Meanings for Case Protagonists of the Informing Process Occurring During Case Production and Discussion: A Phenomenological Analysis

Abstract

This study is concerned with how the protagonists of case studies —carried out by researchers of business schools with commitment to the case method— experience the informing process occurring during case production and discussion. The focus is both on how protagonists personally experience this informing process as well as on how protagonists interpret its impact on their relation with the larger social system. This was explored through in-depth interviews with two managers who had been co-protagonists in a case study produced by a well-known Latin American business school in 2004. A descriptive phenomenological method was used for data analysis. Results show that for protagonists, the informing experience was more emotional than intellectual, more significant for its symbolic meaning than its rational content; they also show that in the lived experience of the protagonists, the informing process increased their legitimacy and authority in the face of other stakeholders located in their relevant field of action. Finally, in the interpretation of the researchers, the protagonists related the informing flows from the case production and discussion to the evolution of their own practice.