Putting critical realism to work in the study of business relationship processes

The relationship development aspect of production transfer

“…Multiple-case is an appropriate research strategy when the purpose is to identify and describe critical variables, because multiple cases enable the researcher to study how different production transfers developed regarding their relationships related to materials supply responsibility and thus to identify critical variables in relation to relationship dynamics in conjunction to the transfers. In order to address the complexity of interdependencies, interconnectedness, and time, Ryan et al (2012) recommend a process perspective and critical realist ontology. In this paper, we study three production transfers: from Sweden to China, Sweden to Romania, and Sweden to Hungary.…”

Gaining access to agency and structure in industrial marketing theory

“…The conceptualization of time in process theories has received notable attention from industrial marketing theorists (for instance Araujo & Easton, 2012;Halinen et al, 2012;Medlin, 2004) and the development of insight into agency and structure across time and space would seem a logical extension of this work. However, there are well regarded problems with the notion of pairing integrative theories with appropriate methods (rather than methodologies, which necessarily have an explicitly theoretical aspect) that have yet to be fully explored in industrial marketing scholarship (Ryan et al, 2012). We propose that there are three dimensions to the solution 1) data types, 2) theorizing strategy and 3) built theory type.…”

“…An approach accepting Midgley's notion of critical pluralism allows for choices to be made within contextually relevant boundaries, incorporating theoretical level considerations without needed to justify findings against a single grand theory. Ryan et al (2012) point to the tendency of authors of CR papers to state procedural matters and ignore philosophical level issues -we propose that space constraints in journal articles are one probable cause of this. Their paper provides a valuable referential base point within IM, which can be referenced for CR researchers and thus avoiding lengthy methodological and philosophical arguments in every paper that will inevitably drive reviewers to distraction.…”

“…Both structuration (see for instance Ellis & Mayer, 2001;Nicholson et al, 2009;Nicholson et al, 2013;Peters et al, 2009) and critical realism (see for instance Easton, 2010;Ehret, 2013;Harrison & Easton, 2002;Matthyssens et al, 2013;Peters et al, 2013a;Ryan et al, 2012) have seen limited, but increasing use in industrial marketing scholarship. It is clear that critical realism is gaining most traction, and our concern is that is that IM scholars choose one to the exclusion of the other when so much's stands to be gained by using both structuration and critical realism (and others), we will argue as part of a pluralism of pluralistic perspectives Critical realism and structuration were conceived by their founders (Bhaskar and Giddens) as stratified rather than flat ontologies with reality seen as recursive and emergent.…”

In Search of Alternative Research Methods in Marketing: Insights from Layder’s Adaptive Theory Methodology

“…In order to fully understand a marketing phenomenon, both structure and agency aspects need to be understood in one research project. Positivistic research has been criticised for being overly biased towards structure whereas highly qualitative research has been criticised for its overemphasis on individual subjectivity (human agency) (Ryan, Tähtinen, Vanharanta, & Mainela, 2012). Given the overrepresentation of quantitative (survey-based) research in marketing, it can be argued that marketing research methods are geared to capture structural aspects of a phenomena while neglecting individual subjectivity aspects.…”