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Case Studies as Narratives: Reflections Prompted by the Case of Victor, the Wild Child of Aveyron

Gabriel, Yiannis LU (2019) In Journal of Management Inquiry 28(4). p.403-408
Abstract
Drawing on a celebrated case study of a feral child in France, the author argues that there are similarities between stories and case studies as types of narrative and that they are both capable of acting as insightful tools of management inquiry. Both case studies and stories call for narrative imagination to develop meaningful narratives. Serendipity, the accidental discovery of meaning or purpose in what seems random and purposeless, is an important part of narrative imagination. As meaningful narratives, both case studies and stories follow a structure of interwoven actions and events with beginnings, middles, and ends. However, where storytellers enjoy poetic license to distort facts for effect, case study researchers are more... (More)
Drawing on a celebrated case study of a feral child in France, the author argues that there are similarities between stories and case studies as types of narrative and that they are both capable of acting as insightful tools of management inquiry. Both case studies and stories call for narrative imagination to develop meaningful narratives. Serendipity, the accidental discovery of meaning or purpose in what seems random and purposeless, is an important part of narrative imagination. As meaningful narratives, both case studies and stories follow a structure of interwoven actions and events with beginnings, middles, and ends. However, where storytellers enjoy poetic license to distort facts for effect, case study researchers are more constrained by factual accuracy. The beginnings and ends of case studies are not as clearly defined as those of stories and fictional narratives. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Management Inquiry
volume
28
issue
4
pages
6 pages
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • scopus:85058944017
ISSN
1056-4926
DOI
10.1177/1056492617715522
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
1487b9f7-201a-415d-8af4-1f1cde06abd0
date added to LUP
2018-05-08 11:22:29
date last changed
2022-04-25 07:19:57
@article{1487b9f7-201a-415d-8af4-1f1cde06abd0,
  abstract     = {{Drawing on a celebrated case study of a feral child in France, the author argues that there are similarities between stories and case studies as types of narrative and that they are both capable of acting as insightful tools of management inquiry. Both case studies and stories call for narrative imagination to develop meaningful narratives. Serendipity, the accidental discovery of meaning or purpose in what seems random and purposeless, is an important part of narrative imagination. As meaningful narratives, both case studies and stories follow a structure of interwoven actions and events with beginnings, middles, and ends. However, where storytellers enjoy poetic license to distort facts for effect, case study researchers are more constrained by factual accuracy. The beginnings and ends of case studies are not as clearly defined as those of stories and fictional narratives.}},
  author       = {{Gabriel, Yiannis}},
  issn         = {{1056-4926}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{403--408}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Journal of Management Inquiry}},
  title        = {{Case Studies as Narratives: Reflections Prompted by the Case of Victor, the Wild Child of Aveyron}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1056492617715522}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/1056492617715522}},
  volume       = {{28}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}