Empirical Study

A mixed methods approach is suggested as the classical way for developing a measurement scale (Doney and Cannon, 1997, p. 43), because for a deep understanding of the research area both approaches, qualitative and quantitative, are needed. This view is supported by Kaplan (1964, p. 207) who states that ‘Quantities are of qualities, and a measured quality has just the magnitude expressed in its measure.’ Miles and Huberman (1994, pp. 40ff.) see the distinction between qualitative and quantitative as not well-aimed, rather preferring a differentiation between analytic approaches aimed at understanding few controlled variables, and systemic approaches aimed at understanding the interaction of variables in a complex environment. However named, the reader awakens to the fact that the combination of both approaches is appropriate for the reasearch question of this work: because on the one hand the linking enables the connection of the literature with issues important in management practice, and on the other hand it enables the elaboration of analysis providing richer detail as well as initiating new lines of thinking (cf. Rossman and Wilson, 1984, cited in Miles and Huberman, 1994, p. 41). The deductive and the inductive research approaches are combined because, for construct complexity reasons and for major differences and discordance in the literature, a purely deductive approach is not adequate (Homburg, 1995, p. 60).