Paradigm Plurality in Case Study Research

This entry explains the development of paradigm plurality in case study research in management and organizational studies. In so doing, it argues that the benefits of paradigm plurality far outweigh the shortcomings and that it is important for case study researchers to encourage perspectives emerging from multiple paradigmatic viewpoints. We argue that this is desirable not only from a theoretical point of view but also in light of the complex changes taking place in contemporary society.

The most common understanding of the concept of “paradigm” derives from Thomas Kuhn's work, in which a paradigm is held to represent, on the one hand, a constellation of beliefs and values that are shared by members of a given scientific community (paradigm as a disciplinary martix) and, on the other, one element in that constellation, the concrete puzzle solutions that, employed as models or examples, replace explicit rules as a basis for the solution of scientific puzzles (paradigm as an exemplar). For the purpose of this entry, however, we define paradigm according to Gibson Burrell and Gareth Morgan as a shared set of views, values, and writing conventions around which social science research communities are formed.

We argue, further, that despite Jeffrey's Pfeffer's position that mono-paradigm absolutism is a sign of maturity within management research, what is happening on the ground is a shift toward paradigm plurality. Since the early 1990s, this trend has been noted by writers in organization theory, such as John Hassard, Majken Schultz and Mary Jo Hatch, and Mihaela Kelemen; international business, such as Arvind Parkhe; strategic management, such as William McKinley and Andreas Georg Scherer; operational research, such as that conducted by John Mingers; and technology studies, such as the one conducted by Marianne Lewis and Andrew Grimes. In what follows, then, we highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the multiparadigm [Page 648]approach and present specific strategies of multiparadigm case research within organizations.