ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a detailed overview of the major non-positivist traditions and focuses on four comprehensive meta-traditions: (1) interpretive, (2) structuralist, (3) critical, and (4) "post" traditions. It provides an overview of the state of art of qualitative inquiry in various business/management and overlapping fields. The book offers a detailed exposition of each tradition in order to provide readers with a vivid sense of how research is conducted within them. It addresses the issues surrounding research standards and scholarly expectations in each tradition. The book argues for an audience that is engaged in research at the intersections of management, business, and communication. It presents the question of innovation and improvisation within and between the traditions. The book focuses on the non-positivist traditions rather than on the entire spectrum of qualitative ones.
