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Beyond a single organization: challenges and opportunities in doing field level ethnography

Tammar B. Zilber (Jerusalem School of Business Administration, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel)

Journal of Organizational Ethnography

ISSN: 2046-6749

Article publication date: 14 April 2014

1491

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to offer a road map for carrying out field-level ethnography, focussing on the inter-organizational space collectively constructed and shared by communities of organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

The argument is developed through a critical and integrated review of relevant literature.

Findings

Field-level ethnographic work requires researchers to define the field they are exploring, locate their specific research site within it, capture the field through ethnographic practices that take into account the unique characteristics of this local field as a social phenomenon, and deploy various conceptualizations of inter-organizational spheres in order to enrich their analysis and interpretations.

Practical implications

This paper offers practical insights for practitioners of field-level ethnography.

Originality/value

As organizations are open-systems that reside and take part in much broader, inter-organizational spaces, the author makes a case for going beyond the more common practice of carrying out ethnographic field work in a single organization, to doing field-level ethnography. The paper discusses various theorizations of the inter-organizational sphere, suggest how to carry field-level ethnography in practice, and note its peculiar challenges.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper was presented at a PDW on “Ethnography beyond single organization” during the annual meeting of the Academy of Management held in Boston, August 2012. The author thanks Michel Anteby and Hila Lifshitz-Assaf for inviting her to reflect on her work in organizational fields, and to Yehuda Goodman for the ongoing discussion of ethnographic inquiries and of the ideas expressed in this paper.

Citation

B. Zilber, T. (2014), "Beyond a single organization: challenges and opportunities in doing field level ethnography", Journal of Organizational Ethnography, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 96-113. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOE-11-2012-0043

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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