QCA and business research: Work in progress or a consolidated agenda?

Abstract

Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) in its different variants has become increasingly prominent over the last years in business and management research. While this notable trend is, in general, more than welcome, the applications in the field have to hold against some minimal standards of the QCA community. This study is based on an assessment of 61 published, peer-reviewed journal articles applying QCA within the field of business and management studies. It demonstrates several major and minor flaws and presents several suggestions on how to overcome these shortcomings or avoid them in the first place.