The Contribution and Challenges of Narrative Data in Interorganizational Research

This study contributes by building awareness of narratives in organizational and interorganizational research and by polishing use of qualitative methods within interorganizational research. Additionally, the study provided new understanding on narratives within inter-organizational research by studying organizational narratives instead of purely personal narratives that for example sociology is more focused to. The paper also illustrated and concluded some opportunities and challenges that narrative data bring to inter-organizational research.

To conclude, a narrative tells about a certain topic and contains chosen events ordered according to the plot. Narrative has a structure from the beginning to the ending, and this structure also includes the meaning, why this certain narrative is told. Narrative utilizes narrative cognition that is based on “holistic themes” without strict categories, because the events, actions and actors are related to their context.

Narrative is a natural form of data and provides “narrative cognition” and knowledge and it should be distinguished from “answers” (cf. Polkinghorne 1995; Bruner 1986). A narrative reveals the advantages and opportunities of narrative cognition (see Bruner 1986) that is previously neglected as a knowledge type in research. Simply acknowledging the distinction between narrative and paradigmatic cognition might inspire researchers to utilize narrative data in their research.

There are plenty of research areas in inter-organizational research in which narration can contribute (see the figure 3). Narratives can offer new fresh ways to gather data and conduct for example interviews, since they offer a different kind of data compared with the answer type data. Therefore narratives might amend the organizational studies in diverse ways: they provide access to holistic contextual stories with causality, multivoice phenomenon, and sensitive issues. They provide active data, and might improve validity of the data, triangulation. Narratives might offer new type to analysis processes. Furthermore, narrative information provides different kind of understanding.

Also challenges might emerge in data gathering and reporting due to interview conventions, sensitivity and ethics. Participants are more used to structured interviews, and because the questions in the usual sense of the word are not asked, the informant has more space and power to decide what and how to tell about the topic, and this can make the situation challenging to all parties. The researcher has to learn to be patient and active listener and get used to “waste time” when listening to the narrations but at the same time she or he needs to gently guide the narrator to stay within the research area.

Narratives fit with some research topics, such as sensitive topics, the informants are allowed to express their views and experiences about the issue with their own words at their own pace, usually in a good atmosphere. Narratives fit also in topics that are related to process and change over time. A narrative approach may fit, when the context is blurred and multiple information sources with multiple voices are used. Case studies are useful in exploring inter-organizational relationships because they capture the dynamics of the studied phenomenon in a specific context (Halinen & Tornroos 2005) and narratives support this kind of approach. Narratives studies the focal phenomenon in their context, and thus this can be a one potential way to study i.e. networks that are strongly related to their context (cf. Halinen and Tornroos 2005). The narratives as “soft” method, focusing on narrator’s own description may offer opportunity to approach sensitive, hidden or troubled topics, such as conflicts or social embeddedness. A narrative approach may give new insights how to conduct interviews, and the potential spontaneous narrations may have better acceptance during interviews, if the researcher is aware of narrative type of data and knowledge and their special positive features.

A narrative approach activates informants to “use their voice” and produce narration from their own viewpoint and this allow them to contribute to determining what the most relevant themes are in an area of research. The movement away from structured interview schedules toward giving research respondents more opportunity to provide narratives gives the informants more space, so the new emerging research topics can emerge. If the informant evaluates an event as worth telling, it suggests that certain events and actors may contain something interesting viewpoints to the topic. Among the business researchers is discussed how the theory and the contemporary business life could be linked better, and how to focus on topics that are scientifically challenging and interesting, but at the same time benefit the business life. Narratives might reveal this kind of research themes if the scientific knowledge of the researcher and contemporary issues on the field described by the informants are combined. This might encourage researchers to be open also to data-oriented methods and inductive and abductive research strategies. Hence, active data gained through narratives might reveal new research ideas emerging from the true business world. Instead of treating spontaneous narratives as waste of interview time and wrong tracks, they could be considered as an active address of the informant. Some ideas related to analyzing data can be borrowed from a narrative approach. Narrative analysis, based on the structure of narrations, can reveal structures of business processes of different kind, their differences and similarities.

Writing a research report can be more transparent and, if the researcher considers him- or herself also as a narrator and is aware about his/her own choices when writing the report. Additionally, a narrative approach challenges the researcher to reflect his/her own position, knowledge and relations to the focal research, when she/he writes the research report as an outcome of the research (Saastamoinen 1999). The researcher chooses the point, the purpose and topic of the research and the elements from theoretical and empirical world that fit to the framework. So, the researcher creates a whole research from separate elements, and therefore reflexivity has important role.

A narrative approach brings also new ethical and methodological challenges concerning anonymity and confidentiality. Encouraging respondents to become more active in the research The narrative data - Telling the story due to the point with shade and scale - Choosing and ordering relevant elements in to the plot according to temporality and causality - Following the narrative structure more or less - Placing events and actors within the context - The narrator’s role and subjectivity is emphasized: choosing and telling with own vocabulary from own viewpoint The contribution: Activeness – new themes Accessibility – access to sensitive themes Multivoicity Comprehensibility The challenges: The conduction of unconventional interview Anonymity in reporting Ethical problems Bias Ontology Figure 3 Narrative data and the contribution and the challenges within inter-organizational research process does not automatically result in a more ethical methodology, but instead, leads to the need for greater sensitivity to the ethical issues (Elliot 2005). For example, when studying a relationship or a network, several actors with their differing views are involved, and other parties may recognize the actors and individuals behind stories. If there are negative disclosures, this can be harmful for business relations. When allowing multiple voices and narrations in research reporting, problems related to confidentiality in reporting might occur. It is a key ethical principle that the anonymity and privacy of informants is respected, but however, once attributes and experiences is ascribed to a particular case in a research report it can be very difficult to ensure that the case does not become recognizable; because of the unique nature of case histories and the specific constellation of attributes the individuals and actors are likely to be identifiable by those who know them (Elliot 2005).

Narratives in inter-organizational research can be related to personal or organizational events and topics. If the research focus is in relations or networks, and several actors from several organizations are involved or an organization, a relationship between organizations or a network is a research unit, there certain will be multivoice information and multiple narrations about the focal topic. Through narratives it is possible to identify a plurality of voices instead of assuming that “organization” is one amorphous grouping of people who all agree and possess a unitary agenda for the organization or a relationship.