Using Photographs to Research Organizations: Evidence, Considerations, and Application in a Field Study
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify researcher choices related to the use of photographs in organizational research, clarify the advantages and disadvantages of these choices, and discuss ethical and other special considerations of photographs.
Abstract: Despite calls for more visual methodologies in organizational research, the use of photographs remains sparse. Organizational research could benefit from the inclusion of photographs to track contemporary change processes in an organization and change processes over time, as well as to incorporate diverse voices within organizations, to name a few advantages. To further understanding, the authors identify researcher choices related to the use of photographs in organizational research, clarify the advantages and disadvantages of these choices, and discuss ethical and other special considerations of the use of photographs. They highlight several organizational areas of research, primarily related to the management discipline, that could benefit from the inclusion of photographs. Finally, the authors describe how they used photographs in a study of one organization and specifically how their intended research design with photographs changed over the course of the study as well as how photographs helped to de...
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TL;DR: This paper found that lenders respond positively to narratives highlighting the venture as an opportunity to help others, and less positively when the narrative is framed as a business opportunity, and conduct their analysis on a sample of microloans made to over 36,000 entrepreneurs in 51 countries via an online crowdfunding platform.
Abstract: Microloans garnered from crowdfunding provide an important source of financial capital for nascent entrepreneurs. Drawing on cognitive evaluation theory, we assess how linguistic cues known to affect underlying motivation can frame entrepreneurial narratives either as a business opportunity or as an opportunity to help others. We examine how this framing affects fundraising outcomes in the context of prosocial lending and conduct our analysis on a sample of microloans made to over 36,000 entrepreneurs in 51 countries via an online crowdfunding platform. We find that lenders respond positively to narratives highlighting the venture as an opportunity to help others, and less positively when the narrative is framed as a business opportunity.
482 citations
Cites background from "Using Photographs to Research Organ..."
...…present in entrepreneurs’ images (i.e., the photo(s) included within each funding solicitation) influence the way resource providers in the microfinancing or crowdfunding contexts perceive information communicated textually through the entrepreneurial narrative (e.g., Ray & Smith, 2012)....
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TL;DR: In response to critiques of strategy tools as unhelpful or potentially dangerous for organizations, a sociological eye is suggested on how tools are actually mobilized by strategy makers, offering a framework for examining the ways that the affordances of strategy tool and the agency of strategy makers interact to shape how and when tools are selected and applied.
Abstract: In response to critiques of strategy tools as unhelpful or potentially dangerous for organizations, we suggest casting a sociological eye on how tools are actually mobilized by strategy makers. In conceptualizing strategy tools as tools-in-use, we offer a framework for examining the ways that the affordances of strategy tools and the agency of strategy makers interact to shape how and when tools are selected and applied. Further, rather than evaluating the ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ use of tools, we highlight the variety of outcomes that result, not just for organizations but also for the tools and the individuals who use them. We illustrate this framework with a vignette and propose an agenda and methodological approaches for further scholarship on the use of strategy tools.
391 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present five distinct approaches to feature visuals in research designs and to include the visual dimension in scholarly inquiry, and introduce methodological and theoretical roots of visual studies in a number of disciplines that have a long-standing tradition of incorporating the visual.
Abstract: With the unprecedented rise in the use of visuals, and its undeniable omnipresence in organizational contexts, as well as in the individual's everyday life, organization and management science has recently started to pay closer attention to the to date under-theorized “visual mode” of discourse and meaning construction. Building primarily on insights from the phenomenological tradition in organization theory and from social semiotics, this article sets out to consolidate previous scholarly efforts and to sketch a fertile future research agenda. After briefly exploring the workings of visuals, we introduce the methodological and theoretical “roots” of visual studies in a number of disciplines that have a long-standing tradition of incorporating the visual. We then continue by extensively reviewing work in the field of organization and management studies: More specifically, we present five distinct approaches to feature visuals in research designs and to include the visual dimension in scholarly inquiry. Su...
355 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: The Handbook of Visual Analysis as discussed by the authors provides an overview of available approaches and an explication of how they may be used to advance knowledge and understanding in the selected area of visual analysis.
Abstract: Handbook of Visual Analysis. Theo van Leeuwen and Carey Jewitt, eds. London, England: Sage Publications, 2001. 210 pp. $27.95 pbk. Martin Lister and Liz Wells make a compelling case for the importance of visual research: "With the late twentieth century's explosion of imaging and visualizing techniques (digitization, satellite imaging, new forms of medical imaging, virtual reality, etc.) . . . everyday life has become 'visual culture.' This can be seen as an acceleration of a longer history involving photography, film, television and video. [Some also argue] that the study of visual culture can not be confined to the study of images, but should also take account of the centrality of vision in everyday experience and the production of meaning." It is frustrating and challenging that such an important dimension of human communication is so ubiquitous yet so poorly understood. Part of the reason for our skimpy knowledge of visual communication is a proliferation of theorizing about visual communication at the same time that a mismatched welter of methods are being employed-empirical and critical, objective and subjective, focused and hit-miss, controlled and uncontrolled-to assess content, communicator motivations, viewer perceptions and effects, and societal embeddedness. This handbook seeks to provide an overview of available approaches and an explication of how they may be used to advance knowledge and understanding in the selected area. This book, written by leading internationally recognized scholars and practitioners of their perspectives, makes a good stab at those ambitious goals. In addition to Lister and Wells' chapter on cultural studies, the book also features overviews by Philip Bell on content analysis, Malcolm Collier on visual anthropology, van Leeuwen on semiotics and iconography, Gertraud Diem-Wille on therapeutic psychoanalytic use of drawings, Carey Jewitt and Rumiko Oyama on social semiotics, Charles Goodwin on ethnomethodology, and Rick Iedema's social semiotic analysis of a documentary film. The content analysis chapter is an excellent overview of a dominant method employed in visual analysis. A comparison of the first twenty with the last twenty covers of Cleo magazine walks the reader through the basic steps. Visual anthropology, which combines art and science in its analysis approach, is explicated in a very readable chapter, drawing on longitudinal photographic studies dating back to the 1930s of Navajo, Pueblo, and Hispanic populations in the American Southwest, as well as a San Franciscan Chinatown photo map. Lister and Wells' chapter on cultural studies provides a lot of dense verbiage as underbrush to be hacked through, but the towering treetops above are worth the trail through the terminology. I disagreed with their characterization of several photographs, but cultural differences may be at work here, since the British authors interpret photographs made by several nationalities. The chapter on semiotics and iconography contains clear, straightforward prose that nicely illustrates the complicated writings of others, particularly Roland Barthes (visual semiotics) and Erwin Panofsky (iconography). …
266 citations
References
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TL;DR: A history of photo elicitation and its development in anthropology and sociology can be found in this article, where the authors argue that photos elicit information, feelings, and memories that are due to the photograph's particular form of representation.
Abstract: This paper is a definition of photo elicitation and a history of its development in anthropology and sociology. The view of photo elicitation in these disciplines, where the greatest number of photo elicitation studies have taken place, organizes photo elicitation studies by topic and by form. The paper also presents practical considerations from a frequent photo elicitation researcher and concludes that photo elicitation enlarges the possibilities of conventional empirical research. In addition, the paper argues that photo elicitation also produces a different kind of information. Photo elicitation evokes information, feelings, and memories that are due to the photograph's particular form of representation.
3,151 citations
"Using Photographs to Research Organ..." refers background or methods in this paper
...In addition, Harper (2002) suggests that the use of photographer diaries about the experience of making photographs (what he terms contextual validity) may mitigate some concerns about reactivity....
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...The most highly cited organizational study employing photographic research methods 290 Organizational Research Methods 15(2) is Buchanan’s (2001) study of organizational change and processes (Harper, 2002; Warren, 2009)....
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...Harper (2002) stated, ‘‘Unlike many research methods, photo elicitation works (or does not) for mysterious reasons’’ (p. 22)....
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...For instance, photographic research methods in sociology (as summarized by Banks, 2007, and Harper, 2002) have been used to explore phenomena from physical traits and behavior (the ‘‘bad’’ and ‘‘mad’’; see Banks, 2007, p. 25) and to extend theory such as social identity (Harper, 1988), family…...
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...is Buchanan’s (2001) study of organizational change and processes (Harper, 2002; Warren, 2009)....
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TL;DR: The authors introduce a contingency framework that relates prior work to the design of a research project, paying particular attention to the question of when to mix qualitative and quantitative data in a single research paper.
Abstract: Methodological fit, an implicitly valued attribute of high-quality field research in organizations, has received little attention in the management literature. Fit refers to internal consistency among elements of a research project—research question, prior work, research design, and theoretical contribution. We introduce a contingency framework that relates prior work to the design of a research project, paying particular attention to the question of when to mix qualitative and quantitative data in a single research paper. We discuss implications of the framework for educating new field researchers.
2,650 citations
"Using Photographs to Research Organ..." refers background in this paper
...We focus on three areas of organizational research related to the management discipline in which photographic methods could address immediate theory development needs (Edmondson & McManus, 2007): strategic consensus, organizational identity, and strategizing activities and practice....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors address how individuals make sense of their organization's response to a nontraditional and emotional strategic issue, and the reported research also concerned microprocesses involved in the response.
Abstract: This article addresses how individuals make sense of their organization's response to a nontraditional and emotional strategic issue. The reported research also concerned microprocesses involved in...
2,548 citations
TL;DR: Dooris et al. as mentioned in this paper investigated how top management teams in higher education institutions make sense of important issues that affect strategic change in modern academia and found that under conditions of change, top management team members' perceptions of identity and image, especially desired future image, are key to the sensemaking process and serve as important links between the organization's internal context and the issue interpretations.
Abstract: We would like to acknowledge helpful reviews on earlier drafts of this paper from Michael Dooris, Janet Dukerich, Marlene Fiol, Kristian Kreiner, Ajay Mehra, and Majken Sqhultz. We also acknowledge the assistance of Shawn Clark, David Ketchen, Lee Ann Joyce, and Mark Youndt in the data analysis. This study investigates how top management teams in higher education institutions make sense of important issues that affect strategic change in modern academia. We used a two-phase research approach that progressed from a grounded model anchored in a case study to a quantitative, generalizable study of the issue interpretation process, using 611 executives from 372 colleges and universities in the United States. The findings suggest that under conditions of change, top management team members' perceptions of identity and image, especially desired future image, are key to the sensemaking process and serve as important links between the organization's internal context and the team members' issue interpretations. Rather than using the more common business issue categories of "threats" and "opportunities," team members distinguished their interpretations mainly according to "strategic" or "political" categorizations.'
1,723 citations
"Using Photographs to Research Organ..." refers background in this paper
...Empirically, a growing body of literature suggests that elements that affect an organization’s identity can have significant impacts for the organization and its members (e.g., Dutton & Dukerich, 1991; Elsbach & Kramer, 1996; Gioia & Thomas, 1996)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose a framework for strategy research that integrates these two levels based on the three concepts of strategy praxis, strategy practices and strategy practitioners, and develop implications of this framework for research, particularly with regard to the impact of strategy practices on strategy practice, the creation and transfer of strategy practice and the making of strategy practitioners.
Abstract: This paper identifies a practice turn in current strategy research, treating strategy as something people do. However, it argues that this turn is incomplete in that researchers currently concentrate either on strategy activity at the intra-organizational level or on the aggregate effects of this activity at the extra-organizational level. The paper proposes a framework for strategy research that integrates these two levels based on the three concepts of strategy praxis, strategy practices and strategy practitioners. The paper develops implications of this framework for research, particularly with regard to the impact of strategy practices on strategy praxis, the creation and transfer of strategy practices and the making of strategy practitioners. The paper concludes by outlining the distinctive emphases of the practice perspective within the strategy discipline.
1,683 citations
"Using Photographs to Research Organ..." refers background in this paper
...…(SAP) perspective has its roots in social theory and came from many strategy scholars who were unsatisfied with the view of strategy as something an organization has instead of something that people do (Jarzabkowski, 2005; Jarzabkowski & Spee, 2009; Johnson et al., 2007; Whittington, 2006)....
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...Strategizing Activities and Practice The strategizing-activities-practice (SAP) perspective has its roots in social theory and came from many strategy scholars who were unsatisfied with the view of strategy as something an organization has instead of something that people do (Jarzabkowski, 2005; Jarzabkowski & Spee, 2009; Johnson et al., 2007; Whittington, 2006)....
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