TY - JOUR
T1 - The researcher as audience and storyteller
T2 - challenges and opportunities of impression management in ethnographic studies
AU - Klitgaard, Anne
AU - Gottlieb, Stefan Christoffer
AU - Svidt, Kjeld
PY - 2021/5/18
Y1 - 2021/5/18
N2 - The use of ethnographic methods in construction management research is increasing as a means of revealing local and often unspoken ways of knowing and achieving new insights into the enduring challenges of the industry. Impression management activities, however, challenge the ethnographic researcher. Impression management happens when observees act in a different way than they would routinely, due to the presence of an audience. In the paper, we draw on data collected as a part of a wider ethnographic study to illustrate how the relationship between observer and observees can be understood through the lens of impression management. In particular, we show how the researcher assumes a dual role as both an audience and a storyteller in ethnographic studies. The researcher can thus be seen as an audience for the observees in their attempts to present themselves as agreeable and perform accordingly in front of the researcher as well as each other. This happens in part, as the observees attribute the researcher the role as storyteller, knowing that accounts of their practice and performance may be communicated to the research community and the industry in general. While impression management complicates the relationship between the observees and the observer, and can be seen as a potential source of bias, we also suggest that it presents an opportunity for increased empirical robustness of ethnographic findings if acknowledged.
AB - The use of ethnographic methods in construction management research is increasing as a means of revealing local and often unspoken ways of knowing and achieving new insights into the enduring challenges of the industry. Impression management activities, however, challenge the ethnographic researcher. Impression management happens when observees act in a different way than they would routinely, due to the presence of an audience. In the paper, we draw on data collected as a part of a wider ethnographic study to illustrate how the relationship between observer and observees can be understood through the lens of impression management. In particular, we show how the researcher assumes a dual role as both an audience and a storyteller in ethnographic studies. The researcher can thus be seen as an audience for the observees in their attempts to present themselves as agreeable and perform accordingly in front of the researcher as well as each other. This happens in part, as the observees attribute the researcher the role as storyteller, knowing that accounts of their practice and performance may be communicated to the research community and the industry in general. While impression management complicates the relationship between the observees and the observer, and can be seen as a potential source of bias, we also suggest that it presents an opportunity for increased empirical robustness of ethnographic findings if acknowledged.
KW - Ethnography
KW - Impression management
KW - Methodology
KW - Methods
KW - Qualitative data
KW - Ethnography
KW - Impression management
KW - Methodology
KW - Methods
KW - Qualitative data
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105135025&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01446193.2021.1913286
DO - 10.1080/01446193.2021.1913286
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0144-6193
VL - 39
SP - 383
EP - 397
JO - Construction Management and Economics
JF - Construction Management and Economics
IS - 5
ER -