The role of context in case study selection: An international business perspective

The extant methodological literature has challenged case selection in qualitative case study research for being arbitrary or relying too much on convenience logic. This paper aims to address parts of such criticism on the rigour of case selection through the presentation of a sampling framework that promotes contextualisation and thoroughness of sampling decisions in the study of international phenomena. This framework emerged from an inductive process following an actual case study project in international marketing and promotes the idea that context matters for sampling purposes, too. The proposed framework integrates methodological tools that complement the overarching principle of purposeful sampling and considers respective contextual challenges that the researchers encountered before and during fieldwork. It serves to highlight in an iterative fashion the role that context plays in the case selection process and the importance of contextualised sampling processes for qualitative case study research in international business. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.