Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods

Testing the Waters: Insights from Our Pilot Interview Study

Ana Batrisyia Azman, Mohd Aliff Abdul Majid — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Qualitative research provides a deep exploration of human experiences, uncovering diverse philosophical perspectives, methodologies, and insights. A key objective is to understand how individuals interpret their experiences and actions. However, for novice researchers, conducting qualitative interviews can be challenging, particularly due to the emphasis on nuanced shifts in participant responses and emerging themes. Given these complexities, pilot studies serve as a crucial preliminary step in assessing research feasibility and refining methodological approaches before conducting the main study. This article examines the significance of pilot studies in qualitative research, detailing their methodological applications and the valuable lessons drawn from the process. A pilot interview was conducted with two micro-family food business (MFFB) owners to assess the clarity, relevance, and effectiveness of the interview guide. This initial phase allowed for the identification of ambiguities, refinement of questions, and adjustments in the sequencing of inquiries, ensuring they aligned with the study’s objectives. By testing the research instruments in a controlled setting, the pilot study facilitated modifications that enhanced the accuracy and depth of data collection. Beyond refining the research tools, pilot studies contribute to strengthening the overall research framework by improving researcher preparedness and mitigating potential biases. They help anticipate challenges in data collection, allowing for proactive problem-solving and methodological adjustments. Moreover, pilot studies reinforce the trustworthiness and rigor of qualitative research by ensuring coherence between research objectives, data collection techniques, and analytical approaches. This iterative process fosters reflexivity, enabling researchers to critically evaluate their methods and enhance the credibility of their findings. Importantly, pilot studies play an indispensable role in qualitative research by refining study design, optimizing data collection instruments, and ensuring methodological soundness. Through early identification of challenges and continuous improvement of research tools, pilot studies enhance the validity and reliability of qualitative inquiry. This article highlights the transformative impact of pilot studies, underscoring their significance in strengthening research methodologies and ensuring the success of qualitative investigations.

Understanding Acquiescence Bias: The Mediating Role of Careless Responding in Demographic Differences

Saram Han, Daria Mikhailova, Kyunghwa Chung, Rohit Verma — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Acquiescence Response Style (ARS) results in unintended bias in survey research by systematically skewing respondents’ ratings. ARS has been considered to be influenced by individual traits and thus commonly attributed to demographic characteristics. This study investigates the mediating role of Careless Responding (CR) in the manifestation of ARS. Using large-scale survey data, this study demonstrates that CR strengthens or weakens the influence of demographic characteristics on ARS, explaining a significant portion of the variance in ARS. This study also demonstrates that the effectiveness of the instructional manipulation check (IMC) in detecting CR is diminished when it is designed to match the effects of ARS. ARS triggered by CR decreases IMC failure rates, thereby reducing the IMC’s ability to detect CR. The mediating role of CR remains underexplored in the extant literature. This study addresses this research gap, offering a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms driving ARS and CR.

Business Risk and Corporate Debt During COVID-19: A Bibliometric Analysis

Yuan Qing, Ibrahim Mohd-Sabrun — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented disruptions in global economic activity, exposing firms with high levels of leverage to heightened financial vulnerability and operational uncertainty. Understanding how corporate debt levels interact with business risk under such crisis conditions has therefore become an important topic in business and management research. This study applies bibliometric analysis to systematically examine the evolving relationship between corporate debt levels and business risk in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using 2,488 relevant publications indexed in the Web of Science database and following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) framework, the research identifies core authors, influential journals, and major thematic clusters within this rapidly expanding body of literature. Co-citation analysis and keyword co-occurrence analysis are employed to map the intellectual structure and developmental trajectory of the field. The findings show that the pandemic significantly intensified financial instability among highly leveraged firms, particularly in capital-intensive industries such as real estate and manufacturing. At the same time, the literature increasingly highlights the importance of effective debt management and risk mitigation strategies in strengthening organisational resilience during periods of large-scale economic shocks. From a theoretical perspective, the results indicate that the relationship between leverage and business risk is closely connected to discussions on organisational resilience and crisis management in strategic management research. Methodologically, this study contributes to business and management research by demonstrating how bibliometric mapping can be used to analyse complex and rapidly evolving research topics during global crisis events. By visualising knowledge structures, identifying influential research clusters, and tracing the evolution of key themes, the approach provides a systematic framework for synthesising fragmented academic debates. The results also offer practical insights for managers and policymakers. For example, the findings suggest that firms operating in capital-intensive sectors should adopt more flexible debt structures and strengthen liquidity management during crisis periods to reduce operational vulnerability. Overall, the study provides a comprehensive overview of the research landscape on corporate debt and business risk during the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights promising directions for future research in corporate finance, risk management, and crisis-related business studies.

PRISMA-guided Systematic Review: Dynamic Channel Capabilities for Digital and Sustainable Governance

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper develops the Dynamic Channel Capability Framework (DCCF) to explain how marketing channels adapt to digital transformation, omni-channel coordination, and sustainability-oriented governance. Using this domain as a demonstration case, the study shows how PRISMA-guided thematic synthesis can serve as a framework-building method in business research, where the literature is conceptually fragmented, theoretically dispersed, and methodologically uneven. Rather than treating systematic review as descriptive aggregation, the paper demonstrates how a transparent analytical sequence can move from evidence identification to higher-order conceptual integration. Following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, the review applied a structured protocol covering database selection, search design, inclusion and exclusion criteria, screening, quality assessment, and multi-stage coding of peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2015 and 2025. The analysis proceeded from first-order concept extraction to second-order thematic aggregation and then to meta-level integration, making explicit how analytical decisions supported conceptual development rather than descriptive summarisation. From 1,324 initial records, 30 studies were retained for theory-informed synthesis. The synthesis identifies three recursive mechanisms underpinning adaptive channel systems: sensing-intelligence, orchestration-adaptability, and governance-legitimacy. These mechanisms are integrated into DCCF, which reconceptualises marketing channels as adaptive organisational systems shaped by digital responsiveness, cross-boundary coordination, and institutional alignment. Substantively, the framework brings together insights from digital transformation, omni-channel integration, and sustainability governance within a single analytical structure. Methodologically, the study contributes to business research methods by demonstrating how systematic review design can support transparent framework construction through an explicit sequence that links selection logic, coding structure, thematic comparison, and conceptual abstraction. In doing so, it offers a replicable approach to integrative theory-building across fragmented research domains and clarifies how PRISMA-guided synthesis can be positioned not only as a reporting protocol but also as an analytical strategy for framework development. DCCF also provides an empirically tractable platform for future mixed-method, comparative, and quantitative studies of adaptive and legitimate channel governance.