🌻 Causal mapping approaches differ in application, construction, analysis and how they deal with multiple sources
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Reference Main application of causal mapping Mode of construction Dealing with multiple sources Analysis procedures
(Axelrod, 1976) Understand and critique decision making Coding documents Mainly idiographic Compute polarity of indirect effects in some cases.
(Bougon et al., 1977) Understand how organisations are constructed and can be influenced. Semi-structured interview to identify a fixed list of factors aka ‘variables’; respondents then say which are linked and give the polarity. Compare individual maps and combine into global ‘average’ map. Identify variables X with high outdegree and Y with high indegree and construct an ‘etiograph’ to show all the multiple paths from one point to another; discuss how respondents might have influence over some variables.
(Ackermann and Eden, 2004, 2011; Eden, 1992; Eden et al., 1979, 1992) Decision support and problem solving in organisations. Maps are seen primarily as useful tools rather than research about reality. Open interviewing of several respondents based on Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory. Also map construction directly with groups (1988). Comparing maps between individuals and analysing group maps directly. Various structural measures, presence of isolated clusters, hierarchical trees, loops. Simplify individual maps by collapsing X->Y->Z into X->Z.
(Laukkanen, 1994, 2012; Laukkanen and Eriksson, 2013; Laukkanen and Wang, 2016) Explicitly cognitive, to improve knowledge and understanding in management Systematic comparative method with semi-structured interviewing: respondents are given anchor topic(s) then asked for causes, effects, causes of causes, effects of effects. Compress the data by standardising factor names. Comprehensive coverage of different map construction possibilities. Comparative study of different individual maps, combining data into a database. Display combined maps for subgroups, e.g. all local managers.