Abstract
Grounded theory methodology (GTM), with its espoused goal of theory development of novel phenomena, has found broad application in Information Systems (IS) research. To investigate how GTM is applied in IS research and how the research contributions are contingent on those applications, we review 43 GTM-based articles in major IS and related journals. Ten of the articles develop theory. The other 33 articles use GTM to develop models and rich descriptions of new phenomena as their theoretical contribution. We show that each of the three forms is valuable to the IS community. For example, studies that develop theories and models are highly cited in the IS literature. We identify nine GTM procedures that are applied in various combinations to develop the three forms of research contribution. Treating GTM as a portfolio of the nine procedures, we examine the implications for the research contribution of adopting the core GTM procedures compared with a partial portfolio of those procedures.
Highlights
Grounded theory methodology (GTM) is designed to enable the discovery of inductive theory
We investigate how GTM is applied in Information Systems (IS) research and how research contributions are contingent on the procedures adopted
Rather, accepting the assumption in GTM that the methodology is the mechanism on which the research contribution is contingent, we show how, in this particular relationship and in the subsequent relationships reported in this paper, the research contribution is contingent on the GTM procedures adopted
Summary
Grounded theory methodology (GTM) is designed to enable the discovery of inductive theory. It “allows the researcher to develop a theoretical account of the general features of a topic while simultaneously grounding the account in empirical observations or data” GTM has become one of the most frequently adopted qualitative research methods in social science research (Morse 2009). In IS research, GTM has been chosen frequently to study technological change and sociotechnical behavior in emerging research domains (Birks et al 2013; Matavire and Brown 2013; Urquhart and Fernandez 2006)
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