Jones, D. (2012). DOES SERVANT LEADERSHIP LEAD TO GREATER CUSTOMER FOCUS AND EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION?. Business Studies Journal, 4(2), 21-35.
What research design was used to guide the study? Was it justified?
The study used a grounded research design. It was justified because there was a gap in research regarding the topic and because the study had two specific goals. The study sought to provided a theory regarding the results of the study. Though the article does not specifically call its research design a grounded theory design, it does call the method “interview-driven, relying on open-ended questions” (Jones, 2012, p. 27). The article gives adequate reason as to why this method was chosen, claiming that the open-ended questions allowed participants to expound in detail on the subject of servant leadership.
Rating: 3
Does the qualitative research design address the study’s purpose?
The research design does address the study’s purpose. The study incorporated probing questions and clarifying questions in order to keep participants on topic. Because the purpose of the study was to address a concept that is hard to quantify, namely, job satisfaction, the design was fitting.
Rating: 3
February 11, 2018 at 6:05 pm
Hi Oliver
This was an interesting study because Jones (2012) did not identify the specific type of study design used. However, the key words that demonstrated this was a qualitative study were “explored the role played by servant leadership in an organization” (p.21) and also “in this qualitative study, research questions were answered through in-depth, unstructured interviews” (p.21).
If I were peer-reviewing this study I would have asked the authors to be more explicit about the study design. Plano-Clark and Cresweel (2015) state that “well-written research reports always include one or more sentences that identify the researchers design for conducting the qualitative study” (p. 287). From the information provided in table 9.1 in the Plano-Clark and Creswell (2015) text, I would think this study fits better in the category of “basic qualitative research approach” (p.289). Jones (2012) has collected qualitative data from multiple perspectives (e.g., 21 senior managers in 16 different organizations) and has developed themes and general conclusions. However, it is not clear that the authors purpose is to build a theory. In fact, in the discussion section Jones (2012) states “this was an experimental study” (p.32) and this type of language is usually reserved only for quantitative research. This indicates that perhaps the peer-review process was not very thorough.
References
Jones, D. (2012). Does servant leadership lead to greater customer focus and employee satisfaction? Business Studies Journal, 4(2), 21-35.
Plano-Clark, V., & Creswell, J. (2015). Understanding research: A consumer’s guide (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
February 13, 2018 at 5:57 am
Hi Heather,
That is helpful information. It definitely was not entirely clear what specific research design was used by assumed it was a grounded theory based on their methods. Thanks for making me aware of this.
Oliver