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Phil Johnson, Joanne Duberley, Paul Close and Cathy Cassell
Despite some notable exceptions, the intricacies, dilemmas and impact of manufacturing management researchers’ adoption of different field roles during data collection in…
Abstract
Despite some notable exceptions, the intricacies, dilemmas and impact of manufacturing management researchers’ adoption of different field roles during data collection in collaborating organizations tends to be glossed over in published work. The aim of this paper is to investigate the potential impact of different field roles upon manufacturing management research. Through a discussion of the research methodology literature two ideal types are presented: the researcher field role and the consultant field role. By drawing upon examples from the authors’ own experience we argue that inadvertent oscillation between these roles influences research findings. Nevertheless it is argued that both field roles are important in manufacturing research, so what is important is to maintain a balance between them. Such a balance requires both situational and epistemic reflexivities. This paper seeks to encourage researchers to be more reflexive in their published research and to avoid the tendency to present rationalized (and sanitized) accounts. The consequence would be a more rigorous analysis of the impact of the researcher’s field role upon the manufacturing management research process and findings.
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A focus on the socio-politics of qualitative research and, given the space available, to raise more questions than answers. In other words, the author wants to be more speculative…
Abstract
Purpose
A focus on the socio-politics of qualitative research and, given the space available, to raise more questions than answers. In other words, the author wants to be more speculative then definitive. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is grounded in a sociology of knowledge approach known as ANTi-History.
Findings
The development of qualitative methods is grounded in the socio-politics of knowledge production.
Research limitations/implications
The focus chosen – ANTi-History – is selected in exclusion to other potential approaches.
Practical implications
To encourage researchers to include socio-politics in understanding the production of qualitative research methods.
Social implications
Identification of the socio-politics that underlie qualitative approaches.
Originality/value
The paper is rooted in a developing approach to the socio-politics of knowledge of the past.
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The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue.
Design/methodology/approach
A brief description of the Gender in Management track at the 2007 British Academy of Management (BAM) Annual Conference held at Warwick Business School and an outline of the papers in the issue.
Findings
The track examined various issues and the papers chosen from the track for the special issue are closest to the central concerns of the journal.
Originality/value
Provides a summary of the perspectives considered.
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Alan Bryman and Catherine Cassell
The aim of this paper is to highlight some of the issues that emerge in the researcher interview process. It is argued that researcher interviewing is becoming an increasingly…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to highlight some of the issues that emerge in the researcher interview process. It is argued that researcher interviewing is becoming an increasingly used practice yet the researcher interview is under‐critiqued in the literature.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors provide an “insider” account of their own experiences of researcher interviewing. Additionally they seek to locate these experiences within two conceptual approaches: that of reflexivity and identity work.
Findings
The paper aims to investigate some of the distinctive concerns that arise when one researcher interviews another.
Research limitations/implications
The paper outlines the implications for others who may be engaging in the process of interviewing researchers, and highlights further issues for consideration when planning a researcher interview study.
Originality/value
The paper provides an analysis of a little considered, but expanding practice within qualitative research, namely the researcher interview.
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Amporn Jirattikorn, Arunrat Tangmunkongvorakul, Patou Masika Musumari, Arratee Ayuttacorn, Kriengkrai Srithanaviboonchai, Cathy Banwell and Matthew Kelly
For decades, northern Thailand has been a hub for migration in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, particularly for migrants from Myanmar. HIV prevalence among Myanmar/Burmese migrants…
Abstract
Purpose
For decades, northern Thailand has been a hub for migration in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, particularly for migrants from Myanmar. HIV prevalence among Myanmar/Burmese migrants is higher than in the general Thai population. This study aims to focus on Shan migrants living with HIV in Chiang Mai, the metropolitan centre of northern Thailand and to examine two related aspects: migrants’ sexual risk behaviour and their HIV knowledge and beliefs. The study aims to understand circumstances in which mobility increases HIV risk behaviour and prevalence.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a qualitative study, the authors conducted in-depth interviews in 2017 with 43 HIV-infected Shan migrants (21 males and 22 females), and 29 health-care providers who work in district hospitals in Chiang Mai.
Findings
The authors found that social and economic vulnerability associated with migration, and AIDS-related mortality, increased migrants’ likelihood of having multiple serial partners. Confusion about HIV symptoms, stigmatization of HIV positive women and low risk perceptions, particularly among men, increased their risk behaviours.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to study the way of life, sexual behaviour and HIV knowledge and beliefs of Shan Migrants from Myanmar Living with HIV in Thailand.
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Shqipe Gashi Nulleshi and Viktorija Kalonaityte
This paper aims to add to the theorization of the gender dynamic in rural areas by investigating the motives of women who join their family firm (or their spouse's family firm…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to add to the theorization of the gender dynamic in rural areas by investigating the motives of women who join their family firm (or their spouse's family firm) and thereby defy the demographic trend of rural flight. The context of this study is the depopulation of rural areas with the closing of basic services and relocation of the younger population, and educated women in particular, to urban areas. Consequently, rural family businesses risk failing to find successors and suffering forced closure or relocation. The empirical site of the study is rural family firms in Sweden, a context characterized by a high level of gender equality in legislation and culture but gender-conservative business structures in rural regions.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical case in this paper builds on a qualitative study of nine (9) life course narratives of women entrepreneurs in a rural region of Southern Sweden who have returned to rural areas to join their family business. The authors follow the view established by gender scholars that women are active agents in navigating their lives, and their life story narratives offer insight into the considerations that inform their choice to stay or return to rural locations. In Sweden, the setting for the study, gender equality is widely supported by legislation, policy and institutional frameworks and popular understanding of gender relations. In contrast to the gender-progressive policies of Sweden at large, women's entrepreneurship in rural regions of Sweden tends to follow traditional gender hierarchies and face similar constraints as in rural areas of other countries. The juxtaposition of these competing sets of ideals makes Sweden an important and interesting place to study and draw insights from the experiences of women entrepreneurs.
Findings
The findings reveal that women who choose to join rural family firms view them primarily in a positive light and see this choice as aligned with their need for professional flexibility and assertiveness, rewarding relationships, and a calm, secure, well-balanced life. Theoretically, the study implies that women choosing to engage in rural family firms seek non-material benefits, such as work–life balance and social support, and may be driven in part by a sense of psychological ownership that extends to the rural community.
Originality/value
The findings provide novel insights on women as active agents in navigating their lives and the intrinsic (e.g. alignment of personal values) and extrinsic (e.g. community support) motives that inform their decisions. The study also raises questions regarding how women perceive themselves as “fitting in” to rural settings and to what extent the sense of security within these settings that the women describe may be contingent upon factors such as their families' embeddedness within the community as well as their conformity to the local social norms.