Interpretivism, subjectivity and social constructionism expressing the

The previous section indicates some of the underlying views and attitudes on research philosophy. This section is about the philosophical stance this work takes and its implica- tions for the research design of this study (Duberley, Johnson & Cassell, 2012).

The research philosophy informs how research objectives are set up, how research is conducted, and how results are analysed and presented. The choice of philosophy is connected to the researcher’s assumptions about reality as well as the kind of knowledge the researcher believes in (Crotty, 1998). The literature about research philosophy refers to different terminologies like ontology, epistemology, paradigms, theoretical perspec- tives, and respective characteristics. However, very often the characteristics describing these terms are not distinctive and are used interchangeably (Crotty, 1998; Bryman & Bell, 2007; Blaikie, 2009; Gray, 2009; Denzin & Lincoln, 2011; Duberley, Johnson & Cassell, 2012). That is why this thesis does not refer to these terminologies but the es- sence of these descriptions is used to express the researcher’s philosophical stance and how this leads to research methodology, methods for data collection and analysis. This research can be described as interpretative, subjective and following a social construc- tionist approach.

4.2.1 Interpretivism and hermeneutic cycle

According to Blaikie (2009), interpretivism sees social reality as the product of devel- opments by which people as social actors together discuss the meanings for actions and situations. In other words social reality is a creation of humans’ consciousness and cognition (Duberley, Johnson & Cassell, 2012). The interpretivist approach is con- cerned with culturally derived historically situated interpretations of the social life world and it is about engaging with the world to construct new understandings (Crotty, 1998). The emphasis in interpretivism is on getting into and understanding the meanings and interpretations social actors subjectively impute to phenomena. It is about explaining their behaviour through investigating how they experience, articulate and share with others these socially constructed every day realities (Van Maanen, 1979; Schwandt, 2000; Patton, 2002; Denzin & Lincoln, 2005). Linking this to business organisations in- terpretivism questions whether organisations exist in any real sense beyond the con- cepts of social actors. Consequently, understanding is based on the experience of those who work within organisations (Bryman & Bell, 2007).

The underlying principle informing the interpretivist stance is that of hermeneutics. A hermeneutic cycle centres on the iteration of interpretation where pre-understanding in- forms understanding leading to greater understanding of both. This thinking is based on the conviction that no one derives interpretation from an open-mind but with a pre- understanding of the phenomenon (Duberley, Johnson & Cassell, 2012). Within quali- tative data analysis hermeneutic procedures develop patterns of interpretation of themes from interview transcripts which shape the understanding of the interviewees’ accounts (McAuley, 2004).

4.2.2 Subjective and social constructionism

As the term interpretivism indicates, it is linked to subjectivity. According to Crotty (1998), through subjectivism meaning is set on the object by the subject. An organisation or company is viewed as socially constructed, a label used by individuals to make sense of their social experience. Consequently, a company can only be understood from the viewpoint of individuals who are directly involved in its actions (Bryman & Bell, 2007). To capture this subjectivity this study is adopting a social constructivist view which assumes that multiple realities exist (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000) and that there is no objective truth waiting to be discovered (Crotty, 1998). Truth – or better, meaning – evolves through en- gaging with the realities in the world humans are interpreting. Meaning is not discovered but constructed in and out of interaction between individuals and their world. It is devel- oped and transformed within an essentially social context (Crotty, 1998).

4.2.3 Inductive and abductive strategy

The logic of inquiry in this work follows a combination of inductive and abductive strategy which is in line with the social constructionist stance (Blaikie, 2009). The aim of these strategies is to establish descriptions of characteristics and patterns [inductive] as well as to describe and understand social life in terms of social actors’ meanings [abductive] (Blaikie, 2009). Based on these strategies “what”, “why” and “how” questions can be an- swered. In this work there is a stronger emphasis on the abductive strategy which devel- ops understanding based on “thick” description and social scientific concepts developed from real-life concepts and accounts (Blaikie, 2009).

4.2.4 Linking the characteristics of the underlying research philosophy to

this research

The research object is the case of a SCP implementation within a company from the en- ergy sector (4.4) where subjective accounts from individuals are collected with the help of semi-structured interviews (4.5). Within these, research participants share their views and experiences gained in the context of the programme and the company, in particular on CSFs to be monitored and evaluated throughout the SCP implementation. Further- more, interviewees provide their ideas and opinions on prerequisites and operationalisa- tion of monitoring and evaluation in general and within the context of the programme implementation in particular.

The understanding about the subjective accounts aiming at answering the research questions (1.4) is derived from interpreting the interview data, structured in themes and codes to get a better understanding of the researched context. The study aims at en- hancing its pre-understanding and understanding on the object based on a template analysis approach iterating with the interview data, moving in a developmental heuristic cycle from a priori themes and codes, in which own experiences and knowledge about the object are included, to the initial and the final template (4.6). The hermeneutic cycle as iterative process from pre-understanding to understanding is in line with data analysis technique of “template analysis” used in this research as a process from defining a priori themes and codes, developing an initial template and final template followed by further in-depth analysis within the template and across its structure (King, 2012).

The subjective, social constructivist and interpretative perspective allows the researcher to include his own experiences, subjectivity, and interpretation taken into account since he was part of the SCP implementation working as a management consultant. Finally, the abductive strategy is in line with a case study approach (4.3, 4.4) as well as conduct- ing an evaluation research (3.1, 4.4.7) which is the strategy chosen for and approach conducted within this work (Blaikie, 2009).

The next section deals with case study as the research methodology chosen for this work.