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Transparency and replicability in qualitative research: the case of interviews with elite informants

Aguinis, Herman, Solarino, Angelo M.·2019·Strategic Management Journal
DOI 10.1002/smj.3015
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Abstract

Research Summary: We used interviews with elite informants as a case study to illustrate the need to expand the discussion of transparency and replicability to qualitative methodology. An analysis of 52 articles published in Strategic Management Journal revealed that none of them were sufficiently transparent to allow for exact replication, empirical replication, or conceptual replication. We offer 12 transparency criteria, and behaviorally‐anchored ratings scales to measure them, that can be used by authors as they plan and conduct qualitative research as well as by journal reviewers and editors when they evaluate the transparency of submitted manuscripts. We hope our article will serve as a catalyst for improving the degree of transparency and replicability of future qualitative research. Managerial Summary: If organizations implement practices based on published research, will they produce results consistent with those reported in the articles? To answer this question, it is critical that published articles be transparent in terms of what has been done, why, and how. We investigated 52 articles published in Strategic Management Journal that reported interviewing elite informants (e.g., members of the top management team) and found that none of the articles were sufficiently transparent. These results lead to thorny questions about the trustworthiness of published research, but also important opportunities for future improvements about research transparency and replicability. We offer recommendations on 12 transparency criteria, and how to measure them, that can be used to evaluate past as well as future research using qualitative methods.

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  • 125 codes were identified and grouped into 22 categories cross-checked and agreed upon by both authors.

    “Notably, 125 codes were identified and grouped into 22 categories cross-checked and agreed upon by both authors (Aguinis and Solarino, 2019); no relevant new codes nor categories were found in the data, and no further contribution to the study phenomenon was established (Hennink and Kaiser, 2022).”

    From Retail futures: Customer experience, phygital retailing, and the Experiential Retail Territories perspective (2025) · cites this paper as Aguinis and Solarino, 2019

    Section 3.1 reports 40 uniquely identifiable criteria grouped into 12 transparency criteria, not 125 codes grouped into 22 categories. It does say both authors fully agreed on the final list, but the attributed counts contradict the paper. (LLM, conf=0.90)

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Authors
Aguinis, H., & Solarino, A. M.
Affiliations
  • School of Business The George Washington University Washington District of Columbia
  • Leeds University Business School The University of Leeds Leeds UK
ORCID
Venue
Strategic Management Journal
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2019-04-02
Volume
40
Issue
8
Pages
1291-1315
ISSN
  • 0143-2095
  • 1097-0266
DOI
10.1002/smj.3015
Cited by
568
References
5
Language
en
Licence
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (vor)

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