Propositions that express a probabilistic relation
4.3 Business relevance of propositions
We have presented two different types of propositions: deterministic propositions and probabilistic propositions. We consider deter- ministic propositions as “stronger” than probabilistic ones because they explain more and sometimes all variation in a dependent con- cept and, therefore, can often predict effects in individual instances. Deterministic propositions make the theory more powerful. Further- more, deterministic propositions if supported in many replications are very useful for practitioners. An insight that tells you how to act or not to act in order to create a “critical” condition for success or for the absence of failure is often more useful in managerial practice than an insight that tells you how to increase the likelihood of success. This is not to say that absolute certainty about an effect can be achieved, but an “almost certainty” see Box 8 is a powerful ground for decision making. The distinction between deterministic conditions and probabilistic relations reflects two different types of knowledge that managers might need for their decision making. Typically, managerial problems Chapter 4 Concept A Concept B Figure 4.4 Scatter plot of instances indicating a probabilistic relation between concept A and concept B Box 8 Is business reality deterministic or probabilistic? A note on “pragmatic determinism” In Chapter 4.3 we claim that many causal relations in real life situations in business and management can be formulated as deterministic necessary conditions. This claim is usually received with scepticism. Most business researchers assume that deterministic conditions and relations do not exist in the actual practice of management and busi- ness. It is assumed that every causal relation that is of interest to business research is multi-causal or multi-factorial and, thus, must be expressed in probabilistic statements. Our response to such criticisms consists of three parts: 1. academic theories in business and management in fact express deterministic conditions and relations; 2. even if reality is probabilistic, this does not undermine the usefulness of deter- ministic theories; 3. managerial theories-in-use are deterministic. Many theories are deterministic Goertz 2003 reviewed the political science literature in search for theories that do not present themselves as deterministic but actually are. He found no less than 150 neces- sary condition hypotheses covering large areas of political science, sociology, and eco- nomic history 2003: 76–94. On the basis of this finding he formulated Goertz’s First Law: “For any research area one can find important necessary hypotheses” 2003: 66. We are confident that we would find an equally impressive list of necessary condition hypotheses in a review of management theories. A prominent example is Porter’s the- ory of the conditions of competitive advantage of nations see Box 12; 9.1. Other examples are the theories-in-use tested by Sarker and Lee see Box 11; 5.1 and the examples of case studies in Chapter 5 of this book 5.2 and 5.4. In this book we use the concept of “necessary condition” as formulated in classic mathematical and philosophical logic. The necessary character of A for B is expressed in this formulation by “if”: “B only if A”. The sufficient character of A for B is expressed by “B if A” meaning “always B if A”. In this logic such expressions are always either true or false. This leads to the common view in theory that a necessary condition is dichotomous: true or false Figure A. But conditions and effects can also be continuous. Various authors have shown that it is possible to express necessary conditions for continuous variables using multi-value logic. Goertz and Starr 2003 present these authors and their ideas. They show how it is possible to express a continuous expression of a necessary condition, as illustrated in Figure B adapted from Goertz and Starr, 2003: 10. In the upper left part of the graph there are no instances. The basic idea of a necessary condition as depicted in Figure B is that a specific value of A is necessary for a specific value of B, which is expressed in the graph by the necessity that every instance is situated below a sloping line between theParts
» BUKU | SAIDNA ZULFIQAR BIN TAHIR (VIKAR)
» Our definition of a case study
» Chapter 2: Case studies in business research
» Chapter 3: Principles of research Chapter 4: Theory-testing research general
» Chapters 10–11: Practice-oriented research Overview of the book
» Reading specific topics Overview of the book
» Suggestions for students How to read this book
» References BUKU | SAIDNA ZULFIQAR BIN TAHIR (VIKAR)
» Types of case study research
» Objectives of case study research
» Guidelines for case study research
» Evaluations of case study research
» Conclusion BUKU | SAIDNA ZULFIQAR BIN TAHIR (VIKAR)
» General research objectives of theory-oriented and practice-oriented research
» Orientation: how to choose between theory-oriented or practice-oriented research
» Theory Principles of theory-oriented research
» Theory-oriented research: contribution to theory development
» Replication Principles of theory-oriented research
» Representativeness, external validity, and generalizability
» Exploration of theory Exploration for theory-oriented research
» Exploration of practice for finding a proposition
» Exploration of practice for confirming the relevance of a proposition
» Contributions to theory development
» Practice Principles of practice-oriented research
» Practice-oriented research: contribution to a practitioner’s knowledge
» Exploration of practice Exploration for practice-oriented research
» Research objectives in theory-testing research
» Propositions that express a sufficient condition
» Propositions that express a necessary condition
» Propositions that express a deterministic relation
» Propositions that express a probabilistic relation
» Business relevance of propositions
» Strategy for testing a proposition that expresses a sufficient condition
» Strategy for testing a proposition that expresses a necessary condition
» Strategy for testing a proposition that expresses a deterministic relation
» Strategy for testing a proposition that expresses a probabilistic relation
» Testing more complex conceptual models
» Outcome and implications BUKU | SAIDNA ZULFIQAR BIN TAHIR (VIKAR)
» Summary BUKU | SAIDNA ZULFIQAR BIN TAHIR (VIKAR)
» Introduction How to test a sufficient or a necessary condition with a case study
» Candidate cases How to test a sufficient or a necessary condition with a case study
» Case selection How to test a sufficient or a necessary condition with a case study
» Hypothesis How to test a sufficient or a necessary condition with a case study
» Measurement How to test a sufficient or a necessary condition with a case study
» Data presentation Data analysis
» Replication strategy How to test a sufficient or a necessary condition with a case study
» Domain Conceptual model Theory
» Research objective Case Study 1: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Research strategy Case Study 1: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Candidate cases Case selection
» Hypotheses Case Study 1: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Measurement Case Study 1: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Radical innovation projects Data presentation
» Incremental innovation projects Data presentation
» Data analysis Case Study 1: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Replication strategy Case Study 1: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Theory Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Research objective Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Research strategy Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Candidate cases Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Case selection Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Hypothesis Measurement Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Data presentation Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Data analysis Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Replication strategy Methodological reflection on Case Study 1
» Research strategy Case Study 2: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Candidate cases Case Study 2: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Case selection Case Study 2: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Hypothesis Case Study 2: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Measurement Case Study 2: Theory-testing research: testing a necessary condition
» Theory Methodological reflection on Case Study 2
» Candidate cases Methodological reflection on Case Study 2
» Case selection Methodological reflection on Case Study 2
» Hypothesis Methodological reflection on Case Study 2
» Measurement Methodological reflection on Case Study 2
» Data presentation Methodological reflection on Case Study 2
» Data analysis Methodological reflection on Case Study 2
» Replication strategy Methodological reflection on Case Study 2
» Introduction How to test a deterministic relation with a case study
» Candidate cases How to test a deterministic relation with a case study
» Case selection How to test a deterministic relation with a case study
» Hypothesis How to test a deterministic relation with a case study
» Data analysis How to test a deterministic relation with a case study
» Replication strategy How to test a deterministic relation with a case study
» Introduction Case Study 3: Theory-testing research: testing a deterministic relation
» Research objective Case Study 3: Theory-testing research: testing a deterministic relation
» Research strategy Case Study 3: Theory-testing research: testing a deterministic relation
» Hypotheses Case Study 3: Theory-testing research: testing a deterministic relation
» Measurement Case Study 3: Theory-testing research: testing a deterministic relation
» Theory Methodological reflection on Case Study 3
» Research objective Research strategy
» Candidate cases Methodological reflection on Case Study 3
» Case selection Hypotheses Methodological reflection on Case Study 3
» Measurement Data presentation Methodological reflection on Case Study 3
» Introduction How to test a probabilistic relation with a case study
» Introduction Case Study 4: Theory-testing research: testing a probabilistic relation
» Research objective Case Study 4: Theory-testing research: testing a probabilistic relation
» Research strategy Case Study 4: Theory-testing research: testing a probabilistic relation
» Candidate cases Case Study 4: Theory-testing research: testing a probabilistic relation
» Case selection Case Study 4: Theory-testing research: testing a probabilistic relation
» Hypotheses Measurement Case Study 4: Theory-testing research: testing a probabilistic relation
» Data presentation Case Study 4: Theory-testing research: testing a probabilistic relation
» Data analysis Case Study 4: Theory-testing research: testing a probabilistic relation
» Theory Methodological reflection on Case Study 4
» Specifying the relation between known concepts
» Discovering a not yet known concept
» Discovering concepts and their relation
» Discovering concepts Principles of theory-building research
» Research strategies in theory-building research
» Outcome and implications Summary
» Introduction How to design and conduct a theory-building case study
» Candidate cases How to design and conduct a theory-building case study
» Case selection How to design and conduct a theory-building case study
» Extracting relevant evidence How to design and conduct a theory-building case study
» Coding How to design and conduct a theory-building case study
» Data presentation How to design and conduct a theory-building case study
» Sufficient condition Data analysis
» Necessary condition Data analysis
» Deterministic relation Data analysis
» Sufficient condition An example of data analysis
» Necessary condition An example of data analysis
» Deterministic relation Probabilistic relation
» Outcome How to design and conduct a theory-building case study
» Introduction Case Study 5: Theory-building research
» Candidate cases Case Study 5: Theory-building research
» Case selection Extracting relevant evidence
» Coding Case Study 5: Theory-building research
» Outcome Case Study 5: Theory-building research
» Justification of a theory-building case study
» Candidate cases Methodological reflection on Case Study 5
» Data analysis Methodological reflection on Case Study 5
» Outcome Methodological reflection on Case Study 5
» Research objective in hypothesis-testing research
» Research strategy in hypothesis-testing research
» Research objective in hypothesis-building research
» Research objective of descriptive practice-oriented research
» Research strategy of practice-oriented descriptive research
» Introduction How to design and conduct a practice-oriented case study
» Case selection How to design and conduct a practice-oriented case study
» Implications of the research results
» Introduction Case Study 6: Hypothesis-testing practice-oriented research
» Hypothesis Case Study 6: Hypothesis-testing practice-oriented research
» Measurement Case Study 6: Hypothesis-testing practice-oriented research
» Data analysis Case Study 6: Hypothesis-testing practice-oriented research
» Results and implications Case Study 6: Hypothesis-testing practice-oriented research
» Practice Methodological reflection on Case Study 6
» Research objective Methodological reflection on Case Study 6
» Case selection Methodological reflection on Case Study 6
» Measurement Methodological reflection on Case Study 6
» Data presentation Methodological reflection on Case Study 6
» Data analysis Methodological reflection on Case Study 6
» Implications for practice Methodological reflection on Case Study 6
» Introduction Case Study 7: Descriptive practice-oriented research
» Absence of guidelines or criteria
» Measurement Case Study 7: Descriptive practice-oriented research
» Data presentation Case Study 7: Descriptive practice-oriented research
» Concept definition Case Study 7: Descriptive practice-oriented research
» Implications Case Study 7: Descriptive practice-oriented research
» Practice Research objective Methodological reflection on Case Study 7
» Case selection Measurement Methodological reflection on Case Study 7
» Data presentation Methodological reflection on Case Study 7
» Data analysis Methodological reflection on Case Study 7
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