Lecture 4: Literature Reviews and Conceptualizations

Professor Mark Palmer Queens University Belfast

Lecture aim
to provide students with an appreciation of the practice of approaching the literature in relation to specific research areas and the abstraction of conceptualization

Learning outcomes
Understand the purpose of a literature foundation Understand how the approach the literature in relation to specific research areas How to maximise the resources of the library to gather literature effectively and efficiently Appreciate how to organise relevant literature with purpose Develop an appreciation of the issue of plagiarism and appropriate referencing will also be considered.

Learning outcomes (continued)

Introduce the main idea of conceptualization and using the literature as a foundation practice Develop an understanding of types of conceptualization Critically reflect on the issues of conceptualization

Primacy of Theory: Theory is the starting point

Exercise:
In pairs, discuss the following questions: What is a theory? Who creates a theory (ies)? Is a theory always right? Do academics (your lecturers) always present two/three schools of thought? What are the 3 broad groupings of theories? List as many management/marketing theories as you can.

Lightening only strikes downwards!?

An exemplary case in point!!

Regional agglomeration or industrial clustering (Llobrera et al, 2000)
Promoted by Michael Porter (industrial economist) Every town/city region/ market/ country/ MUST have a silicon valley ignoring other sectors which create the most employment Yet Harald Hotellings (1929) theory of minimum differentiation is overlooked (before Michael Porter was born!)

Finding theory in the Literature

Published accounts of research A focused body of knowledge The body of knowledge is stable and identifiable Often a series of ongoing debates about particular issues or concepts Sources of literature Books Peer reviewed academic journals Conference proceedings Professional and trade journals and magazines

Edited Books Parsons, E and Maclaran, P (2009) Contemporary Issues in Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Elsevier: London
Books can give a good overview of the topic area. An introduction to Mainstream literature Can help to clarify research objectives Can be out of date but a great starting point!

Peer Reviewed (Refereed) Journals Organisation Studies (OS) publishes peer-reviewed, top quality theoretical and empirical research with the aim of promoting the understanding of organizations

Published on a regular basis Print or online resources Refereed journals ensure quality Need to distinguish between academic and professional journals Essential for dissertation research

Conference Proceedings
ECKM 2010 (European Conference on Knowledge Management)
http://www.academic-conferences.org/eckm/eckm2010/eckm10home.htm Conferences are up to date work/thinking in the field Key speakers Contemporary issues and debates Access to other resources networks

Others Academy of Marketing, European Academy of Marketing, European Academy of Management, American Marketing Association, Academy of Management.

Finding the seminal thinker in the field

Why is the literature important?

Background and context for the research Identification of key theories and concepts Mapping out the influential debates Understanding the key concepts and their relevance to your research Identification of constructs Development of frameworks/conceptualizations for your research strategy and analysis of data. For example Porters Five Forces models of competition

Benefits of literature searching

Avoids wasting time and effort to discover something that has already been thoroughly researched (Sekaran 2000) Methods used by other researchers may be unsuitable for your purposes, but they may give you ideas about how you might categorise your data (Bell 1999) The literature review will form the foundation on which your research is built.

Literature searching starting out The Bigger picture Textbooks may provide a summarised introduction Amazon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/ Drilling Down Academic Journals Research groups Conference proceedings

Relevance trees (Saunders et al (2007) Identify key search terms Help focus the research question/objectives Help to establish priorities Identify significant areas for investigation A hierarchical construction which will also help to establish the structure and direction of your literature review

Data Bases beyond google

Google Scholar EBSCO ECONLIT Business Source Complete Emerald Proquest Scopus

Eg Some Organisations with reliable international datasets

www.ESRC.ac.uk www.IMF.org Data.WorldBank.org www.OECD.org/statistics www.UN.org These provide fast, comprehensive access to current global commentary and developments, Statistics can be located. Though these can be complex to understand Many web sites also offer ready analysis through Integrated data visualisations etc

Example in locating relevant quantitative data

Locate www.ESDS.ac.uk/international free web-based access to regularly updated international aggregate (macro) datasets help for users in locating and acquiring international survey (micro) data from other archives Follow links to Support. and thematic guide Look up Financial Monetary Statistic guide and check the cross country comparability

Online Searching for literature

Defining your parameters Language of the publication Topic area of discussion Business sector Geographical area Publication period Literature type (eg refereed journals)

Using databases
Advanced -v- basic search What key terms will you use? Boolean logic Which default field will you use?
Specific

Title Subject terms Abstract All text

Wide

Refine your search

Scholarly/peer reviewed journals for quality publications

Full text- Difficult to get hardcopy

Published date Publication type

Tutorial Activity- Literature Searching

The aim of this Activity is to give you an opportunity to extract appropriate literature for your potential research project. You will need to develop an appropriate search strategy and identify academic material journal. Tasks
Identify an appropriate data base e.g Emerald, Business Source Complete Use the advanced search facility Develop your search terms Think about how you can use the Boolean logic facility Ask for peer Reviewed articles Specify full text Try using the different fields to see what impact it has on your hits Use the citations facility to further develop your search Identify a relevant interest group that organises a regular Conference

A structure for your literature review

Classic funnel
Start with large themes, narrow your focus down

Inverted funnel
Start with a narrow topic or theme and broaden it out

Time line
Track chronological development of an idea or the diffusion of a practice

The argument tree

Core theme is a unifying line of argument, branches are each major author; twigs and leaves other supporting evidence for each branch

Combining distinct themes from different literatures Linked themes

Starting with a large theme that gets narrower

Broadening out from a narrow topic

Tracking the chronological development of an idea

Example

An argument tree

Using themes from different literatures

Linking themes from within management literature

Reading
Selective reading just reading Jot down questions before reading read with an agenda in mind Active reading is done with a pencil Speed reading making a mental map Get writing! Jot down your ideas, underline words, queries, assumptions that you question Build summary tables of pertinent studies (e.g. year of publication, main findings and conclusions, nature of the dependent/independent variables)

Get going! Start from day one.

Get starters recent years have seen the emergence of studies on???????(REF); And ???? (REF) Variances in studies (contrasting, contradictory findings etc)
Build tables on theoretical themes, findings and methods

Analytical reviews

Identify key calls for papers

Identify special issues and call for papers themed around your area. Identify a seminal paper and author and research him/her comprehensively. E.g find CV. Professor James D. Westphal, University of Michigan. Professor Richard Whittington, University of Oxford. Identify specific journals which undertake literature reviews. E.g International Journal of Management Reviews.

Literature Review Journals

Funnel into academic websites institutional and personal

Blooms Taxonomy

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Know
Define Repeat Record Relate Underline

Understand
Translate Describe Recognise Explain Express Identify Locate

Apply
Interpret Apply Employ Dramatise Practise Illustrate Operate Schedule Sketch

Analyse
Distinguish Analyse Appraise Calculate Compare Contrast Inspect Debate Question Categorise Manage

Synthesise
Compose Plan Propose Design Formulate Arrange Assemble Collect Create Organise Prepare

Evaluate
Judge appraise Evaluate Rate Compare Revise Assess Estimate

Guidelines for good referencing

Reproduce the correct reference Refer to the correct reference Do not use hollow referencing Use reliable sources Make clear which statements support the reference Do not copy someone elses references Do not misrepresent the content of the references

Literature review
Developing a clear motivation
Gaps or flaws in prior research Extends theory
Makes it explicit or connects it to another theoretical idea

Applies theory
But this contribution is much lower

Evidence of complexity

Synthesis of the literature

Not merely describing it

Literature review
Constructs: building blocks of theory
Ambiguous and under developed definitions Underspecified

Unconvincing dominant logic

Industrial economic viewpoint and firm-centric perspective Unexplained theoretical linkages

Conceptual models underspecified

Constructs: Not all variables are easy to measure

Why it's hard to measure happiness The UK government wants to measure our happiness. It won't be easy,

Here's the easy way to do it. First, take a large, random sample of people and ask them a question like: "When all's said and done, at the end of the day Brian, taking the rough with the smooth and all that, rate your well-being on a scale of one to 10."

For an interesting attempt to measure cause and effect try Mappiness, a project run by the London School of Economics, which offers a phone app that prompts you to record your mood and situation. The Mappiness website says: "We're particularly interested in how people's happiness is affected by their local environment - air pollution, noise, green spaces, and so on - which the data from Mappiness will be absolutely great for investigating."

Constructs: Sales Orientation and Customer Orientation Constructs

Inductive, exploratory literature reviews

Relatively little studies Few definitions Little, if any, measurement (New Scale Development) At the mercy of the seminal papers in the field Welcome initial conceptualizations Desperately seeking new field legitimacy An agenda and The agenda academic rivals or nemesis agenda setting Problematic for hypothesis development (propositions)

Examples of Literature Reviews

Analytical devices to interrogate the emerging literature

Meta questions that raised from the reflection of the reflection Narrative turns what is really significant and meaningful in the literature? What is implicit in the literature that you can make explicit? What do you disagree with? Why?

Deductive, mature literature reviews

Many established definitions constructs A range of established measurement scales developed Convergence in thinking
Dependent and independent variables developed Develop a table of the way that the variables have been used in previous studies Rationale for chosen variables and their relationships

Misspecification of constructs wrongly treating formative indicators as reflective

A meta-analysis

Conceptualization
Higher order thinking Distinguish between frameworks and testable models Derived from the literature or from empirical data

Conceptualization (Flow)

Example of disentangling concepts

Reconnecting concepts barriers and motives

A meta-analysis

Start-up Established

Growth

High flyers - IPO etc Valuable family Businesses, Exit etc

?
Transfer of Undertakings

Many Micros

Succession Chasm

Conceptualizing from the literature- no data

Inductive Data Conceptualizations

Conceptualizing after the literature review

Conceptual Rigour and Relevance tyranny of the or

Consideration and treatment of the relevant literature concepts and ideas Attention to definitional issues precision and clarity of conceptual definitions Use of evidence to support position conceptual reasoning underlying conceptual model and propositions and hypotheses Objectivity in the treatment of complementing and competing perspectives

Deductive conceptualizations

Deductive conceptualizations

Deductive, mature literature reviews

Hypotheses (sometimes written as predictions)
Theoretical based Unconnected to theory and model Tautological, non-directional and overly broad or narrow Hypotheses not a cohesive set Each hypothesis must have a strong theoretical rationale

Facets of relevance
Direct and indirect relevance ServQual Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml, 1988; Markor Kohli, Jaworski and Kumur, 1993) Latent relevance (tea bag in hot water effect) Serendipitous relevance (ex ante and ex post) First Order and Second Order

Conceptualizing after the empirical data collection Hard interpretatism

Conceptualizing after the empirical data collection Hard interpretatism, developing propositions

Conceptualizing after the empirical data collection, developing testable models

Abduction
Combining induction and deduction Refining conceptualization after the data collection

Conceptual map

Levers of control
Diagnostic control systems critical success factors are communicated and monitored. Beliefs systems are used to enhance core values related to market strategy and to inspire search for new opportunities in line with these values. Interactive control systems are used to discuss strategic uncertainties and to learn novel strategic responses to a changing environment Boundary systems reduce risks by setting limits to strategically undesirable behaviours.

Normative conceptualization

Tables as conceptualization

Institutionalising control

Conceptualization as a spiral

Conceptualization as cyclical

Issues in conceptualization

Further reading
Buschman, J., Warner, D. A. 2005. Researching and Shaping Information Literacy Initiatives in Relation to the Web: Some Framework Problems and Needs', The Journal of Academic Librarianship Volume 31, Issue 1 , Pages 12-18. Bell J (1999) Doing your research project (3rd Edn) Buckingham:Oxford Univ Press Bryman A and Bell E (2003) Business Research Methods New York:Oxford Univ Press Easterby-Smith M et al(2002) Management Research: An Introduction London:Sage Publications Saunders M. et al (2009) Research Methods for Business Students, (Edn 4) Harlow, Prentice Hall Sekaran V (2000) Research Methods for Business: A skills building approach (3rd Edn) New York:Wiley

Reflection Questions
What is the objective in researching the literature? What should the literature chapter look like? How do I conduct an analytical, rather than a descriptive, literature review?

Reflection Question
Are there any parts of the lecture you would like me to say a bit more about?

Further Reading
Whetten, D. 1989. What constitutes a theoretical contribution? Academy of Management Review, 4: 490-495. Bacharach, S. 1989. Organizational theories: Some criteria for evaluation. Academy of Management Review, 14: 496-515. Sutton, R. & Staw, B. 1995. What theory is not. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40: 371-384. Weick, K. 1995. What theory is not, theorizing is. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40: 385-390. Van de Ven, A. 1989. Nothing is quite so practical as a good theory. Academy of Management Review, 14: 486489. Ferraro, F., Pfeffer, J. & Sutton, R. 2005. Economics language and assumptions: How theories can become selffulfilling. Academy of Management Review, 30: 8-24. Hambrick, D. 2007. The field of managements devotion to theory: Too much of a good thing? Academy of Management Journal, 50: 1346-1352. Helfat, C. 2007. Stylized facts, empirical research and theory development in management. Strategic Organization, 5: 185-192. Weick, K. 1989. Theory construction as disciplined imagination. Academy of Management Review, 14: 516-531. Eisenhardt, K. 1989. Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14: 532-550. Poole, M. & Van de Ven, A. 1989. Using paradox to build management and organization theories. Academy of Management Review, 14: 562-578. Whetten, D., Felin, T. & King, B. 2009. The practice of theory borrowing in organizational studies: Current issues and future directions. Journal of Management, 35: 537-563.