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Abstract: Doctoral students adopting an interpretive case study approach often struggle to develop their skills adequately enough to design and execute their study. The purpose of this paper is to offer doctoral students practical guidelines on how to design a single in-depth interpretive case study for research in Business and Management doctoral studies. These best practice guidelines emerged from a synthesis of leading research work on case studies and, in particular, interpretive case studies. The guidelines are organised into a comprehensive framework that considers key design aspects, such as the research problem, philosophical perspectives, qualitative approaches, case study strategy, theoretical framework(s), the case study site, unit of analysis, data sources, data collection, data analysis and ethics. The guidelines will help students to cope with these key design aspects and improve their overall ability to conduct competent interpretive case study research. While these design guidelines are not exhaustive, it is hoped that it will encourage business and management doctoral students interested in employing interpretive case study research to approach this intellectually challenging and rewarding form of research with more confidence. The guidelines recommend that design considerations focus on obtaining information about the context, process and the meaning systems of social actors within an organization. Context is concerned with a holistic analysis of the various systems and structures within which the case organization is embedded. To accommodate the constant state of flux in the case organization, a process strand of analysis is required to document changes that take place over time. Meaning is concerned with interpreting and analysing the shared sense of reality and conventions that people generate as they interact in organizations. This paper also offers guidelines for assessing the quality of an interpretive case study. Future guidelines should assist students in conducting critical interpretive case studies that critique the abuse of power, knowledge, and ideology in organizations and empower the marginalised, and decolonizing interpretive case studies that defy the hegemonic traditions of western business and management research.
Keywords: case study, interpretive, qualitative research, doctoral students, research methods, business
1.Introduction
The breadth of research approaches embraced in business and management studies poses curriculum challenges for educators teaching research methods, mentoring challenges for study leaders, assessment challenges for examiners and reviewers, and practical design challenges for...