The use of mixed methods across across seven business and management fields

Business and management disciplines draw from a wide array of theoretical frames and employ an even wider array of methodological approaches in the conduct of management inquiry. Quantitative methodologies and qualitative methodologies have now been joined by a third methodological movement, mixed methods. Mixed methods has now become a legitimate methodological movement with a growing body of theoretical and conceptual frameworks, seminal mixed method theorists, publications and academic recognition and legitimation. The use of mixed methods is particularly popular in the social and behavioural sciences, education and health, nursing and medicine. This paper maps the rise of this third methodological movement before introducing Creswell and Plano Clark’s (2007) discipline acceptance levels for mixed methods. As a means to gauge the level of acceptance of mixed methods in management a synthesis of six large scale methodological scans across seven management fields will be presented. The fields covered by these studies include: marketing; international business; strategic management; organisational behaviour; operations management; entrepreneurship and; human resource management. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for developing mixed methods research capacity within and across management disciplines and future research to this end.