Value Co-Creation in Industrial Buyer-Seller Partnerships ... - Doria

is to explore and understand a real life phenomenon and from this generate information on amore general level; in other words to strive to generate an abstract model out of theconstruction.The study assumes relativist ontology, along the lines of the constructivist paradigm.Relativist ontology excludes the possibility of a “ true” construction. “ There are only moreor less informed or sophisticated constructions” (Guba and Lincoln, 1998, p. 206). There isno objective world or objective truth; everything is relative and created by social creatures.The way we interpret the world - our versions - belong both to what is interpreted and to asystem of interpretation. (Goodman 1978). The world and the truths we perceive areproducts of our own mind and constructions of our own thinking. Moreover there is no suchresearch as value-free research; everything is affected by the norms and values of theresearcher, formed by the culture and society of which the researcher is a product. Ashuman beings, we constantly construct the reality in which we live.Regarding epistemology, the constructivist paradigm assumes a subjectivistepistemology, meaning that the knower and subject create understandings, that the findingsare created as the process of investigation goes on. Due to the variable and personal natureof social constructions, social constructions can only be refined through interaction betweeninvestigator and respondent. The aim of this type of research is to create a more informedand sophisticated construction than the constructions presented before (Guba and Lincoln,1998, p 206). The researcher strives for a greater understanding (“ Verstehen” ) of aphenomenon through interpreting its manifestations.Von Wright (1971) discusses positivism versus hermeneutics as two oppositeepistemological stances, where hermeneutics emphasize the impact of the researcher andhis/her subjective role in the research process. Using these two opposite epistemologies, thisstudy falls into the category of a hermeneutical study, where “ I” as a researcher create thestory that I am telling. Consequently, the aim of the study is not to reach an objective truth,but to create an understanding of a studied phenomenon under certain, thoroughly describedcircumstances.The constructivist paradigm assumes a naturalistic set of methodological procedures.Questions associated with credibility, transferability, and dependability are central in thistype of research, instead of the usual positivist criteria of internal and external validity,reliability, and objectivity (Denzin and Lincoln, 1998, p 27).As a researcher I create the story that I am telling while interacting with the objects ofmy study. The method used is the case study method; the case study is an in-depthexploratory processual single case study, where most of the data have been gathered throughpersonal interviews supported by participant observations and document analysis.According to Yin (1983):26