From Research Reflexivity to Research Affectivity: Ethnographic Research in Organizations

Abstract

How do researchers account for their interactions with participants when employing in-depth, ethnographic studies of organizations? In this chapter, instead of limiting ourselves to discussions of ‘reflexivity’, a common term among organizational ethnographers, we propose that ideas from the neighbouring field of psychosocial and psychoanalytic studies, particularly the concept of transference, can help us understand this relationship in more depth. This lens suggests that there is more going on in the research relationship than might appear on the surface; with unconscious and often hidden desires and reflections of past experiences marking the encounter between researcher and research participants. Drawing on these ideas from psychosocial studies, we propose a new method, ‘research affectivity’, for understanding self-reflexivity in the ethnographic engagement. In addition to contributing to contemporary studies of organizational ethnography, we add to specific debates within psychosocial studies on the development of research methods that draw upon this discipline.