Title: The importance of multimethods and mixed methods research in understanding complexity in leadership

Authors: Robert M. Yawson

Addresses: Lender School of Business, Quinnipiac University, 275 Mt. Carmel Ave., Hamden, CT 06518, USA

Abstract: The dominant approach to leadership research has been undergirded by linear epistemology and transcends many discourses, practice, and scholarship in the field of leadership and leadership development. Leadership research has a long history of a quantitative approach, and it remains the most commonly used approach among leadership researchers. Although the application of mixed methods research designs has been examined across many fields and disciplines, it has yet to be specifically addressed in the context of leadership research. There is, however, a rise in research grounded in nonlinear epistemology, although the underlying methodological approaches have not clearly been defined. In a multimethods mixed methods study to identify skill needs for agrifood nanotechnology, a comprehensive methodology was developed for a systems approach research in organisational leadership. In this paper, this multimethods mixed methods research study is used as an illustration to provide a template and an approach that can be adapted in other leadership research.

Keywords: complexity; epistemology; leadership; multimethods; mixed method; paradigm; nanotechnology; ontology; skills; workforce development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCLM.2016.087122

International Journal of Complexity in Leadership and Management, 2016 Vol.3 No.4, pp.261 - 277

Received: 12 Mar 2016
Accepted: 31 Oct 2016
Published online: 06 Oct 2017 *

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