شکستن قالب: نوآوری در روند تحقیق در مدیریت خرید و عرضه  Breaking the mold: Research process innovations in purchasing and supply management

1. Introduction The field of purchasing and supply management (PSM) continues to gain in importance as part of the heightened focus on supply chain efficiency and effectiveness (Park et al., 2016), inter-organizational collaboration for competitive advantage (Soosay and Hyland, 2015) and to tackle society’s ‘wicked issues’ (Williams, 2002: 104). Research stakeholders’ expectations are however increasingly focused on research’s direct and immediate relevance to, and impact on, practice. To address more practical, broader and often ‘messier’ problems, PSM scholars are increasingly involved in interdisciplinary projects using diverse theoretical frameworks, and methodologies and techniques developed in other fields. Scholars have argued for the need for interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary research in PSM (Dubois and Araujo, 2007; Tazelaar, 2007; Sanders and Wagner, 2011) and others go further still in calling for transdisciplinary research (Ramadier, 2004; Wickson et al., 2006). Alongside these pressures for research with greater impact on policy and practice, the need for thought leadership (or blue sky research) is still recognized in some quarters, and value placed on academic/theoretical impact. The Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management (JPSM) has always had an inclusive approach, welcoming diversity in researchers’ perspectives, methodologies and data collection and analysis techniques. Nevertheless, certain methodological approaches tend to predominate, in particular case-based qualitative and survey-based quantitative studies. This tendency does have advantages, notably specialisation – helping to gradually increase competence and standards. The benefits arising from increasing specialisation and consequent rises in quality are tempered by potential negative outcomes in the form of tightly constrained ‘tramline thinking’. The risk is that, as a research community develops ever higher standards and stronger norms, scope of inquiry is reduced, and assumptions are not challenged. Rising pressures to publish and to produce quick practical solutions are likely to reinforce such thinking and reduce appetite for risk taking within the academic community. Clearly, more rigorous research is desirable. But research published in JPSM has to demonstrate significance and originality, as well as rigor (Knight and Tate, 2016). Well-established, rigorous modes of research are widely and effectively used to deliver original and significant findings. They are however not sufficient if PSM scholars are to deliver the challenging agendas called for in recent academic reviews (e.g. Spina et al., 2013; Van Weele and van Raaij, 2014) and by businesses, government and other key stakeholders. For the PSM research community as a whole, learning and innovation in the approach to research are essential. The aim of this special issue is to promote and support such learning and innovation about novel research perspectives, methodologies and techniques (collectively termed ‘novel methods’ hereafter). Novel can mean new to (or very rarely used in) PSM research or it could concern non-traditional perspectives in business scholarship more broadly. Alternatively, it may refer to new combinations of established methods. In essence, scholars are urged to learn from others and import new ideas to PSM research (as illustrated in Fig. 1).