SO YOU ALREADY HAVE A SURVEY DATABASE?-A SEVEN-STEP METHODOLOGY FOR THEORY BUILDING FROM SURVEY DATABASES: AN ILLUSTRATION FROM INCREMENTAL INNOVATION GENERATION IN BUYER-SELLER RELATIONSHIPS

Abstract

Across business disciplines, the importance of database research for theory testing continues to increase. The availability of data also has increased, though methods to analyze and interpret these data lag. This research proposes a method for extracting strong measures from survey databases by a progression from qualitative to quantitative techniques. To test the proposed method, this study uses the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) survey database, which includes data from firms in several European countries. The proposed method consists of two phases and seven steps, as illustrated in the context of the firm's incremental innovation generation for buyer–seller relationships. This systematic progression moves from a broad but valid empirical case study to the development of a narrow and reliable measure of incremental innovation generation in the IMP database. The proposed method can use supply chain survey databases for theory development without requiring primary data collection, assuming certain conditions.