Vern Glaser | University of Alberta (original) (raw)

Papers by Vern Glaser

Academy of Management Annals, 2019

Increasingly, management researchers are using topic modeling, a new method borrowed from compute... more Increasingly, management researchers are using topic modeling, a new method borrowed from computer science, to reveal phenomenon-based constructs and grounded conceptual relationships in textual data. By conceptualizing topic modeling as the process of rendering constructs and conceptual relationships from textual data, we demonstrate how this new method can advance management scholarship without turning topic modeling into a black box of complex computer-driven algorithms. We begin by comparing features of topic modeling to related techniques (content analysis, grounded theorizing, and natural language processing). We then walk through the steps of rendering with topic modeling and apply rendering to management articles that draw on topic modeling. Doing so enables us to identify and discuss how topic modeling has advanced management theory in five areas: detecting novelty and emergence, developing inductive classification systems, understanding online audiences and products, analyzing frames and social movements, and understanding cultural dynamics. We conclude with a review of new topic modeling trends and revisit the role of researcher interpretation in a world of computer-driven textual analysis. We would like to thank the editors of the Academy of Management Annals for their support and helpful comments. We also thank the participants in our various topic modeling presentations and reviewers and division organizers (specifically Peer Fiss and Renate Meyer) at the Academy of Management meetings. In addition, we would like to recognize Marc-David Seidel and Christopher Steele from the Interpretive Data Science (IDeaS) group for their role in germinating these ideas, Mike Pfarrer for his comments on a later draft of the paper, and Kara Gehman for her fine-grained edits on next-to-final drafts. Finally, we wish to express our appreciation to our life partners for not only putting up with but also actively discussing this paper as it evolved.

Organization Studies, 2020

Goal-based categories have recently emerged as an alternative perspective to the dominant account... more Goal-based categories have recently emerged as an alternative perspective to the dominant account of prototypical market categories. However, key questions remain regarding the mechanisms that would enable stable market exchanges to form around ad hoc and idiosyncratic goal-based categories. Thus, we sought to answer the following question: How can goal-based categorization enable stable market transactions? Through an inductive study drawing on industry discourse, participant observation, and interview data from the online advertising industry, we describe the category infrastructure that enables buyers and sellers to engage in market exchanges using goal-based categorization. Three mechanisms are integral to goal-based categorization in market exchanges: dimensioning (establishing a possibility space in which valuation can take place through the identification, addition, and/or deletion of product features), scoping (selecting particular features in the possibility space), and bracketing (excluding certain actors from participating in market transactions). Moreover, the fundamental principle of valuation in goal-based categorization is goal-based attribution, which involves iteratively adding and deleting features to accommodate evolving goals. Our findings suggest novel directions for work on goal-based categorization as an important element of valuation in modern markets.

Academy of Management Review, 2018

Marti and Gond (2018) have recently attempted to extend our understanding of how theories shape s... more Marti and Gond (2018) have recently attempted to extend our understanding of how theories shape social reality by developing a process model of performativity and by articulating the boundary conditions that delimit that process. While we laud Marti and Gond's attempt to develop an analytical template to study the effectiveness and influence of theories, and fully share their overarching sentiment about the substantial potential for this kind of theorizing effort, we believe there are two fundamental flaws in their framework. First, Marti and Gond conceptualize a theory as an objectified, standalone entity. Second, they characterize the effects of a theory in terms of a linear, sequential process. In contrast to this view, we conceptualize a theory as inherently relational (i.e., they must be considered in conjunction with actors, artifacts, practices, and other theories) and characterize the effects of a theory in terms of dynamic, non-linear processes. We believe that conceptualizing theories relationally and characterizing the effects of theories dynamically enhances the generative potential of performativity for management research.

In organizations that have to meet demands from multiple sponsors, and that mix missions from dif... more In organizations that have to meet demands from multiple sponsors, and that mix missions from different spheres, such as "civic," "market," "family," how do participants orient themselves, so they can interact appropriately? Do participants' practical navigation techniques have unintended consequences? To address these two questions, we draw on an ethnography of US youth programs whose sponsors required multiple, conflicting logics, speed, and precise documentation. We develop a concept, navigation techniques: participants' shared unspoken methods of orienting themselves and appearing to meet demands from multiple logics, in institutionally complex projects that require frequent documentation. These techniques' often have unintended consequences. 99 words (of 100)

Organizations often create and employ artifacts in order to change their routines, but little is ... more Organizations often create and employ artifacts in order to change their routines, but little is known about how artifacts can be designed to intentionally influence routine dynamics. In this paper, I present findings from an inductive, ethnographic study of how a law enforcement agency fabricated a game-theoretic artifact to modify its patrolling routine. Based on my in-depth analysis of the actions associated with creating this game-theoretic artifact, I develop a theoretical model that shows how organizational actors iteratively engage in a series of design performances to envision new sociomaterial assemblages of actors, artifacts, theories and practices. These design performances influence routine dynamics by both eliciting mechanisms of abstracting grammars of action, exposing assumptions, distributing agency, and appraising outcomes and by creating new assemblages that can be deployed in future routine performances. By revealing the generativity of design performances and sociomaterial assemblages, this empirical study contributes to our understanding of routine dynamics, performativity, and strategy tools.

This article, together with a companion video, provides a synthesized summary of a Showcase Sympo... more This article, together with a companion video, provides a synthesized summary of a Showcase Symposium held at the 2016 Academy of Management Annual Meeting in which prominent scholars—Denny Gioia, Kathy Eisenhardt, Ann Langley, and Kevin Corley—discussed different approaches to theory buil[ding with qualitative research. Our goal for the symposium was to increase management scholars' sensitivity to the importance of theory-method "fit" in qualitative research. We have integrated the panelists' prepared remarks and interactive discussion into three sections: an introduction by each scholar, who articulates their own approach to qualitative research; their personal reflections on the similarities and differences between approaches to qualitative research; and answers to general questions posed by the audience during the symposium. We conclude by summarizing insights gleaned from the symposium about important distinctions among these three qualitative research approaches and their appropriate usages.

Although scholars increasingly use institutional logics to explain macro-level phenomena, we stil... more Although scholars increasingly use institutional logics to explain macro-level phenomena, we still know little about the psychological mechanisms by which institutional logics shape individual action. We propose that individuals internalize institutional logics as an associative network of entity schemas (i.e., persons, objects, and places) and event schemas (i.e., stories, histories, and implicit theories). We argue that individuals draw on this associative network of schemas to interpret situational cues and to develop a cognitive frame that provides them with contextual understanding of a situation, shaping their choices and actions. We then argue that one particular associated schema—implicit theory—serves as the primary cognitive frame that shapes individual action in ways that differ from traditional institutional perspectives that rely on mechanisms of normative imitation. Specifically, we hypothesize that exposure to cues associated with a particular logic increases the likelihood that individuals will adopt and act upon the implicit theory associated with that logic. We label this process “institutional frame switching,” and test our hypotheses in two novel experiments. By clarifying how schemas connect institutional logics and individual action, we further develop the psychological underpinnings of the institutional logics perspective that connect macro-level cultural understandings with situational behavior.

Analogies to financial markets have proven powerful in establishing novel or potentially controve... more Analogies to financial markets have proven powerful in establishing novel or potentially controversial business concepts, even in contexts that deviate significantly from financial markets. This phenomenon challenges theory that suggests analogies work best when elements from a source and target domain map closely to each other. To develop a theory that explains how organizations make initially imperfect analogies “work,” we use a case study of online advertising exchanges, a market-inspired model for buying and selling online advertising space. We find that as organizations stretch an initially misfitting exchange analogy from financial markets to online advertising, they iteratively bend their activities in superficial, structural, and generative ways to match the analogy and position themselves for advantage in the new space being created. Whereas prior studies emphasize shared cognition about familiar domains as the reason why analogies work, our study offers a dynamic account in which stretching, bending, and positioning combine to not only establish the financial market analogy but also subtly change the understanding of markets.

Organizations quantify increasingly diverse types of decision-making processes. Traditionally, ma... more Organizations quantify increasingly diverse types of decision-making processes. Traditionally, many scholars conceptualize quantification as a means of rationalizing decision- making processes, wherein organizational leaders strive to control business processes and eliminate human bias. Recently, however, other scholars have suggested that quantification of decision-making processes often reflect political compromises that resolve conflicts between competing interests. To develop theory to explain the tension between these perspectives, I ask the research question, how do organizations quantify decision-making processes? To answer this question, I engage in participant observation of Gaming Expert and Algo-Security, two organizations that use game theory to quantify decision-making in the security industry. While prior research emphasizes the role of quantification in rationalizing business processes or resolving political conflict, my study shows that quantifying decision-making processes leads to a different outcome. Specifically, quantification functions as a cultural tool or an “enchanted algorithm” that organizational actors draw on to develop innovative approaches to overcome perennial organizational challenges. By offering an empirically grounded analysis of how organizations quantify decision-making, I contribute to strategy research on the emergence of routines and capabilities, as well as research on organizational decision-making more broadly.

Books by Vern Glaser

Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 2019

In this chapter, the authors explore the state of our field in terms of ways to present qualitati... more In this chapter, the authors explore the state of our field in terms of ways to present qualitative findings. The authors analyze all articles based on qualitative research methods published in the Academy of Management Journal from 2010 to 2017 and supplement this by informally surveying colleagues about their "favorite" qualitative authors. As a result, the authors identify five ways of presenting qualitative findings in research articles. The authors suggest that each approach has advantages as well as limitations, and that the type of data and theorizing is an important consideration in determining the most appropriate approach for the presentation of findings. The authors hope that by identifying these approaches, they enrich the way authors, reviewers, and editors approach the presentation of qualitative findings.

Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods for Family Business, 2019

In this chapter, we echo prior calls for a more pervasive and varied use of qualitative methodolo... more In this chapter, we echo prior calls for a more pervasive and varied use of qualitative methodologies in family business research. We start with an overview of current empirical qualitative work in the family business domain in order to understand the methodological preferences of family business scholars and the methods they have gravitated towards. Having established the key difference between methods and methodologies and the importance of linking analytical approaches to the building of theory, we discuss three "exemplars" of qualitative methodologies in the general management literature. The final section of the chapter elaborates on opportunities for deeper engagement with these methodologies in the family business domain and suggestions for enriching the qualitative toolkit of family business research.

Academy of Management Annals, 2019

Increasingly, management researchers are using topic modeling, a new method borrowed from compute... more Increasingly, management researchers are using topic modeling, a new method borrowed from computer science, to reveal phenomenon-based constructs and grounded conceptual relationships in textual data. By conceptualizing topic modeling as the process of rendering constructs and conceptual relationships from textual data, we demonstrate how this new method can advance management scholarship without turning topic modeling into a black box of complex computer-driven algorithms. We begin by comparing features of topic modeling to related techniques (content analysis, grounded theorizing, and natural language processing). We then walk through the steps of rendering with topic modeling and apply rendering to management articles that draw on topic modeling. Doing so enables us to identify and discuss how topic modeling has advanced management theory in five areas: detecting novelty and emergence, developing inductive classification systems, understanding online audiences and products, analyzing frames and social movements, and understanding cultural dynamics. We conclude with a review of new topic modeling trends and revisit the role of researcher interpretation in a world of computer-driven textual analysis. We would like to thank the editors of the Academy of Management Annals for their support and helpful comments. We also thank the participants in our various topic modeling presentations and reviewers and division organizers (specifically Peer Fiss and Renate Meyer) at the Academy of Management meetings. In addition, we would like to recognize Marc-David Seidel and Christopher Steele from the Interpretive Data Science (IDeaS) group for their role in germinating these ideas, Mike Pfarrer for his comments on a later draft of the paper, and Kara Gehman for her fine-grained edits on next-to-final drafts. Finally, we wish to express our appreciation to our life partners for not only putting up with but also actively discussing this paper as it evolved.

Organization Studies, 2020

Goal-based categories have recently emerged as an alternative perspective to the dominant account... more Goal-based categories have recently emerged as an alternative perspective to the dominant account of prototypical market categories. However, key questions remain regarding the mechanisms that would enable stable market exchanges to form around ad hoc and idiosyncratic goal-based categories. Thus, we sought to answer the following question: How can goal-based categorization enable stable market transactions? Through an inductive study drawing on industry discourse, participant observation, and interview data from the online advertising industry, we describe the category infrastructure that enables buyers and sellers to engage in market exchanges using goal-based categorization. Three mechanisms are integral to goal-based categorization in market exchanges: dimensioning (establishing a possibility space in which valuation can take place through the identification, addition, and/or deletion of product features), scoping (selecting particular features in the possibility space), and bracketing (excluding certain actors from participating in market transactions). Moreover, the fundamental principle of valuation in goal-based categorization is goal-based attribution, which involves iteratively adding and deleting features to accommodate evolving goals. Our findings suggest novel directions for work on goal-based categorization as an important element of valuation in modern markets.

Academy of Management Review, 2018

Marti and Gond (2018) have recently attempted to extend our understanding of how theories shape s... more Marti and Gond (2018) have recently attempted to extend our understanding of how theories shape social reality by developing a process model of performativity and by articulating the boundary conditions that delimit that process. While we laud Marti and Gond's attempt to develop an analytical template to study the effectiveness and influence of theories, and fully share their overarching sentiment about the substantial potential for this kind of theorizing effort, we believe there are two fundamental flaws in their framework. First, Marti and Gond conceptualize a theory as an objectified, standalone entity. Second, they characterize the effects of a theory in terms of a linear, sequential process. In contrast to this view, we conceptualize a theory as inherently relational (i.e., they must be considered in conjunction with actors, artifacts, practices, and other theories) and characterize the effects of a theory in terms of dynamic, non-linear processes. We believe that conceptualizing theories relationally and characterizing the effects of theories dynamically enhances the generative potential of performativity for management research.

In organizations that have to meet demands from multiple sponsors, and that mix missions from dif... more In organizations that have to meet demands from multiple sponsors, and that mix missions from different spheres, such as "civic," "market," "family," how do participants orient themselves, so they can interact appropriately? Do participants' practical navigation techniques have unintended consequences? To address these two questions, we draw on an ethnography of US youth programs whose sponsors required multiple, conflicting logics, speed, and precise documentation. We develop a concept, navigation techniques: participants' shared unspoken methods of orienting themselves and appearing to meet demands from multiple logics, in institutionally complex projects that require frequent documentation. These techniques' often have unintended consequences. 99 words (of 100)

Organizations often create and employ artifacts in order to change their routines, but little is ... more Organizations often create and employ artifacts in order to change their routines, but little is known about how artifacts can be designed to intentionally influence routine dynamics. In this paper, I present findings from an inductive, ethnographic study of how a law enforcement agency fabricated a game-theoretic artifact to modify its patrolling routine. Based on my in-depth analysis of the actions associated with creating this game-theoretic artifact, I develop a theoretical model that shows how organizational actors iteratively engage in a series of design performances to envision new sociomaterial assemblages of actors, artifacts, theories and practices. These design performances influence routine dynamics by both eliciting mechanisms of abstracting grammars of action, exposing assumptions, distributing agency, and appraising outcomes and by creating new assemblages that can be deployed in future routine performances. By revealing the generativity of design performances and sociomaterial assemblages, this empirical study contributes to our understanding of routine dynamics, performativity, and strategy tools.

This article, together with a companion video, provides a synthesized summary of a Showcase Sympo... more This article, together with a companion video, provides a synthesized summary of a Showcase Symposium held at the 2016 Academy of Management Annual Meeting in which prominent scholars—Denny Gioia, Kathy Eisenhardt, Ann Langley, and Kevin Corley—discussed different approaches to theory buil[ding with qualitative research. Our goal for the symposium was to increase management scholars' sensitivity to the importance of theory-method "fit" in qualitative research. We have integrated the panelists' prepared remarks and interactive discussion into three sections: an introduction by each scholar, who articulates their own approach to qualitative research; their personal reflections on the similarities and differences between approaches to qualitative research; and answers to general questions posed by the audience during the symposium. We conclude by summarizing insights gleaned from the symposium about important distinctions among these three qualitative research approaches and their appropriate usages.

Although scholars increasingly use institutional logics to explain macro-level phenomena, we stil... more Although scholars increasingly use institutional logics to explain macro-level phenomena, we still know little about the psychological mechanisms by which institutional logics shape individual action. We propose that individuals internalize institutional logics as an associative network of entity schemas (i.e., persons, objects, and places) and event schemas (i.e., stories, histories, and implicit theories). We argue that individuals draw on this associative network of schemas to interpret situational cues and to develop a cognitive frame that provides them with contextual understanding of a situation, shaping their choices and actions. We then argue that one particular associated schema—implicit theory—serves as the primary cognitive frame that shapes individual action in ways that differ from traditional institutional perspectives that rely on mechanisms of normative imitation. Specifically, we hypothesize that exposure to cues associated with a particular logic increases the likelihood that individuals will adopt and act upon the implicit theory associated with that logic. We label this process “institutional frame switching,” and test our hypotheses in two novel experiments. By clarifying how schemas connect institutional logics and individual action, we further develop the psychological underpinnings of the institutional logics perspective that connect macro-level cultural understandings with situational behavior.

Analogies to financial markets have proven powerful in establishing novel or potentially controve... more Analogies to financial markets have proven powerful in establishing novel or potentially controversial business concepts, even in contexts that deviate significantly from financial markets. This phenomenon challenges theory that suggests analogies work best when elements from a source and target domain map closely to each other. To develop a theory that explains how organizations make initially imperfect analogies “work,” we use a case study of online advertising exchanges, a market-inspired model for buying and selling online advertising space. We find that as organizations stretch an initially misfitting exchange analogy from financial markets to online advertising, they iteratively bend their activities in superficial, structural, and generative ways to match the analogy and position themselves for advantage in the new space being created. Whereas prior studies emphasize shared cognition about familiar domains as the reason why analogies work, our study offers a dynamic account in which stretching, bending, and positioning combine to not only establish the financial market analogy but also subtly change the understanding of markets.

Organizations quantify increasingly diverse types of decision-making processes. Traditionally, ma... more Organizations quantify increasingly diverse types of decision-making processes. Traditionally, many scholars conceptualize quantification as a means of rationalizing decision- making processes, wherein organizational leaders strive to control business processes and eliminate human bias. Recently, however, other scholars have suggested that quantification of decision-making processes often reflect political compromises that resolve conflicts between competing interests. To develop theory to explain the tension between these perspectives, I ask the research question, how do organizations quantify decision-making processes? To answer this question, I engage in participant observation of Gaming Expert and Algo-Security, two organizations that use game theory to quantify decision-making in the security industry. While prior research emphasizes the role of quantification in rationalizing business processes or resolving political conflict, my study shows that quantifying decision-making processes leads to a different outcome. Specifically, quantification functions as a cultural tool or an “enchanted algorithm” that organizational actors draw on to develop innovative approaches to overcome perennial organizational challenges. By offering an empirically grounded analysis of how organizations quantify decision-making, I contribute to strategy research on the emergence of routines and capabilities, as well as research on organizational decision-making more broadly.

Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 2019

In this chapter, the authors explore the state of our field in terms of ways to present qualitati... more In this chapter, the authors explore the state of our field in terms of ways to present qualitative findings. The authors analyze all articles based on qualitative research methods published in the Academy of Management Journal from 2010 to 2017 and supplement this by informally surveying colleagues about their "favorite" qualitative authors. As a result, the authors identify five ways of presenting qualitative findings in research articles. The authors suggest that each approach has advantages as well as limitations, and that the type of data and theorizing is an important consideration in determining the most appropriate approach for the presentation of findings. The authors hope that by identifying these approaches, they enrich the way authors, reviewers, and editors approach the presentation of qualitative findings.

Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods for Family Business, 2019

In this chapter, we echo prior calls for a more pervasive and varied use of qualitative methodolo... more In this chapter, we echo prior calls for a more pervasive and varied use of qualitative methodologies in family business research. We start with an overview of current empirical qualitative work in the family business domain in order to understand the methodological preferences of family business scholars and the methods they have gravitated towards. Having established the key difference between methods and methodologies and the importance of linking analytical approaches to the building of theory, we discuss three "exemplars" of qualitative methodologies in the general management literature. The final section of the chapter elaborates on opportunities for deeper engagement with these methodologies in the family business domain and suggestions for enriching the qualitative toolkit of family business research.