The Fourth Wave of Grounded Theory: A Self-Correcting Top-Down Approach

Abstract

Grounded theory, as a qualitative research method, constructs theories grounded in data on previously unexplored phenomena. To this end, it requires the researcher to be able to form concepts and ideas from the data, to withstand uncertainty and a lack of understanding, and to accept the return, at any point, to the initial stage of the research process. Although grounded theory permits the required flexibility to produce and interpret themes that emerge from the data, its three dominant “waves” are techniques of knowing that are separated from “being-in-the world.” This means they discard the existence of the researcher’s ontological status and that of others in time, space, and matter. This state of affairs maintains the "(inter)subjectivity-objectivity” dualism and yields a “disembodied organization research” that develops and turns inductive inferences into general categories. Against this backdrop, this chapter discusses the fallacies of each of the three waves of grounded theory and advances a fourth one that adds theoretical anchoring and, therefore, provides a basis for developing theories.