Use of focus groups in business ethics research: potential, problems and paths to progress

Abstract

Focus groups are a well established qualitative research method in the social sciences that would seem to offer scope for a significant contribution to the advancement of knowledge and understanding in the field of business ethics. This paper explores their potential contribution, reviews their contribution to date and makes some recommendations regarding their future use. We find that, while the use of focus groups is not extensive, they have been utilised in a non-negligible number of studies. Focus groups are usually used a supplementary method, often as part of the development of a research instrument. Whether used on their own or in conjunction with other methods, we find that in the majority of cases there is insufficient information for a reader to judge that the method has been carried out well and hence that the 'findings' may be trusted. Nor is it easy for future researchers to learn about the practical application of the method in business ethics contexts. We therefore recommend improved reporting in future published studies. Based on an analysis of a subsample of papers that provided a reasonable level of methodological detail, we provide further insights into, and recommendations for, the use of focus groups in business ethics research.

The Development of a Measurement Instrument for the Organizational Performance of Social Enterprises

“…To check the relevance and completeness of the selected indicators, we organized two focus group sessions. The use of focus groups is a common qualitative research method in social sciences, often as a part of the development of measurement instruments [55]. We decided to organize focus groups because it enables in-depth discussions with experts on emerging and unexplored topics [56].…”

“…Moreover, focus groups are not anonymous, potentially making people less outspoken [55,56]. To overcome these potential disadvantages of focus groups, we used the Delphi technique to reach a consensus on the indicators.…”

Is the Delphi method valid for business ethics? A survey analysis

“…This section therefore shows how and why Delphi will improve the ethical-decisions based on the utilities in other specific areas, and the argumentation is based on the fuzzy logic in which there are no single results, but instead a whole range of them. It is because business ethics decisions are not usually individual ones, but instead come in a range; however, there are many casuistic situations, statements and different positions that make difficult or impossible to make decisions in the field of business ethics, not even narrowing down the problem to be solved [14]. In this regard, the Delphi process could be understood using fuzzy logic to clarify the reasons for using this method with business ethics in mind.…”

“…Compared with focus group, which is not widely use at all [14], it highlights that Bstrong personalities can come to dominate and those of a more reticent disposition may be reluctant to speak up^ [14: 56]. Focus groups have an objective, the focus content; they are held in a relaxed atmosphere in which experts interact face-to-face and the researcher manages the conversation to ensure it is focused.…”

“…Business ethics experts are few, but widely dispersed throughout the world, so it is more difficult to gather them together in a focus group, and when this is achieved it is very expensive (money and time costs). The first advantage of using Delphi for business ethics research stems from its principal characteristic that other methods do not develop, namely, it 4 The use of focus group in the field of business ethics has been analysed previously by Cowton & Downs [14]. They analysed the papers published, finding that only 15 of those published on this topic actually focused clearly on research into business ethics.…”