From inductive to iterative grounded theory: Zipping the gap between process theory and process data

Abstract

In a series of hard-fought and lonely empirical battles, organizational process researchers have started to fortify a position in the no-researcher's land between inductive theory generation and deductive theory verification. This new position suggests that Glaser and Strauss's (1967, The Discovery of Grounded Theory; Strategies for Qualitative Research. Aldine, New York) influential descriptions of grounded theory are becoming outdated as a representation of what organizational process researchers do. Organizational process research seems to draw researchers from inductive grounded theory to interative grounded theory, in which researchers cycle back and forth between process theory and process data to produce process knowledge. This article describes the research methods of a forthcoming analysis of strategic change processes in loosely coupled systems, as a way to explore some of the characteristics and challenges of iterative grounded theory.