IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ems/eureri/9731.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Role of Narrative Fiction and Semi-Fiction in Organizational Studies

Author

Listed:
  • Whiteman, G.M.
  • Phillips, N.

Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss the use of narrative fiction and semi-fiction in organizational research and explore the strengths and weaknesses of these alternative approaches. We begin with an introduction reviewing the existing literature and clarifying what we mean by fiction and semi-fiction. We then present and discuss examples of fiction and semi-fiction focusing on how these approaches can be used in organizational research. We argue that fiction is more useful as a source of data and as a way of representing theory to an audience. Semi-fiction, on the other hand, provides a novel approach to the production and representation of theory. In both cases, researchers face a number of challenges, but also gain access to new and powerful techniques for developing insights into organizational topics.

Suggested Citation

  • Whiteman, G.M. & Phillips, N., 2006. "The Role of Narrative Fiction and Semi-Fiction in Organizational Studies," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2006-079-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    • Handle: RePEc:ems:eureri:9731
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://repub.eur.nl/pub/9731/ERS-2006-079-ORG.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karen Golden-Biddle & Karen Locke, 1993. "Appealing Work: An Investigation of How Ethnographic Texts Convince," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(4), pages 595-616, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Benabou, Roland & Falk, Armin & Tirole, Jean, 2018. "Narratives, Imperatives, and Moral Reasoning," IZA Discussion Papers 11665, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tony J. Watson, 2011. "Ethnography, Reality, and Truth: The Vital Need for Studies of ‘How Things Work’ in Organizations and Management," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 202-217, January.
    2. Elizabeth Goodrick & Trish Reay, 2010. "Florence Nightingale Endures: Legitimizing a New Professional Role Identity," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1), pages 55-84, January.
    3. Beltagui, Ahmad & Sesis, Achilleas & Stylos, Nikolaos, 2021. "A bricolage perspective on democratising innovation: The case of 3D printing in makerspaces," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    4. Järvenpää, Marko & Hoque, Zahirul & Mättö, Toni & Rautiainen, Antti, 2023. "Controllers’ role in managerial sensemaking and information trust building in a business intelligence environment," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    5. Thibaut Bardon & Lionel Garreau & Chahrazad Abdallah & Benoît Journé & Maja Korica, 2020. "Rethinking Observation: Challenges and Practices," Post-Print hal-02986240, HAL.
    6. Luciana Castro Gonçalves, 2012. "Learning Dynamics across Boundaries of IS Context: A Structural perspective to Support Knowledge Management," Post-Print hal-02340306, HAL.
    7. Yaffa Moskovich, 2022. "Management Attitude Shaping Cultural Sustainability in a Taxi Company—An Israeli Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-23, October.
    8. Rautiainen, Antti & Scapens, Robert W. & Järvenpää, Marko & Auvinen, Tommi & Sajasalo, Pasi, 2024. "Towards fluid role identity of management accountants: A case study of a Finnish bank," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(4).
    9. Lukka, Kari & Modell, Sven, 2010. "Validation in interpretive management accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 462-477, May.
    10. Baxter, Jane & Carlsson-Wall, Martin & Chua, Wai Fong & Kraus, Kalle, 2019. "Accounting and passionate interests: The case of a Swedish football club," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 21-40.
    11. Ellson, Tony, 2008. "Can we live without a dog? Consumption life cycles in dog-owner relationships," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(5), pages 565-573, May.
    12. John T. Perry & Ralph H. Hanke & Gaylen N. Chandler & Gergana Markova, 2016. "Some Predictors of Entrepreneurship Article Impact," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 25(1), pages 42-69, March.
    13. Anette Hallin & Tina Karrbom Gustavsson, 2009. "Managing death – corporate social responsibility and tragedy," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(4), pages 206-216, July.
    14. Prebensen, Nina K., 2017. "The mediating effect of real life encounters in co-writing tourism books," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1-9.
    15. Latusek, Dominika & Vlaar, Paul W.L., 2018. "Uncertainty in interorganizational collaboration and the dynamics of trust: A qualitative study," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 12-27.
    16. Ya-Lan Chin & Feng-Shang Wu & Jian-Bing Liu & Yan Li & Jin Wang, 2024. "Exploring the role of interaction in older-adult service innovation: insights from the testing stage," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
    17. Guénin, Henri & Gendron, Yves & Morales, Jérémy, 2024. "The diktat of concision: When accounting for words shrinks academic knowledge," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    18. repec:dau:papers:123456789/15194 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Adzor Ibiamke & Clement C. M. Ajekwe, 2017. "On Ensuring Rigour in Accounting Research," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 7(3), pages 157-170, July.
    20. Papachristos, George & Papadonikolaki, Eleni & Morgan, Bethan, 2024. "Projects as a speciation and aggregation mechanism in transitions: Bridging project management and transitions research in the digitalization of UK architecture, engineering, and construction industry," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    21. Michel Anteby, 2013. "PERSPECTIVE —Relaxing the Taboo on Telling Our Own Stories: Upholding Professional Distance and Personal Involvement," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(4), pages 1277-1290, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Narrative fiction; Organizational studies; Semi-fiction;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • M - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • Z11 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economics of the Arts and Literature

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ems:eureri:9731. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: RePub (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/erimanl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.