Case Studies and the Configurational Analysis of Organizational Phenomena

Within the organization and management lit-eratures, the case study has traditionally occu-pied a somewhat peculiar position. On the one hand, case studies have a long and distin-guished history in the study of organizations. They have featured prominently in academic research on organizations, and many of the most highly regarded and influential studies in the organization and management literature have employed a case-study approach (cf. Gephart, 2004). Some of the most well-known examples include Selznick’s (1949) stud