Breaking the silence about exiting fieldwork
- Author(s)
- Snejina Michailova, Rebecca Piekkari, Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki, Tiina Ritvala, Irina Mihailova, Asta Salmi
- Abstract
It is surprising that, to date, a discussion of exiting fieldwork is absent from the management and organization literature-an absence we believe is unjustified. We argue that analyzing exit from fieldwork is important for theorizing. We combine two streams of research-ethnography in the broader social sciences and business marketing on dissolving relationships-to propose a relational framework for conceptualizing and analyzing exit. The framework represents a first attempt to examine exiting in a systematic and nuanced manner, with the objective of understanding why and how breaking the silence about exiting fieldwork may advance theorizing. We develop a typology of four exit types leading to four different approaches to theorizing. We suggest that exit may bring about a new beginning in theorizing rather than closure and that it is not only high-quality relationships in the field but also those that are disruptive that may lead to interesting theorizing.
- Organisation(s)
- External organisation(s)
- University of Auckland, Aalto University, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- Journal
- Academy of Management Review
- Volume
- 39
- Pages
- 138-161
- No. of pages
- 24
- ISSN
- 0363-7425
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2011.0403
- Publication date
- 04-2014
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 502016 SME-research
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Business, Management and Accounting(all), Strategy and Management, Management of Technology and Innovation
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/breaking-the-silence-about-exiting-fieldwork(115c438f-e389-4b0c-9c26-5b3b8c9ec9f4).html