Qualitative Inquiry in Management: Methodological Dilemmas and Concerns in Meta-Analysis

We posit that qualitative inquiry is essential to management science but is insufficiently capitalized on and that; if aggregated through meta-studies, such research could yield rich insight on emergent properties and enable the development of higher-order knowledge and theory We introduce a pragmatic approach along four ontological perspectives to conducting meta-studies from qualitative inquiries. We identify principal epistemological, ethical and methodological concerns and dilemmas that occur in the understanding, review and aggregation of qualitative studies and propose concrete remedying heuristics.