Identifying Entrepreneurial Competencies Using Q Methodology: An Innovative Research Approach

This paper introduces Q Methodology as a technique for the study of human subjectivity and in particular individual beliefs, values, opinions and attitudes. Originating in the discipline of psychology (Stephenson, 1953), Q Methodology remains a relatively unknown and underutilised technique across other disciplines. Moreover, where it does occur, it is frequently described as an innovative research approach (Stergiou and Airey, 2011; Massingham, Massingham and Diment, 2012). Here, the six key stages within a Q Methdological study are introduced, and are explored in the context of an illustrative Q study which sought to identify the entrepreneurial competencies of UK farmers who have diversified all, or part, of their agricultural operations to farm based tourism and recreation (Phelan, 2014). Thus, the aim of this paper is to demonstrate how Q Methodology works in a practical setting with the literature on Q Methodology reviewed and discussed in tandem with the research findings. In outlining this research design, this paper highlights that Q Methodology embraces a hybridity of both quantitative and qualitative approaches. However, at its core, lies a rejection of hypothetico-deductive methods, and as such, it remains a social constructionist and largely qualitative method. Moreover, this paper demonstrates that Q has much to offer business and management researchers in heeding the call for greater methodological pluralism.