Grounded theory in corporate social responsibility research

Abstract

Grounded theory (GT) is a qualitative methodology, which derives its name from the practice of generating theory from research, which is grounded in data (Babchuk 1997). Three GT methodologies have evolved, namely B.G. Glaser’s classic, A.L. Strauss and J. Corbin’s structured, and K. Charmaz’s (1983, 2005, 2006, 2014) social constructivist methodology. The thematic analysis based on GT is usually called applied thematic analysis (ATA) (Braun and Clarke 2006). As GT is designed to construct theories that are grounded in the empirical data themselves (Guest et al. 2012) this aspect is also reflected in ATA because its process also consists of reading transcripts, identifying and comparing themes, and building theoretical models (Boyatzis 1998).