review of educational research; and she has been invited to speak at, for example, the University of Barcelona, Maastricht University and the Meeting of the Economics Association (Murcia). More recently she has started to apply frontier estimation techniques in the context of the banking sector and in particular in comparing the Islamic and conventional banking business models. As testimony to her developing reputation in that context, she has presented papers on this subject at various conferences and was on the scientific committee for the Islamic Banking and Finance conference held at Lancaster University.
Prof Tony Wall
Professor Tony Wall (Liverpool Business School and Stockholm University) has published 200+ works including articles in quartile 1 journals such as Nature Communications and The International Journal of Human Resource Management. His research has been funded by The British Academy, the Lithuanian and Swedish Research Councils, and is currently completing an arts-based practice-as-research project into permanent-performance funded by AdvanceHE.
Dr Simon Smith, Oxford Brookes University
Convening team
- Professor Peter Stokes - De Montfort University
- Dr Swati Virmani - De Montfort University
- Dr Victor Atiase - De Montfort University
- Dr Sue Cronshaw - Liverpool John Moores University
- Dr Danny Buckley - De Montfort University
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Benefits of attending
- Learn about innovative and alternative approaches to research
- Understanding new ways to address research gaps and problems
- Developing inter-disciplinary/cross-disciplinary insights
- An opportunity to reflect on and discuss the status quo of the academy and develop possible responses
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Contact
Please contact the BAM Office at [email protected] with any queries.
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Event Fee
Free for BAM Members and Student Members
Non-Members: £30
Student Non-Members: £20
To become a member, please follow the link: BAM Membership
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Registration closes on 27th June 2022 at 17:00 UK time