From Templates to Heuristics: How and Why to Move Beyond the Gioia Methodology

Abstract

Researchers are exposed to multiple interpretive challenges in the journey from field data to theoretical understanding. A common response to these challenges is to turn to the guidance of templates such as the Gioia methodology—currently a preferred template for interpretive management research. Given its popularity, we examine how this methodology approaches the interpretive process of fieldwork. We find that the inductive route to theory that it offers does not address the challenges of interpretation. As an alternative, we propose a return to the epistemological tradition of hermeneutics. We argue that fieldwork informed by a hermeneutic orientation is able to generate credible and novel theory by confronting the challenges of interpretation head on. This process cannot be represented by the orderly steps of a template. We argue that a return to a hermeneutic orientation opens the way to more plausible and insightful theories based on interpretive rather than procedural rigor, and we offer a set of heuristics to guide both researchers and reviewers along this path.

To discard or to ado(a)pt? Looking at qualitative research templates through the lens of organizational routines

“…Both templates and routines are commonly used for minimizing costs and maximizing the legitimacy of the involved organization or investigation (Feldman and Pentland, 2003). Similarly, the use of both templates and routines has been subject to criticisms regarding their allegedly standardized, repeatable nature and resultant inflexible disposition (Mees-Buss et al, 2020). In this viewpoint article, I offer a different perspective regarding the disposition of template usage.…”

“…In fact, a recent special issue of Organizational Research Methods journal addresses the adverse consequences of using templates in qualitative research (K€ ohler et al, 2019). Individual articles in this particular special issue discuss various aftermaths of using templates, such as their inadequacy to address the fundamental challenges of interpretation (Mees-Buss et al, 2020), inability to represent analytic procedures and incapacity to articulate the researchers' analytic actions (Locke et al, 2020). Further articles in the special issue discuss how templates enable protocolization of qualitative research procedures by offering themselves as substitutes for rigor (e.g.…”

How to advance theory through literature reviews in logistics and supply chain management

“…We could not identify any study, outside or inside of our discipline, which has conducted a review in the described way, but the recent methodological literature on interpretivism could serve as a source of inspiration (e.g. Darby et al , 2019; Mees-Buss et al , 2020).…”

Templates in Qualitative Research Methods: Origins, Limitations, and New Directions

“…Methodological templates can be defined as systematic, simplified, and repeatable approaches to data collection, analysis, and interpretation that have become standardized and legitimized through enactment (i.e., repeated publication especially in top ranked journals) and normative pressures from key gatekeepers (e.g., reviewers, editors, instructors, or co-authors) to align with dominant epistemological and ontological trends (e.g., Cilesiz & Greckhamer, 2022; Harley & Cornelissen, 2022; Lê & Schmid, 2022; Mees-Buss et al, 2022; Pratt et al, 2022; Reay et al, 2019; Zilber & Zanoni, 2022). As Harley and Cornelissen (2022, p. 240) note, by applying these “standard protocols […] researchers justify inferences from data and demonstrate “rigor””, where templates function as a “proxy for rigor” when researchers “come to substitute their own reasoning with a procedural application of a template” (Harley & Cornelissen, 2022, p. 240).…”

“…This quote captures an important pivot point when a specific research technique becomes a template, i.e., when it is applied in an unadjusted, non-adapted, rote way to another piece of research. While templates may be perceived by novices as a more manageable way to acquire methodological skills (e.g., Pratt et al, 2022), Locke et al (2022) argue that, especially in qualitative research, “templates cannot help but represent analytic procedures like coding as involved in a stepwise process”, creating the illusion “of research practice as linear” (Locke et al, 2022, p. 263), which can ultimately lead to oversimplification and a lack of rigor (e.g., Harley & Cornelissen, 2022; Mees-Buss et al, 2022; Pratt et al, 2022).…”