The shadow in organizational ethnography: moving beyond shadowing to spect‐acting
Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management
ISSN: 1746-5648
Article publication date: 23 August 2011
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the methodological practice of shadowing and its implications for ethnographic fieldwork. Furthermore, the paper challenges the label of “shadowing” and suggests a new label of “spect‐acting.”
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based in a feminist and interpretive‐qualitative approach to methods, and uses the author's experience with shadowing as a case study. The author argues that fieldwork is always intersubjective and as such, the research site emerges out of the co‐construction of the relationship between researcher and participant.
Findings
The author argues that reflexivity is a required but neglected aspect of shadowing, and that spect‐acting as a new term would require the researcher to take reflexivity more seriously, thereby opening up emancipatory possibilities in the field.
Research limitations/implications
Findings are based on a limited time span of shadowing.
Originality/value
The paper is original in that it imports “spect‐acting” from performance studies into the organizational methods lexicon. The value of the paper is that it provides reflection and discussion of one‐on‐one ethnography, which is a relatively underutilized method in research on organizations and management (but beginning to grow in popularity).
Keywords
Citation
Gill, R. (2011), "The shadow in organizational ethnography: moving beyond shadowing to spect‐acting", Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 115-133. https://doi.org/10.1108/17465641111159116
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited