Researching the multinational corporation: contributions of critical realist ethnography

SHARPE, Diana (2018). Researching the multinational corporation: contributions of critical realist ethnography. Critical perspectives on international business, 14 (4), 383-403.

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Official URL: https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/cp...
Link to published version:: https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-08-2014-0038

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the contributions that critical realist ethnographies can make to an understanding of the multinational corporation. Design/methodology/approach – This paper draws on a discussion of methodological challenges in researching the multinational corporation and the ways in which critical realist ethnographies can respond to these challenges. The example of research on the transfer of management practices is used to illustrate this. Findings – Taking the example of researching the transfer of management practices within the multinational, the paper argues that the potential of critical realist ethnography including critical realist global ethnography to contribute to the field of International Business and International Management remains relatively untapped. Research limitations/implications – Adopting the sociological imagination of the critical realist ethnographer has implications for the kinds of questions that are asked by the researcher and the ways in which we seek to address these methodologically. Researching from a critical standpoint fruitful empirical themes for further research relate to the experience of change for example in business systems, internationalization of organizations and “globalization”. Practical implications – The critical realist ethnographer can contribute insights into the complex social and political processes within the multinational and provide insights into how social structures are both impacting on and impacted by individuals and groups. Ethnographic research located within a critical realist framework has the potential to address questions of how stability and change take place within specific structural, cultural and power relations. Originality/value – At the methodological level, this paper highlights the potential of critical realist ethnography in researching the multinational, in addressing significant questions facing the critical researcher and in gaining a privileged insight into the lived experience of globalization.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: ** From Crossref via Jisc Publications Router.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Business, Management and Accounting (miscellaneous), Business and International Management
Departments - Does NOT include content added after October 2018: Sheffield Business School > Department of Management
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-08-2014-0038
Page Range: 383-403
SWORD Depositor: Margaret Boot
Depositing User: Margaret Boot
Date Deposited: 30 Apr 2018 14:25
Last Modified: 17 Mar 2021 23:38
URI: https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/20993

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