Entering a Dialogue: Positioning Case Study Findings towards Theory

Ridder, Hans‐Gerd; Hoon, Christina; Baluch, Alina

doi:10.1111/1467-8551.12000

Cited by 85 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 95 publications

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“…In relation to the context, three factors were prominent: a recognised need for change, insider (only) trust; and stakeholder regard for the art of judgement. Thus, the key theoretical insight that is generalisable from our case (Ridder, Hoon and McCandless Baluch, 2014) is that a fit between the personal characteristics of the decision-maker and the demands of the context -person-context fit -is important in arriving at an implementable decision through an EBM process. Thus, we extend Swan and coauthors' (2012) notion that evidence is co-produced by decision-makers and stakeholders by…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Evidence‐based Management in Practice: Opening up the Decision Process, Decision‐maker and Context

Wright

Zammuto

Liesch

et al. 2015

British J of Management

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Evidence-Based Management (EBM) has been subject to a number of persuasive critiques in recent years. Concerns have been raised that: EBM over-privileges rationality as a basis for decision-making; 'scientific' evidence is insufficient and incomplete as a basis for management practice; understanding of how EBM actually plays out in practice is limited; and although ideas were originally taken from evidence-based medicine, individual-situated expertise has been forgotten in the transfer. To address these concerns, we adopted an approach of 'opening up' the decision process, the decision-maker and the context (Langley et al., 1995). Our empirical investigation focuses on an EBM decision process involving an operations management problem in a hospital emergency department in Australia. Based on interview and archival research, we describe how an EBM decision process was enacted by a physician manager. We identify the role of 'fit' between the decision-maker and the organisational context in enabling an evidence-based process and develop insights for EBM theory and practice.Keywords: Evidence-based management, context, healthcare management, qualitative methods April L. Wright, Raymond F. Zammuto, Peter W. Liesch, Stuart Middleton, Paul Hibbert, John Burke and Victoria Brazil (2016) 2 | P a g e Accepted for publication in the British Journal of Management IntroductionOver the past decade, there has been increasing interest in developing an evidence-based approach to management decision-making (Pfeffer and Sutton, 2006;Rousseau, 2012;Rousseau, 2006;Tranfield, Denyer and Smart, 2003). Observing how evidence-based practice has enhanced patient care in medicine (Sackett, Rosenberg, Gray, Haynes and Richardson, 1996), leading management scholars argue that decision processes within organisations can be similarly improved by systematic analysis of 'best available evidence' (Pfeffer and Sutton, 2006;Rousseau, 2006). The Oxford Handbook of Evidence-Based Management describes EBM as the "science-informed practice of management", which fundamentally involves "using scientific knowledge to inform the judgment of managers and the process of decision-making in organizations" (Rousseau, 2012, p. xxiii). Advocates of EBM see its potential to help bridge the research-practice gap in organisations through management educators incorporating EBM in their teaching (Casio, 2007;Erez and Grant, 2014;Pfeffer and Sutton, 2007;Rousseau and McCarthy, 2007;Rynes, Bartenuk and Daft, 2001;Rynes, Giluk and Brown, 2007), contributing to the relevance of business schools (Bennis and O'Toole, 2005;Thomas and Wilson, 2011).Other scholars, however, are more cautious of EBM's applicability to management decision-making in practice and offer four particular critiques. First, EBM privileges science and rationality as the basis for decision-making, even though what 'counts' as legitimate evidence in management studies is contested (Arndt and Bigelow, 2009;Learmonth, 2006;Tourish, 2013). Second, given the divergent nature of the management discipline ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Evidence‐based Management in Practice: Opening up the Decision Process, Decision‐maker and Context

Wright

Zammuto

Liesch

et al. 2015

British J of Management

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“…Additionally, an essential feature of theory building is the comparison of the emergent concepts, theory, or research questions with the extant literature. Therefore, according to Ridder et al (2014) the plausible ''how'' or ''why'' stems from theoretical propositions and leads to better explanations if the predicted pattern matches the observed patterns and if the analysis withstands rival explanations. Using this approach, a comparison of case study findings by replication is required to extend the validity of results.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Trust, control and knowledge transfer in small business… Ridder et al (2014) argue that theory generation is a means of detecting new concepts or theoretical constructs, building a novel conceptual framework and propositions, or even developing a mid-range theory by drawing on existing theoretical domains. Even though using a single lens could lead to the creation of ''isolated silos of knowledge'' (Okhuysen and Bonardi 2011), situating findings within the body of research contributes to the theory-building process by analysing phenomena in great detail (Ridder et al 2014).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even though using a single lens could lead to the creation of ''isolated silos of knowledge'' (Okhuysen and Bonardi 2011), situating findings within the body of research contributes to the theory-building process by analysing phenomena in great detail (Ridder et al 2014). Our research identifies and investigates complementarities and differences in the way trust and management control systems are used in networks of SMEs by looking for common patterns and weak/specific facts.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Trust, control and knowledge transfer in small business networks

et al. 2017

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The ability to transfer knowledge effectively in the networks of small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) is paramount for supporting firm competitiveness. Our research is the first one that explores the joint effect of trust and control mechanisms on knowledge transfer in the case of networks of SMEs. We use a multiple case study approach based on six Italian networks of SMEs. We analyse the joint impact of different ethical based trustworthiness factors-namely benevolence and integrity-and the levers of control (LOCs)-namely, belief, boundary, diagnostic and interactive LOCs-on knowledge transfer between SMEs in networks. We find that trust substitutes for the implementation of boundary, diagnostic, and belief tools, while it works jointly with interactive tools in order to support knowledge transfer. These insights not only provide a rich foundation for follow-up research, but also inform SME managers about how to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of knowledge transfer with their network partners.

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“…Next, we analyze the data both qualitatively and quantitatively in search for behaviors that deviate from the organizational norms and plausible enablers of this behavior (Data Analysis). In the discussion, we compare the inductively derived empirical results to the leadership literature and evaluate the extent to which our findings complement previous theories, where our results are dissimilar from previous research and whether our conclusions allow generating new theory [34].…”

Section: Design: Mixed Methods Field Studymentioning

confidence: 88%