The contribution and challenges of Narrative data in interorganizational research

Purpose of the paper and literature addressed: The aim of the paper is to polish the use of qualitative methods in inter-organizational research by discussing how narrative approach can be applied into interorganizational research. The paper relies the key literature related to narratives: narrative cognition (Bruner 1986), narrative interviewing (Mishler 1986, Flick 2004), data gathering and analysis methods (Elliot 2005, Riessman 2002, Coffey & Atkinson 1996,) Czarniawska 2002) are discussed to enhance identification of narrative type of data and comprehension of its special features compared to “answers”. The paper discusses how narrative data can be gathered, analyzed and reported and how narrative data can contribute inter-organizational research.