Coding and analysis

In this study, data collection and analysis were conducted simultaneously. Data analysis was guided by King’s (2004b) six steps. The researcher spent considerable time reading each manuscript several times and listening to the taped interviews before attempting to code. Although presented as a linear, step-by-step procedure, the research analysis was an iterative and reflexive process.

Preliminary coding. She began the analysis by developing a set of codes that emerged inductively from three interviews as opposed to using a priori codes from the literature. Using line by line coding, she remained open to the data and coded close to the words of the interviewees in order to gain a deeper understanding of their perspectives. These were essentially descriptive codes following an adapted version of Lofland (1971) suggested scheme for coding, whereby the researcher looked at:

1. Acts and activities - actions that took place of both long and short duration, e.g.

meeting an ESF or attending an industry function.

2. Participation – individual’s involvement in the actions, e.g. meeting involving the Chairman and individual or off site meeting with members of the corporate elite.

Simultaneously to conducting initial coding she read and re-read the field notes in order to build up a sense of the whole. Inevitably this process led to a substantially long list of tree nodes. At this stage of analysis she considered the somewhat unwieldy list of codes to see what was of interest numerically. Although it is important not to mistake frequency for importance, as some salient factors may occur only once or twice, this did give her a sense of what was the most commonly discussed activities. After several iterations of re-ordering and reduction, 47 codes emerged from the data. For example in the first coding of activities five different educational activities emerged which eventually were coded as one on education in the round. Starting the analysis with no

pre-defined codes from the literature, followed by line by line coding avoided the danger of blinkered analysis, which may have prevented the researcher from considering data that conflicted with her researcher assumptions.

Clustering the codes. Descriptive codes have little intellectual shape on their own, but after coding three interviews broader themes had begun to emerge. Clustering codes and organising nodes in a meaningful rather than a logical way helped to create an operative coding scheme. Codes started to take on more interpretive elements rather than purely descriptive. Pattern coding is the quest for ‘repeatable regularities’ and is analogous to cluster analysis or factor analysis in quantitative research (Miles and Humberman, 1994: 69. )The 47 codes, derived from the sub-set of the transcript data, were further analysed and clustered into 19 themes. Clustering codes is a more inferential and explanatory process and the researcher began to discern more emergent patterns, themes and relationships. For example, there were codes on perceptions of relationships, ambiguity in relationships, informality and social nature of relationships and these were all clustered around ‘how individual’s connect. There were codes on status and prestige both of self and others. These codes described individuals’ job titles, prestige of organisations, status of connections and were clustered around prestige as ultimately these were carriers of prestige that enabled individuals to connect with corporate elite.

Producing the initial template. These 19 themes formed the basis for a provisional template. A further five interviews were coded using the provisional template (including the three NED interviews from the pilot study). NVivo software was used to organise and categorise the data, supporting analysis of the data but playing no part in its interpretation (Bazeley, 2007). Thematic analysis is a search for themes that emerge as being important to the description of the phenomenon. The process involves the identification of themes through careful reading and re-reading of the data. It is a form of pattern recognition within the data, where emerging themes become the categories for analysis. Again, salience, importance and frequency of themes were considered.

When reporting the findings the researcher will demonstrate salience by the use of indicators such as ‘all’, ‘most’, ‘several’, or ‘some’.

Modifying the template. As the template continued to evolve the remaining seven interviews were coded. The template was modified continually with new codes emerging, codes being deleted or recoded in the hierarchy. With each iteration of the

template, interviews coded earlier were revisited. The scope of themes was adapted where appropriate and similar themes consolidated. With continual reference to the research question, the researcher analysed the data using an iterative approach of moving back and forth between the transcript data and the identified themes. This allowed her to be more reflexive, which helped spark insight and develop meaning from the data.

Included in the code on chemistry and fit were statements referencing values and philosophy. When coding using the fifth iteration of the template it became clear that values and philosophy were related to chemistry and fit, but also to relationship to Chairmen and to conversations with other board members. As a result, values and philosophy was inserted as a code in its own right. The coding of formality in early versions of the template lacked evidence as more interviews were coded and although frequency is not equivalent to salience, the researcher made the decision that the formal processes were not prime considerations in the NEDs experiences of the appointment process. In early versions of the template, references to interviews, meetings, making connections had a cultural context. However, as the template continued to modify, it was clear that the cultural context was salient in all of the social vetting processes, which eventually led to the second order theoretical theme of social vetting in the corporate elite. This body of evidence was a critical part of a NED establishing cultural fit with the corporate elite.

The hierarchical nature of template analysis supported the organisation of the themes.

For instance, ‘educational experiences’, ‘work experiences’ and ‘professional background’ were all incorporated into a single higher order node of ‘credentials’. King (2004b) cautions against having too many levels of coding, which can be counter-productive and reduce clarity. In this study four levels of coding were utilised. Parallel coding was particularly useful, allocating the same excerpt from an interview to more than one code. The following extract was allocated to several nodes: prestige, status and work experience.

This was a little Scottish company and it was a company in some difficulties, I have to say. And they wanted someone with big company name experience for what was a very small company. Being a VP of Asia with X (FTSE 100 company) impressed them big time and I am an

ex-Partner of Y (auditing firm) so you pretty much couldn’t’ get any better than that. (Gwen).

The researcher continued to code all 15 interviews despite having reached saturation point after 12. In other words, no substantially new evidence was forthcoming. It is recognised that there is never going to be an absolutely final template and the template in its current form is in Appendix E.

Interpreting the findings. The template analysis initially moved the interpretation from first order themes to the second order theoretical categories. Statements on, for example, ‘education, work experiences and industry recognition’ were categorised under a higher order theme of ‘credentials’. Descriptions of ‘who and how NEDs connected with’, were categorised under ‘breadth and depth of social connections’.

This resulted in nine second order themes. These more theoretical categories were considered and the emerging relationships between them. Holding the research questions in mind these theoretical categories or themes were scrutinised to explore what they were telling the researcher about the appointment process and how they were answering the research questions. As the researcher did this, it became clear that the nine themes fell into four aggregate dimensions, namely; human, social, cultural and reputational capital. These four dimensions form the basis of the two findings chapters.