Using the Gioia Methodology in international business and entrepreneurship research

Abstract

Building theory is necessary to advance international business (IB) and international entrepreneurship (IE) research. Grounded theory approaches have been shown to be appropriate for building theory in many different fields, including IB and IE. The Gioia Methodology is a qualitative approach to developing a grounded theory that can meet standards of rigor associated with trustworthy research demanded by top journals. In this paper we provide a brief introduction to this methodology by outlining its fundamental philosophical and methodological underpinnings, especially concerning its three main procedural pillars: a) developing a data structure; b) developing a grounded model based on that data structure; and c) presenting findings in a convincing narrative. We present examples of selected papers that have employed the Gioia Methodology in IB and IE settings.