The Application of Qualitative Comparative Analysis（QCA）in Configuration Research in Business Administration Field：Commentary and Future Directions

Abstract

The configuration perspective in business management research is growing, but the lack of supportive research method slows it down. Since Fiss（2007）proposed to use the qualitative comparative analysis（QCA）to solve the problem of empirical research from the configuration perspective, the method has been widely used in management research overseas. Conversely, QCA is still in its initial stage with few achievements in China. Based on a systematic review of related literature adopting QCA in the management field at home and abroad, this paper summarizes that three major problems can be solved in management configuration research by QCA: exploring multiple routes resulting in the equifinality, dealing with complex interactions between antecedents and deepening & supplementing classification. Secondly, this paper summarizes QCA’s six advantages, including the low demand of quantity and sources of data, cause complexity, casual asymmetry, no need to deal with multilevel variables, the reduction in phenomenon complexity and complete case explanation. Facing the most questioned robustness in the application of QCA, this paper sums up a number of specific coping strategies. Finally, supported by the latest development of QCA, this paper proposes a three-dimensional research framework consisting of digging the past research, and cultivating the future research and time-series research.