Rediscovering the Individual in Strategy: Methodological Challenges, Strategies, and Prospects

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to advance research that relies on information from or about individuals and their role in strategic outcomes.

Methodology/approach – We start by identifying three streams of strategy research that call for individual-level data (upper echelons, micro-foundations, and strategy-as-practice) and proceed by examining the methods employed across 43 recent empirical studies.

Findings – Our analysis addresses three key challenges faced by researchers in these domains and catalogues the strategies used to surmount them.

Social implications – By helping to improve methods for research on individuals and strategy, this chapter advances understanding of how people throughout the organization may contribute to strategic outcomes.

Originality/value of paper – Our chapter is one of the first to analyze methods across three research domains that have heretofore been considered separate. In addition to describing what has been done, we suggest opportunities for improvement, frequently by finding ways to cross-fertilize methods from one stream into another.