Khaya Dlanga has established himself as one of the most influential individuals in South African media, particularly social media, a platform he uses to promote discussion on topics that range from the frivolous to the profound. In to quote myself, Khaya recounts entertaining and moving stories about his roots and upbringing in rural Transkei, how he made his mark at school as well as his time spent studying advertising and as a stand-up comedian. He also shares his political views, how he overcame homelessness to become one of the most influential marketers in South Africa and he gives the reader a dose of the truly weird and wonderful that is routinely a part of his life.

Amidst rapid and fundamental shifts in the economic, geo-political, technological, and societal landscape, this cutting-edge book makes the timeless case that research can be informed by problems in the 'real world' and make important contributions to theory and practice. Throughout the book, the authors argue that there is a 'sweet spot' where both scholarly and practical research can be done simultaneously. It offers readers insightful and rich examples of how this can be achieved, including frameworks, examples, ideas, and tools which will guide researchers in the lifelong task of defining themselves as researchers and crafting their own unique research practice. It also features critical insights into careers oriented toward having impact on practice, reflective questions that make the principles personal and relevant, and a framework to help develop the network of connections required for research to impact practice. Speaking to the graduate student in all of us, How to Do Relevant Research will greatly benefit Ph.D. students and early career academics who gravitate towards this kind of research but worry about its feasibility and instrumentality, mid-to-late career scholars who do research for practice and teach young scholars how to do it, and to researchers in a think-tank or consultancy who want their work to be scientifically sound and practically useful.

Introducing the idea of conversational storytelling interviewing (CSI) as an 'indirect' method of interviewing, David Boje and Grace Ann Rosile explore this innovative methodological framework as a way for respondents to tell their own story, without resorting to structured or semi-structured interviews. Bringing together theory, method and praxis of storytelling in an iterative process of self-correcting induction, How to Use Conversational Storytelling Interviews for Your Dissertation offers researchers ways to move beyond the bystander role, urging them to be co-creators of their findings. Complete with exercises to train practitioners in new methods of inquiry and in-depth discussions of an array of philosophical issues, this illuminating book illustrates how rigorous self-correcting methods move inquiry from conversation to storytelling science. Pioneering in both method and framework, this book is a crucial guide for using CSI in qualitative research for PhD students and researchers in management and organizational studies. Scholars of feminist and indigenous studies and other critical studies fields will benefit from alternative interviewing methods as these disciplines undergo an ontological turn.

Written in a comprehensive yet accessible style, this Handbook introduces readers to a range of modern empirical methods with applications in microeconomics, illustrating how to use two of the most popular software packages, Stata and R, in microeconometric applications. International contributors expertly investigate the development of advanced methods driven by the accumulation of numerous data sets at the level of individuals, households and firms, and by an increase in the capacity and speed of computers. The Handbook highlights that, while the more traditional empirical methods were largely limited to establishing correlations, these new methods aim to uncover causality. Examination of these advances shows new possibilities for applied research in microeconomics in the estimation of sophisticated structural models and the evaluation of policy interventions. This insightful Handbook is a must-read for graduate students and instructors in applied microeconomics as well as researchers in government departments and academia pursuing modern advanced methods of policy evaluation and data analysis.

This stimulating and challenging book provides a guide to reflexivity and reflexive practice, explaining its relevance to research in management, organisation studies and the social sciences. Rooted in the latest research, case studies and the author's personal experience, the book builds a new perspective on reflexive practice involving bodily, emotional, rational and relational insights. Paul Hibbert draws on personal experience, using the examples of his doctoral research and an advanced collaborative research project as case studies, to demonstrate how reflexive practice plays out in a range of research contexts. Each chapter includes dialogue points to encourage the reader to form their own opinions in response to the author's point of view. Offering prospects for research that incorporates personal learning, growth and development, How to be a Reflexive Researcher also explores avenues of future research on reflexivity and reflexive practice. The book concludes that reflexive practice is not simply a research skill but is instead integral to the scholarly way of life. Providing a comprehensive treatment of reflexive practice, this book will be a useful guide for scholars and students of business and management and the social sciences more broadly, especially those with an interest in qualitative and interpretive research approaches.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. This Research Agenda maps thought-provoking research trends for the next generation of interdisciplinary human rights scholars in this particularly troubled time. It charts the historic trajectory of scholarship on the international rights regime, looking ahead to emerging areas of inquiry and suggesting alternative methods and perspectives for studying the pursuit of human dignity. Chapters written by international experts cover a broad range of topics including humanitarianism, transitional justice, economic rights, academic freedom, women's rights, environmental justice, and business responsibility for human rights. The book highlights the importance of contemporary research agendas for human rights being centred on questions of governance and fulfilment, shifting responsibilities, rights interdependence and global inequality. This is a critical read for students and scholars of human rights law, politics and international relations. The strong forward-looking agenda and coverage of a large number of fields within human rights studies will be helpful for advanced students looking for new areas of study for research projects.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. Leveraging the knowledge gained from knowledge management and from the growing fields of Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI), this Research Agenda highlights the research gaps, issues, applications, challenges and opportunities related to Knowledge Management (KM). Exploring synergies between KM and emerging technologies, leading international scholars and practitioners examine KM from a multidisciplinary perspective, demonstrating the ways in which knowledge sharing worldwide can be enhanced in order to better society and improve organisational performance. Chapters investigate KM as it applies to business, library and information science, enterprise-wide strategies, innovation, privacy and data, measurement, Analytics, and AI, before summarising the lessons learned and best practices for future research. A Research Agenda for Knowledge Management and Analytics will be a key resource for students, academics and practitioners working in the fields of KM and Analytics, helping the academics of the future to build on existing successes and identify ways to further develop the field.

This practical book explores collaborative inquiry as an approach to research and change in organizations where internal members and external researchers work together as partners to address organizational issues and create knowledge about changing organizations. Taking a research-based approach, Abraham B. (Rami) Shani and David Coghlan analyze the challenges that participants face in building a partnership between researchers and practitioners throughout the phases of collaboration. Chapters explore how collaborative partners assess the organization's current and future capabilities by expressing the present and future in creative imagery and by making relevant changes in the organization to create that future. The book examines the theoretical foundations behind collaborative inquiry in addition to the methodologies of this approach to organization development and change. Mapping both the theory and practice of collaborative inquiry, this book will be a valuable resource for scholars and students of organization studies and research methods, particularly those with a focus on business and management. It will also be beneficial for practitioners interested in collaborative and action research modes.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. This insightful Research Agenda considers the current state of research into workplace stress and wellbeing and maps an innovative programme for future investigation that can advance understanding of the interrelationships between work and wellbeing. Bringing together international contributors to outline the field, the book examines the various costs and impacts of workplace stress on employers and employees. Chapters address key features of the workplace that influence employee wellbeing, including technology use, leadership, work-family relationships and aggression, as well as the unique contemporary effects of Covid-19 on wellbeing. Identifying both substantive and methodological questions that remain unanswered, the book considers the benefits of intervention strategies that are designed to enhance individual wellbeing in the workplace. Offering a unique picture of the field, this timely book is crucial reading for researchers and graduate students focused on work and wellbeing who are looking for new and innovative avenues for research. Managers and other practitioners will also benefit from its practical insights into the challenges posed by workplace stress and the potential strategies for managing stress.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. This insightful Research Agenda presents the foundations of employee engagement, providing a framework for future research to serve as an evidence-based guide to practice. Offering an overview of contemporary engagement theory and research, it addresses important new directions for expanding our current understanding of the meaning, focus, development and outcomes of engagement. Chapters consider the future impact of a constantly changing landscape of work on employee engagement, addressing the growing prevalence of casual and contract forms of labour and the introduction of work automation technology. International contributors explore innovative methods for engagement research, including novel approaches in data gathering, qualitative and quantitative research methods and data analytic techniques that can be applied to answering a variety of different engagement questions. Setting out key research directions for the future of the field, this book will be essential reading for academic scholars and researchers of organizational psychology and organizational behaviour. In addition, researchers in business and industry will find new ways to think about, study, and evaluate the impact of engagement policies and practices.

This cutting-edge Handbook offers fresh perspectives on the key topics related to the unequal use of digital technologies. Considering the ways in which technologies are employed, variations in conditions under which people use digital media and differences in their digital skills, it unpacks the implications of digital inequality on life outcomes. International contributors assess a variety of key contexts that impact access to digital technologies, including contextual variations related to geography and infrastructure, as well as individual differences related to age, income, health and disability status. Chapters explore how variations emerge across the life course, illustrating the effects of digital disparities on personal wellbeing. Intervening in critical debates relating to the digital divide, this Handbook offers key insights into privacy and trust issues that affect technological usage. Employing both quantitative and qualitative investigations into the relationship between social inequality and the Internet, this Handbook is crucial reading for scholars and researchers in both communication and sociology, particularly those focusing on digital inequalities and human-computer interaction. It will also benefit policymakers in need of innovative approaches to understanding, challenging and addressing the digital divide.

Indispensable to the research practice carried out by so-called "contracting researchers," who are often based in the Global North, "facilitating researchers," often based in those conflict-affected areas of the Global South that contracting researchers are contracted to study, are usually the ones who truly regulate the access and flow of knowledge. Yet as often as not, they are referred to merely as 'fixers', with their contributions systematically erased in final research texts. Facilitating Researchers in Insecure Zones brings together first-hand accounts by several facilitating or "brokering" researchers in three settings afflicted by armed conflict--namely, DR Congo, Sierra Leone and Jharkhand, India--in order to highlight the varied and crucial roles they play. In so doing, this volume also bears witness to the insecurities and resource-scarcities they have to navigate in order to facilitate the research of others. Ultimately, their experiences and insights point to more equitable fieldwork and more collaborative processes of knowledge production. For its first-hand accounts of fieldwork in insecure zones, as well as for its diverse geographical and topical coverage, this book is a must-read for researchers and students researching interested in ethnographic and fieldwork methods and ethics, particularly as they apply to conflicts and to research in the Global South.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. We face many important global environmental problems today, including climate change, biodiversity destruction, and environmental health issues. Key among the tools we have to understand and solve these problems is research. This Research Agenda argues for a transdisciplinary approach to the study of environmental management to provide better understanding and outcomes leading to practical solutions. By describing the key strategies needed to overcome common global environmental challenges and to undertake successful interdisciplinary environmental research, this Research Agenda demonstrates the possibilities for successful transdisciplinary environmental research. A series of case studies shows how this transdisciplinary approach to research has improved understandings of environmental problems and their potential solutions. Discussing the types of participation required and the difficulties of incorporating diverse groups into research projects, this Research Agenda provides lessons in how to successfully undertake transdisciplinary research in order to meet these challenges. A Research Agenda for Environmental Management provides invaluable insights for interdisciplinary researchers in all fields affected by environmental management as well as students and scholars engaged in environmental research looking for ways to successfully integrate transdisciplinary approaches into their work. Contributors include: J. Abrams, D.B. Agusdinata, G. Alonso-Yanez, B. Barnett, N. Basiliko, K. Calvert, D. Cordoba, T. de Souza, M. del Carmen Fragoso Medina, J.L. Dunn, A. Eastmond, D.J. Flaspohler, K. Floress, V.S. Gagnon, A. Giang, H.S. Gorman, R.B. Guerrero, K.E. Halvorsen, R.M. Handler, M.A. Hanif, R.J. Heffron, J. Heyman, L. House-Peters, A. Kantamneni, J.L. Knowlton, R.A. LaFave, J. Licata, H.K. Lukosch, E.E. Mata-Zayas, R. Medeiros, M.A. Mesa-Jurado, D. Minakata, A. Mirchi, C. Moseley, T. Moya Mose, T.H. Mwampamba, C.J.V. Navarrete, E.A. Nielsen, M. Ohira, E. Ortega, J.A. Perlinger, E.C. Pischke, E.W. Prehoda, V.D.P. Risso, J.C. Sacramento-Rivero, M. Samimi, D. Sanchez, C. Schelly, T.L. Selfa, R. Shwom, R.V. Sidortsov, B. Tarekegne, G. Tchobanoglous, N.R. Urban, L.P. Volkow, S. Walker, D. Watkins, R.L. Winkler

Taking a multidisciplinary approach, this comprehensive Handbook comprises contributions from international researchers of diverse educational and research backgrounds. Chapters present methodological issues within marketing research, sharing the researchers' experiences of what does and does not work, as well as discussing challenges and avenues for innovation. Divided into four parts covering quantitative and qualitative research approaches, mixed-methods approaches, and critical issues regarding how research is conducted, the Handbook offers guidance for all marketing researchers. This guidance includes insights on scale development, necessary condition analysis, experimental design, visual research methods, phenomenology and mobile ethnography. Chapters also consider recent advances in marketing research methods, legal aspects of marketing research, research ethics and how a forensic science framework can be used in marketing research. Generating wider methodological debates, this Handbook will be a valuable resource for researchers and students of marketing, as well as scholars interested in research methods in the business and management field. Its practical recommendations will also be beneficial for marketing practitioners interested in research.

In 1788 John Adams created a sublime ambition for all nations - 'a government of laws and not of men'. In the intervening years we have come to learn that legislation itself works through the interpretations of the many men and women who work on the inside and the outside of the law. Effective regulation thus depends not only on scrupulous legal analysis, with its appeal to precedent, conceptual clarity and argumentation, but also on sound empirical research, which often reveals diversity in implementation, enforcement and observance of the law in practice. In this outstanding, worldly-wise book Leeuw and Schmeets demonstrate how to bridge the gap between the letter and the delivery of the law. It is packed with examples, cases and illustrations that will have international appeal. I recommend it to students and practitioners engaged across all domains of legislation and regulation.' - Ray Pawson, University of Leeds, UK Empirical Legal Research describes how to investigate the roles of legislation, regulation, legal policies and other legal arrangements at play in society. It is invaluable as a guide to legal scholars, practitioners and students on how to do empirical legal research, covering history, methods, evidence, growth of knowledge and links with normativity. This multidisciplinary approach combines insights and approaches from different social sciences, evaluation studies, Big Data analytics and empirically informed ethics. The authors present an overview of the roots of this blossoming interdisciplinary domain, going back to legal realism, the fields of law, economics and the social sciences, and also to civilology and evaluation studies. The book addresses not only data analysis and statistics, but also how to formulate adequate research problems, to use (and test) different types of theories (explanatory and intervention theories) and to apply new forms of literature research to the field of law such as the systematic, rapid and realist reviews and synthesis studies. The choice and architecture of research designs, the collection of data, including Big Data, and how to analyze and visualize data are also covered. The book discusses the tensions between the normative character of law and legal issues and the descriptive and causal character of empirical legal research, and suggests ways to help handle this seeming disconnect. This comprehensive guide is vital reading for law practitioners as well as for students and researchers dealing with regulation, legislation and other legal arrangements.

This comprehensive and innovative Research Handbook tackles the pressing issues confronting us at the dawn of the global network society, including freedom of speech, government transparency and the digital divide. Representing a milestone in information policy research, this new volume edited by Alistair Duff brings together leading contributors from a wide range of disciplines to discuss important topics such as genetic information, news and privacy, and provides case studies on cyber harms, freedom of information and national digitization policy. Engaging with controversial problems of public policy including freedom of expression, copyright and information inequality, the Research Handbook on Information Policy offers a well-rounded exploration of the history and future of this vital field. Systematically addressing both general theory and specific issues, as well as providing international perspectives, this Research Handbook will be of particular interest to academics and students in the disciplines of information science, journalism and media studies, politics, sociology, philosophy and law.

Everyone wants their research to be read and to be relevant. This exciting new guide presents a broad range of ideas for enhancing research impact and relevance. Bringing together researchers from all stages of academic life, it offers a far-reaching discussion of strategies to optimise relevancy in the modern research environment. This book is crucial reading for advanced masters students, doctoral students and researchers in the social sciences wishing to grow the relevance of their research beyond academia. Senior researchers and educators offering doctoral courses will also benefit from its insight into the development of a generation of young researchers in the contemporary academic environment. Contributors include: T. Alfahaid, A. Aljarodi, C. Alvarez, S. Aparicio, E. Breit, A. Buhrandt, D. de Castro Leal, K. Ettl, S. Feldermann, I. Haase, J. Janisch, P. Koehn, T. Lopez, A. Loescher, A. Muller, M. Paschke, P.J. Ruf, J. Schnittker, C. Soost, D. Urbano, C. Weigel, F. Welter

Legal academics in Europe publish a wide variety of materials including books, articles and essays, in an assortment of languages, and for a diverse readership. As a consequence, this variety can pose a problem for the evaluation of academic legal research. This thought-provoking book offers an overview of the legal and policy norms, methods and criteria applied in the evaluation of academic legal research, from a comparative perspective. The expert contributions explore developments relating to professional vs academic publications, editorial review vs peer review, rankings of journals and law schools vs other reputation mechanisms and a range of other evaluation practices and their intended and unintended effects. Analysing research evaluation practices across more than ten jurisdictions and multiple contexts, this insightful book reveals how evaluation practices differ across Europe. Through this analysis, the book exposes a range of possibilities for further debate and study. Engaging and topical, Evaluating Academic Legal Research in Europe will be valuable reading for legal academics, university and faculty managers, higher-education policy-makers and administrators as well as editors of law journals, legal publishers and research foundation and funding bodies. Contributors include: A. Bakardjieva Engelbrekt, K. Byland, D. Costa, J. Hojnik, P. Letto-Vanamo, A. Lienhard, D. Mac Sithigh, E. Maier, G. Peruginelli, N. Petersen, K. Purnhagen, A. Ruda Gonzalez, M. Schmied, M. Snel, R. van Gestel

This timely Handbook of Research Methods on Gender and Management exemplifies the multiplicity of gender and management research and provides effective guidance for putting methods into practice. Through a range of international perspectives, contributors present an essential resource of diverse research methods, including illustrative examples from corporate, public and entrepreneurial sectors. Chapters offer clear guidance, considering opportunities and challenges of differing approaches to research and exploring their ethical implications in practice. Outlining autoethnographical, practical, critical and methodological approaches to research, the Handbook illustrates a broad base from which to build a research project in gender and management. This cutting-edge Handbook is crucial reading for scholars of gender and management, highlighting useful methods and practices for accessing key scholarly insights. It will also benefit graduate students in need of a guided entry into the field of gender and management.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. This exciting Research Agenda expertly addresses the question: What will be important within the family business field and for family businesses in practice over the next decade? Top international contributors explore farsighted theories, methods and topics, often taking a multi-disciplinary approach in order to outline the potential routes for further advancing family business research. Chapters cover the significance of new family trends, entrepreneurial legacy, board diversity, spatial-familiness, corruption, innovation and digital business transformation, challenging core assumptions surrounding the family business phenomenon and mapping the future of the discipline. A Research Agenda for Family Business will prove a stimulating read for family business and entrepreneurship scholars, as well as academics focusing on strategy, HR, organizational behaviour and corporate governance. Practitioners will also find this book valuable for reflecting on challenges that they are facing and navigating developments in the family business field.