Emerging research designs in business and management research in Hong Kong

Mixed methods is a new and emerging field of inquiry. It has been heralded as the third methodological movement and is gaining in popularity across an array of discipline areas. The fields of applied social science and evaluation are among those which have shown the greatest popularity and uptake of mixed methods research designs. Relatively speaking there is less dialogue and literature on the use of mixed methods in applied business as there exists in other discipline areas where mixed methods has witnessed higher levels of acceptance such as the social sciences, health and education. Business disciplines have traditionally been undertaken within the quantitative paradigm, with some exceptions. It has only been very recently that mixed methods has been introduced and explicitly utilised within applied business research (Cameron 2008; Hurmerinta-Peltomaki & Nummela 2006; Molina-Azorin 2007). This chapter provides a brief overview of the rise of mixed methods research, its usage in business and management fields, a discussion on the emergence of mixed methods research designs and presents empirical evidence of mixed methods usage in DBA theses at Southern Cross University (SCU). The four completed Hong Kong based DBA theses will be discussed along with the currently enrolled Hong Kong based DBA candidates who have completed the Qualitative and Quantitative Research Units.