QUALITATIVE COMPARISON ANALYSIS IN THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS DISCIPLINE: A LITERATURE REVIEW AND METHODOLOGICAL RECOMMENDATIONS
In a forthcoming paper in Internet Research, we examine how QCA has been used in IS research to understand how different configurations influence technology use by individuals, organizations, and society.
Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is a promising, powerful method that is increasingly used for IS research. However, the IS discipline still lacks a shared understanding of how to conduct and report QCA. This paper introduces the fundamental concepts of QCA, summarizes the status quo, and derives recommendations for future research. We use a descriptive literature review in major IS outlets summarizes how and why QCA has been used in the Information Systems (IS) discipline, critically evaluates the status quo, and derives recommendations for future QCA studies. Our review of 32 empirical research articles in major IS journals reveals that have used the QCA method since 2012. Articles applied QCA to a broad range of research topics at the individual and organizational levels, mainly as a standalone analysis for theory development, elaboration, and testing. We also provide evidence that most published IS research articles do not take full advantage of the potential QCA, such as analyzing necessary causal conditions or testing the robustness of QCA results. We provide seven actionable recommendations for future IS research using QCA.
Keywords: Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), Configurational approach, Literature review, Fuzzy set, Crisp set
The paper was co-authored with Jens Mattke (University of Bamberg), Christian Maier (University of Bamberg) and Tim Weitzel (University of Bamberg).
Recommended Citation: Mattke, J., Maier, C. Weitzel, T., and Thatcher, J.B. (2021). “Qualitative Comparative Analysis in the Information Systems Discipline: A literature review and methodological recommendations.” Internet Research.
https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-09-2020-0529