The bumpy road to circular offices
A research about what factors influence and determine the circular
economy within an office environment
Sara Warbroek
Master’s thesis for the Environment & Society Studies programme
Corporate Sustainability
Nijmegen School of Management
Radboud University
Colophon
Document
Title
The bumpy road to circular offices
Project
Master Thesis (MAN-MTHCS)
Date
09-04-2020
Word count
24788
Version
Final version
Student
Author
Sara Warbroek
Student number
s1013916
Education
Master Environment and Society Studies
Specialization
Corporate Sustainability
Phone number
+316 18 81 57 54
sara.warbroek@planet.nl
Employer
Employer
Sodexo
Address
De Corridor 3
3621 ZA Breukelen
Supervisor
Irma Kruining
Irma.kruining@sodexo.com
Phone number
+316 51 20 45 21
Educational Institution
Institution
Radboud University Nijmegen
Supervisor
Duncan Liefferink
d.liefferink@fm.ru.nl
Second reader
Ingrid Visseren
i.visseren@fm.ru.nl
Summary
Ninety percent of global used resources does not return to the economic system, so for the most part the economy has a linear character. In the coming years the world population will grow, and the number of raw materials used per person will also rise. The circular economy and its principles offer a solution to prevent raw materials from no longer being used linearly (mined to discarded). This research focuses on the circular economy within the facilities sector. This is because the organisation, offering an internship, Sodexo, is a major facilities player. Sodexo, together with three other parties, is a member of a consortium focussing on circular offices.
The consortium is interested in a new way of measuring the circularity at a potential client location. It wants to show what it has to offer and gain insight in the current status at the same time. There is a lack of insight into which topics need to be discussed. To facilitate this problem statement a research question is formulated: ‘what factors influence and determine the circularity of the soft facility services in an office building, and why?”. Since the internship, there is formulated an advice question as well: what should be asked in the circular scan to have a useful result for the consortium and the potential clients as well?
The facility sector is responsible for the ins and outs of a huge number of square meters of office space and therefore also responsible for a large resource consumption. More knowledge about circularity within facility services can reduce this. In addition, this research is relevant because it helps the consortium further developing. And fits the Dutch government’s objectives of being circular by 2050. This research is scientific relevant as well. In European context there is less researches done without focus on the building only. Research into the measurability of circularity has hardly been done yet.
In order to answer the research question, the Policy Arrangement Approach is used. Its dimensions actors, resources, rules and discourse the consortium and its working is mapped out. Here the three principles of the circular economy, reduce, reuse and recycle, play a major role. In answer to the research question, three sub-questions have been drawn up: 1) how does the theory-based discourse of the circular economy change when ideas are put into practice?, 2) what are the (organizational) consequences of applying the concept of reduce, reuse & recycle within the soft facility services domain in an office surrounding?, and 3)what opportunities and problems do occur when the concept of reduce, reuse and recycle is applied in an office surrounding within the soft facility service domain?
After more than a year of development, the consortium will start working at a client location for the first time. This pilot is the central case in this research. Data is collected via literature, interviews with people and organisations involved in the consortium and observation, because the researcher is part of the pilot organizations. The data is analysed by using Atlas TI. All interviews are transcribed and together with the documents analysed. The analysis is mainly based on structural coding by using concepts of the theoretical framework.
This has resulted in answers on the several questions formulated. The discourse changed when the consortium applied it in practice, mostly due obstacles encountered by the consortium. Working together with various organizations has its effects. Especially rules and structure are needed for this. The biggest opportunity for the consortium is the fact that there is money and knowledge among the actors. The main problems arise from rules which shape the boundaries wherein the consortium operates. Also, the not equal involvement of the different actors is an issue which means fewer resources available for the consortium’s development. The factors, based on the dimensions of the Policy Arrangement Approach, that influence the circularity of soft facility services in an office building are:
Actors:
• Equal involvement of actors Rules
• A company’s legal form that is allowed to bid for tenders • A clear division of tasks
• Agreements with other facility parties/departments
• Ownership agreements of CircularOffice ideas and programmes • Include the partners of CircularOffice as their own partners Resources
• Availability of money
• Authority over all the services necessary for circularity • Many relationships with non-consortium member clients • Knowledge about circular alternatives/possibilities Discourse
• A shared definition for the circular economy and sustainability • Stay close to the principles of reduce, reuse and recycle
Preface
Because of my ambitions within the facility management world, combined with my interest in sustainability, this research came about. During my previous study ‘Facility Management’ I have missed the attention for environmental impact of facility services, while we, as facility managers, have just such a big influence on that.
Of course, I could not have done the research project without an internship where both came together. I am grateful that I was able to experience up close how the circular economy was combined with facility management in the form of CircularOffice’s consortium. For this I would like to thank Sodexo in particular, as well as the other consortium members Returnity, Bammens and Westerveld. I would also like to thank my colleagues at Sodexo for their cooperation on the pilot at UWV Utrecht. And, in particular, Annelein Frederiks and Irma Kruining for supervising my internship.
Also, my supervisor Duncan Liefferink deserves my appreciation. His guidance during the research project was very valuable, especially the pushes in the right direction when I was stuck writing. Also, the speed with which he answered questions and gave feedback was very nice. He helped me to better understand the sometimes-abstract theoretical concepts, so that I could apply them well.
Nor should I forget my partner, friends and family, who have always supported me, despite the fact that the writing of this thesis took longer than I had imaged. Thanks for your patience.
Table of content
List of illustrations ...11 List of figures ...11 List of tables ...11 1 | Introduction ...13 1.1 | Context ...131.2 | Research problem statement ...14
1.3 | Research aim and research question ...15
1.4 | Relevance ...15
2 | Theoretical framework ...17
2.1 | Facility management ...17
2.2 | The circular economy ...17
2.3 | The Policy Arrangement Approach ...19
2.4 | Conceptual framework ...22 2.5 | Sub-questions ...23 3 | Method ...24 3.1 | Strategy ...24 3.2 | Design ...24 3.3 | Data collection ...25 3.4 | Data analysis ...28
3.5 | Trustworthiness and authenticity ...29
4 | Results ...31 4.1 | Context story ...31 4.2 | Actors ...32 4.3 | Resources ...34 4.4 | Rules ...36 4.5 | Discourse ...38
4.6 | Working of the consortium: UWV pilot ...40
5 | Conclusion ...46
5.1 | Discourse: theory vs. practice ...46
5.2 | Consequences of applying 3Rs into soft service ...47
5.3 | Opportunities and problems ...49
5.4 | Factors of circularity ...52
5.5 | Circular scan ...55
5.6 | Recommendations in general ...57
6 | Reflection ...58
6.2 | Methodological reflection ...59 6.3 | Contribution ...59 6.4 | Research recommendations ...59 References ...61 Appendix I ...66 Appendix II ...68 Appendix III ...69 Appendix IV ...70 Appendix V ...71 Appendix VI ...72
List of illustrations
List of figures
Figure 1: Concepts of the circular economy (own work, based on Stegeman (personal
communication, February 22, 2019) and Korhonen (2018, p.39)……… 18
Figure 2: The Circularity Ladder (PBL, 2018)……….. 18
Figure 3: Overview of three categories with ten perspectives (Stegeman, personal communication, February 22, 2019)………. 19
Figure 4: Terms of 3Rs and 10R’s used in this research (own work)……….. 19
Figure 5: The tetrahedron, symbolising the interconnectedness of the four dimensions of a policy arrangement. (Liefferink, p.48)………. 20
Figure 6: Types of resources used in this research based on Arts (2006) and Avelino & Rotmans (2009)………... 22
Figure 7: Conceptual Framework (ownwork)……… 23
Figure 8: Case and sub-case design (own work).………... 25
Figure 9: Overview of actors in the arrangement (own work) ………... 34
Figure 10: Ladder van Lansink (Aquaminerals, 2018).……… 39
Figure 11: The new bins placed for the pilot (Bammens, 2019).……….. 41
Figure 12: Collection trolley (Economic Board Utrecht, 2019).………. 42
Figure 13: Waste separation communication message at the current bins (Economic Board Utrecht, 2019). ……… 42
Figure 14: The circular shop in UWV’s restaurant (Van der Worp, 2019)………... 43
Figure 15: Toilet roll holder with communication (Van der Worp, 2019)……….. 43
Figure 16: Table card at vending machine (Returnity, 2019)………. 44
Figure 17: Coffee truck invitation (CircularOffice, 2019).……… 44
Figure 18: Opening pilot CircularOffice at coffee truck (UWV, 2019)………... 44
Figure 19: Commodity Coaches at the new bins (own work)……… 45
Figure 20: Communication message about the croquettes made of oyster mushrooms (Van der Worp, 2019)………. 45
Figure 21: Terms of 3Rs and 10R’s used in this research (own work)……… 46
Figure 22: Overview of factors (own work)………... 54
Figure 23: Overview of the circular scan topic (own work)………. 56
Figure 24: 6S-model of Van Brandt (Circkelstad, 2019)………. 58
List of tables
Table 1: Overview used internal documents (own work)………. 2613
1 | Introduction
In this first chapter the reader is introduced to the context in which the research takes place (§1.1). The research’s context is mainly shaped by the circular economy and facility management. The internship company and the consortium it has joined are also explained. When the context is clear, the problem statement is given (§1.2). Then, the corresponding objective and research question are explained (§1.3). These indicate what the research is about. The chapter concludes with the relevance of this research, both societal and scientific (§1.4).
1.1 | Context
This section contains an introduction to the topic of circular economy. The link with the circular economy and facility management is explained as well. Also, the internship company’s background and their involvement within the CircularOffice is addressed.
1.1.1 Circular economy
Ninety percent of the resources worldwide do not return to the economic system (De Wit, Hoogzaad, Ramkumar, Friedl en Douma, 2018). The economy is this largely linear and this type of economy has grown in recent decades and will continue to grow. According to Crane et al (2011, p.14), the world population began to use more in the 21st century. Thirty-four times more material, twenty-seven times more minerals, twelve times more fossil fuels and almost four times more biomass (Crane et al, 2011, p.14). The United Nations predicts that the world's population will grow to 9.8 billion people by 2050, and by the year 2020 there will be 7.8 billion (Worldometers, 2020). Moreover, the middle class is growing strongly in countries such as Brazil and China (CPB, 2011). As a result of these facts, global material use will triple by 2050 compared to today. This results in an increasingly challenged linear model today. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2015a) has listed five factors that require a deeper change in the operating system of the linear economy. These are a) economic losses and structural waste b) price risks c) supply risks d) degradation of natural systems and e) regulatory trends. A definition for the circular economy is: 'The circular economy is based on the approach of (re)designing production systems at different levels in order to preserve the value of the life cycle of raw materials, goods and materials. The central idea is to do this in a form of a (closed) cycle. (Faber, Jonker & Stegeman, 2018).
1.1.2 Facility Management
Circle Economy and AAFM (2014, p.4) state from a circular economy perspective, "facility managers organize and control the physical resources flowing through a location, as well as the programmatic services for the people working within the facility". Commercial buildings have major impacts in several categories: a) energy use, b) atmosphere & emissions c) water use & management d) land use e) indoor environment & social impacts and f) materials & waste (CBS, 2017). Facility management with all its aspects affects these categories through waste, workwear, security & reception, business support, catering, cleaning, maintenance, landscaping, repairs, furniture & office supplies, taxi & transport, relocation, technical maintenance & management, re-pro & mail and logistics (Circle Economy & AAFM, 2014, p.4). The influence of facility management on these facets puts facility managers in a unique position to oversee this system and facility managers have a high degree of control and influence on reducing the effects associated with the activities in a commercial building (Circle Economy & AAFM, 2014, p.5).
14 The focus in this research is on the services and resources of soft facility management. Hard facility management relates to buildings and their installations, which are also important in view of the circular economy, but only apply to new buildings and renovations. In order to make an impactful shift in the world of existing office buildings, a focus on the services and resources of soft facility management has been chosen, because it is relevant to both existing and new buildings.
1.1.3 Internship Company
Sodexo was founded in 1966 in France and is active in offices, governments, health institutions, schools & universities, prisons, events, offshore platforms and mines. At these locations, it is responsible for food services, technical services and facility services. In the Netherlands, Sodexo provides services such as food services, cleaning, landscaping, building management, reception services, security, management and distribution of company clothing, fleet management and much more.
Worldwide, Sodexo has three core values: 1) improving the quality of everyday life, 2) contributing to economic, social and sustainable development and 3) corporate social responsibility. To realize the latter value, Sodexo has a global improvement program 'Better Tomorrow Plan'. It contains nine spearheads based on Sodexo as an employer, service provider and responsible entrepreneur focused on individuals, communities and the environment.
The company focuses on three topics in particular: 1) hunger 2) gender equality and 3) waste (A. Mikkers, personal communication, 12 February 2019). Sodexo states that waste is a major challenge worldwide and that tackling this waste problem is essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect land and water and improve living conditions.
1.1.4 CircularOffice
With this background and global business vision, Sodexo Nederland responded to a call from the Economic Board Utrecht (A. Frederiks, personal communication, 4 February 2019). The Economic Board Utrecht initiates an intensive cooperation between governments, knowledge institutes and companies for strengthening existing initiatives, for matchmaking and for developing new business models (Economic Board Utrecht, 2019a). The Economic Board Utrecht’s call was addressed to companies from the province of Utrecht to realise a more circular region. Other companies that responded to the Economic Board Utrecht’s call were Bammens, Westerveld and Returnity. Bammens is a specialised production company that develops, produces, installs and maintains solutions for the collection of raw materials for household waste, commercial waste and litter (Bammens, 2019). One of the largest cleaning companies in the Randstad is Westerveld (Westerveld, 2019). Returnity's mission is a waste-free world and helps organisations work towards this (Returnity, 2019). Together they form a consortium called CircularOffice (before: BRSW-360) (ERU, 2017) to set up the chain of purchasing, use and end-of-life (Economic Board Utrecht, 2019c). In short: CircularOffice makes offices waste-free through smart procurement, waste reduction and high-quality reuse of raw materials (CircularOffice, 2019).
1.2 | Research problem statement
One of the consortium’s wishes is to develop a new measurement method in the form of a questionnaire. Going through the questionnaire is roughly the first contact between the consortium and the optional client. Therefore, the measurement tool should serve different purposes. By discussing the subjects, especially the facility service specific ones, the consortium can show what their offer entails. This gives the potential client a better idea of what the consortium can do for them.
15 On the other hand, the consortium can get a good picture of the current status regarding circularity at the potential client. This information is necessary for writing such a specific and appropriate offer for the potential client. The level of circularity can also be compared to that of other organisations, and you can use that to persuade an organisation to participate, for example you can show they are lagging behind other organisations.
The problem is that the consortium has no insight into what questions they need to ask. This concerns organisational questions and the improvement of practical questions as well. There are therefore organisational topics, which are required when implementing CircularOffice, and practical topics, which mainly apply to the content of the various facility services. The consortium would like to call the measurement tool ‘circular scan’ so that what it is called in this research report.
1.3 | Research aim and research question
The aim of this research is to understand what the circular economy means in practice, especially of the soft facility services in an office environment. The goal is to provide indicators that represent circularity in an organisational sense. In order to meet the research’s aim, it is necessary to acquire knowledge about which factors determine the circularity of an office environment. Therefore, the following research question is formulated: “what factors influence and determine the circularity of the soft facility services in an office building, and why?”. The research question is supported by sub-questions and these are based on the literature provided in the theoretical framework chapter. In order to better understand them, the sub-questions are presented in the last section of the literature review (§2.5).
Since the basis of this research is an internship, we must also pay attention to the organizational context of this research and its specific assignment. Because the consortium’s wish has a more practical character an advice question is linked to the research question. This advice question is: “what should be asked in the circular scan to have a useful result for the consortium and the potential clients as well?”.
1.4 | Relevance
The relevance of carrying out this research is essential to justify it. It is important to work out what the valuable addition of this research is, why it is worthwhile to carry it out, put in energy and time.
1.4.1 Societal relevance
The social relevance of this research is especially important for the consortium. When one knows which factors influence and determine the circularity of an office building environment, CircularOffice knows which questions it has to ask in order to trigger a potential client. And when it understands what circular economy is all about in practice, it can act and communicate in the right way. Knowledge and information about the circular economy in practice, especially in an office building environment, is useful because of the 48,084,000 m2 of office space in The Netherlands (Bak, 2017, p.11), let alone the office floors in Europe and the rest of the world.
More generally, less impact on the environment and less use of resources is essential. The impact on the environment, via soil, water and air, has various consequences. Climate change is one of them, causing problems such as extreme weather, rising sea levels and loss of biodiversity. Natural resources are finite, making it important to deal with materials differently in order to avoid scarcity, conflict and income.
In September 2016, the Dutch government launched the National Board Programme Circular Economy (Rijksoverheid, 2016). The ambition is to have a circular economy in the Netherlands by 2050, the contours of which are outlined in the programme (Faber, Jonker &
16 Stegeman, 2018). This shows that the circular economy is on the government's agenda and that it has a goal for the future. This national political focus on the circular economy makes this research and its results socially relevant.
1.4.2 Scientific relevance
This research will also be relevant in a scientific way. According to Stahel (2016, p.436), the United States, South Korea and China have launched research programmes to promote the circular economy by stimulating re-production and reuse while Europe makes baby steps. We see this in the number of hits when looking for literature on circular economy, many of which are linked to China. Anderson (2007, p.133) also states that the concept of the circular economy is widely promoted in Asia. With this in mind, we can conclude that there is a gap between Europe and Asia, which can probably be narrowed by doing research and having more knowledge about the practical implementation of the circular economy.
There is an amount of scientific literature on circular economics and measurement in general. But there is a gap between literature and practice. The analysis of Korhonen, Nuur, Feldman & Birkie (2018) shows that current research on circular economics often focuses on the practical and technical levels of actual physical flows of materials and energy in production-consumption systems. Although this level of practice is practical, it is too detailed, for example practical explanations of what can be done or made of certain waste streams. What is missing is a level in between. We have literature on circular economics, its definition, its origins, its limits and we have literature on specific, detailed processes of, for example, recycling plastics. Between these two levels there is more, the organization of circular economy, for example returning the plastics for recycling. This research focuses on that level.
Elia, Gnoni & Tornese (2017, p.2749) conclude that research into methodologies and indicators for measuring the application level of circular economic strategies is in an early phase. They say that this is particularly the case when looking at the micro level. Elia et al (2017) have revised fourteen methodologies to measure environmental impact. The environmental impact methodologies focus on the aspects of water footprint, energy demand, ecological footprint, carbon footprint and so on. In these studies, there is a lack of focus on which elements are important to look at when realizing CircularOffice. Genovese, Acquaye, Figueroa & Koh (2014) also use environmental impacts as measurement aspects. This measurement perspective is another type of measurement needed for CircularOffice.
With regard to (office) buildings, there are various measuring instruments to assess sustainability. A well-known example is the BREEAM certificate. BREEAM is an assessment method to determine the sustainability performance of buildings (BREEAM, 2019). It contains four different certificates: 1) new construction and renovation, 2) existing construction, 3) area development and 4) demolition and dismantling. Another example is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). It is a classification system for buildings, available for almost all building, community and housing projects (LEED, 2019). It provides a framework for creating healthy, highly efficient and cost-effective green buildings. Current rating and certification systems focus on the building itself and the energy it uses. There is a lack of focus on the organisational aspects and soft services of the office buildings.
17
2 | Theoretical framework
This chapter discusses various theories that are used to answer the research question: “what factors influence and determine the circularity of the soft facility services in an office building, and why?” First of all, it is important to know what facility management is in order to clarify the context of the research (§2.1). In the second section, the theory of circularity is discussed, because this is what the research is generally about (§2.2). In order to structure the research and to be able to answer the research question, the Policy Arrangement Approach is used and explained in the third section (§2.3). In the fourth section, the conceptual framework, in which all three theories recur, is discussed (§2.4). The chapter concludes with the sub-questions, which are described in this chapter because they are based on the theories (§2.5).
2.1 | Facility management
Facility management is the business unit responsible for realising an optimal working, residential or care environment (Drion & Van Sprang, 2016, p.16). It always has to deal with two types of stakeholders: the internal client (the employees of the primary process) and the external client (the visitor or client). The European standard NEN-EN 15221 is an important standard for facility management and is a derivative of the Dutch NEN 2748 (Drion & Van Sprang, 2016, p.19). NEN 2748 distinguishes the following main groups of facility products: a) housing, b) services and resources, c) ICT, d) external facilities and e) facility management.
Housing relates to buildings and building-related installations (such as air-conditioning systems and elevators), renovations, new construction and maintenance of buildings. We make a distinction between hard and soft services and resources. Hard services relate to the building, installations and maintenance. User-related services, such as catering, reception and services with a high degree of customer contact, are called soft services. This is also the focus of this research. The field of ICT, information and communication technology, is responsible for accessibility, communication, knowledge and information management. The category of external facilities includes the facilities that take place outside the facility manager's own area of responsibility and for which the facility manager is responsible. Such as the provision of external meeting facilities, home workplaces, employee transport by lease car or public transport. Facility Management is the management of all services relating to the working environment that are necessary to support people in their efforts to add value to the organisation.
2.2 | The circular economy
Over the years much has been written about the circular economy. It is difficult to say which author 'invented' the circular economy, which is why Stegeman (personal communication, 22 February 2019) calls it a theoretical master fusion. Korhonen (2018, p.39) also says that the concept of circular economy is based on a fragmented collection of ideas. The theories and concepts on which the idea of circular economy is based according to Stegeman and Korhonen are shown in Figure 1.
The definition of the circular economy is as difficult to define as its inventor. Faber, Jonker and Stegeman (2018), for example, consciously use different definitions of the concept of circular economy in their white paper 'The circular economy' (2018), so that different aspects of the concept can be addressed. One of the definitions they use is (freely translated): "The circular economy is based on the approach of (re)designing production systems at different levels in order to preserve the value of the lifespan of raw materials, goods and materials. The central idea is to do this in a form of a (closed) cycle. (Faber, Jonker & Stegeman, 2018).
18 Figure 1: Concepts of the circular economy (own work, based on Stegeman (personal communication, 22
February 2019) and Korhonen (2018, p.39).
Although there is no unanimous agreement on the definition of the circular economy, and under which umbrella the concept belongs (or is it an umbrella itself?), the core of the principle revolves around closing loops. These closing loops can be found in various models. One of them is the '3Rs' that provide an approach to waste management by prioritising the options for reducing, reusing and recycling (Shekdar, 2009). The aim is to identify the options that are likely to deliver the best overall environmental outcome (Papargyropoulou, Lozano, Steinberger, Wright & Ujang, 2014, p.110).
The terms reduce, reuse and recycle are reflected in the Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving’s (PBL) circularity ladder (2018) in Figure 2. It distinguishes ten system perspectives. The first three are: a) refuse, b) rethink and, c) reduce. When use occurs, we have to deal with six types of perspectives: d) reuse, e) repair, f) refurbish, g) remanufacture, h) repurpose, and i) recycle. The last step is j) recover energy.
19 Stegeman (personal communication, 22 February 2019) has divided these ten perspectives into three main categories. The first category ‘smarter product use and manufacture’ includes refuse, rethink and reduce. The second category 'end-use of products' includes reuse, repair and refurbishment. The third category is 'waste and reuse of materials and products' and includes remanufacture, repurpose, recycle and recover. An overview of these categories and their meaning is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Overview of three categories with ten perspectives (Stegeman, personal communication, 22 February 2019). Smarter product use and manufacture R0 = Refuse
Make product redundant by abandoning its function or offering the same function with a radically different product.
R1 = Rethink Make product use more intensive (e.g. through sharing
products).
R2 = Reduce Increase efficiency in product manufacture or use by
consuming fewer natural resources and materials.
End use of products
R3 = Reuse Reuse by another consumer of discarded product which
is still in good condition and fulfils its original function.
R4 = Repair Repair and maintenance of defective products so it can
be used with original function.
R5 = Refurbish Restore an old product and bring it up to date.
Waste and reuse of materials and products
R6 = Remanufacture Use parts of discarded products in a new product with
the same function.
R7 = Repurpose Use discarded product or its parts in a new product with
a different function.
R8 = Recycle Process materials to obtain the same (high grade) or
lower (lower grade) quality.
R9 = Recover Incineration of materials with energy recovery.
If we look at Stegeman's figure, we see the three terms of reduce, reuse and recycling in every other category. Therefore, this research keeps the three R's in mind when defining the circular economy. That means that ‘reduce’ consists of refuse, rethink and reduce, that reuse consists of reuse, repair and refurbish, and that recycling consists of remanufacture, repurpose and recycle. Figure 4 shows how this study defined the circular economy according to these three and ten Rs.
Figure 4: Terms of 3Rs and 10R’s used in this research (own work).
2.3 | The Policy Arrangement Approach
Before the theory applied in this research, the Policy Arrangement Approach, is explained, we first discuss some alternative theories that turned out to fit less well. The Multi-Level Perspective theory (MLP) conceptualize the dynamics of transitions at macro, meso and micro level (Geels, 2011, p26). By applying the MLP theory to the transition of circular soft facility
Smarter product use and manufacture
= Reduce • Refuse
• Rethink • Reduce
End use of products = Reuse • Reuse
• Repair • Refurbish
Waste and reuse of materials and products
= Recycle • Remanufacture • Repurpose • Recycle • Recover
20 services, the dynamics between these levels influencing the success of the transition are detected. MLP views transition at three levels: niche (the locus for radical innovations), socio-technical regimes (the locus of established practices and associated rules that stabilize existing systems) and an exogenous socio-technical landscape (Geels, 2011, p.26). This theory could help to answer the research question because it focusses on transitions, just like the transition of a linear office to a circular office is one. Still, there are some objections. The transition, CircularOffice, where MLP focusses on has not yet fully taken place. The UWV pilot is the first time of putting plans into practice and is has not been completed yet. In addition, there are several niche innovations in this research, due to the wide range of facility services and several innovations in each, MLP does not fil well because the theory is developed for one innovation.
Also, the Discourse Analysis (DA) theory seems to be applicable in this research to answer the research question. According to Gee (2014, p.1) a discourse is ‘a particular way of talking about and understanding the world’. DA is the analysis of the patterns that people’s utterance follows when they take part in different domains of social life (Gee, 2014, p.1). Applying the DA theory on the consortium’s members and their thoughts about the circular economy could be an option for finding what factors influence the circularity of soft facility services but its intention is slightly different. As a result, it does not reveal the organisational and practical aspects. By applying the DA theory, a connection with the practice is absent and that is not appropriate in the practical context and the origins of this research. And, in doing so, the 3Rs help us define what circularity means because it gives substance to the concept of CircularOffice. There is still uncertainty about the details on how to achieve and arrange circularity within office environments. In order to gain insight in how to realize and establish the 3Rs in an office environment, it is necessary to know how to organize this.
That is why we can use the Policy Arrangement Approach. This theory helps to map out a dynamic phenomenon (Arts, Leroy and Tatenhove, 2006, p.96). When looking for an answer to the research question “what factors influence and determine the circularity of the soft facility services in an office building, and why?” there is a need for an overview of an entire organisation of circularity within an office building environment. The Policy Arrangement Approach relates to the way in which a domain is organized on the basis of organization and content, taking into account a certain period of time (Arts and Tatenhove, 2005, p.341–p.342). By using the Policy Arrangement Approach, insight into the organisation of the domain becomes clear and the research question can be answered on the basis of that information. The practice of the discourse is taken into account in this research by this theory.
Figure 5: The tetrahedron, symbolising the interconnectedness of the four dimensions of a policy arrangement. (Liefferink, p.48).
21 When describing CircularOffice, the dimensions of the Policy Arrangement Approach are used. These dimensions are: actors, rules of the game, resources and discourse (Arts et al, 2006, p.99). The four dimensions of the Policy Arrangement Approach are closely interwoven (Arts et al, 2006, p.99). This means that as soon as something changes in one of them, this has consequences for the other dimensions (Arts et al, 2006, p.99). When mapping CircularOffice, it is important to describe the dimensions in an interwoven way, making it possible to assess the domain as a dynamic whole (Liefferink, 2006, p.48). Figure 5 shows the tetrahedron with the four dimensions.
2.3.1 Actors
The first dimension required for mapping a domain is the 'actors' dimension (Arts et al, 2006, p.99). It concerns the actors and their coalitions in the playing field (Liefferink, 2006, p.48). The actors have to deal with their own resources and rules of the game. The power of the resources depends on the extent of these resources and which rules of the game apply to them. The power relations between the various actors are important for the playing field of the domain. In looking for what factors influence and determine the circularity of an office environment; it is useful to know what actors are involved. These actors are probably responsible for the factors and do influence them, which makes it important to get a picture of them.
2.3.2 Resources
Resources is the second dimension for mapping the consortium (Arts et al, 2006, p.99). The distribution of resources leads to differences in power and influence of the actors (Liefferink, 2006, p.48). It says something about power with regard to mobilizing and deploying resources and being able to influence the domain. Arts et al (2006) make a distinction between material and non-material resources. They mention technology and money as examples of material resources and power relations and competences as examples of non-material resources. Avelino and Rotmans (2009, p.551) define resources more broadly: persons, possessions, materials and capital consisting of human, mental, monetary, artificial and natural. This research combines the types of Arts et al (2006) and Avelino and Rotmans (2009).
Structuring the resources into different types helps to clearly write down the answers to sub-questions and to keep the answers organised. The specific separation into materialistic and non-materialistic means provides insight into the tangibility of the means. This is interesting because these types of resources can be obtained in different ways, the material resources are more linked to organizational aspects, and the non-material resources are linked to specific persons within the organization. In order to understand what factors influence the circularity in an office environment, it is useful to make this distinction, because if the answer of this study is regarded as advice, then one knows in which area one has to take action.
The distinction between material and non-material is maintained. The resource possessions of Avelino and Rotmans (2009) is added to the category of material resources category. Materials and natural capital do overlap with possessions and monetary capital is the same as money. The category material resources consist of money, possessions and technology. Power relations should be seen as authority, it reflects the way in which the actors have certain powers (in relation to others). In this research, power relations are also seen as relationships in general, as a network of an actor. It is assumed that persons are concerned with their knowledge and this overlaps with competences as well as human, mental and artifactual capital because they are related to human capacity and knowledge. Because the focus of this research is not specific to the types of sources, further distinctions are not relevant, and all resources mentioned in this research are referred to as knowledge. The category of non-material resources consists of authority, network and knowledge. What the resource categories material and non-material consist of is shown in Figure 6.
22 Figure 6: Types of resources used in this research based on Arts (2006) and Avelino & Rotmans (2009).
2.3.3 Rules of the game
The third dimension for the description of the domain is the 'rules of the game' dimension (Arts et al, 2006, p.99). Arts et al (2006) make a distinction between formal and informal rules. Formal rules are included in documents, such as contracts and legislation, while informal rules are unwritten. The actors on the playing field influence the rules of the game, but at the same time they are dependent on these rules because they determine the framework. In fact, they themselves determine the framework within which they act and how they do so. The rules, informal or formal, play an important role in the factors that influence and determine the circularity of soft facility services, because these rules influence the way actors act and the mobilisation of resources. Moreover, the rules can explain why a certain factor has or does not have an influence. Insight into these rules is therefore important in order to answer the research question.
2.3.4 Discourse
The last dimension is the discourse. A discourse refers to coherent concepts in which reality is described, it is something that creates a certain 'image' of the world (Inglis and Thorpe, 2012). Foucault believes that the concept of discourse should be seen in a historical perspective, with each period having its own discourse (Inglis and Thorpe, 2012). The interpretation of the economy is very different for the linear and the circular economy. Like the two examples given by Liefferink (2006) on new ideas (public-private partnerships and sustainable development), the circular economy is a new way of thinking. Such new concepts also influence the actors, the means, the rules and the vision of the concept.
In this research, the discourse is formed by the theory of the circular economy: reduce, reuse and recycling. However, this does not mean that actors have a different view of the circular economy. By working with a discourse based on a theory and actors' own discourses, it is possible to detect differences between them. This helps to understand what factors determine the circularity of services in office environments.
2.4 | Conceptual framework
In order to visualize how this research is shaped on the basis of literature and how the final goal can be achieved, a conceptual framework is developed. This framework is shown in Figure 7. In this chapter, the elements in the conceptual framework are elaborated. In order to keep it clear, all elements within the framework are described separately, also the interrelationships are described.
The side of facility management that is central to this research is soft services. That is why a one-way arrow has been drawn between 'Soft Services' and 'CircularOffice'. It indicates what it is all about within the CircularOffice. The UWV element within this framework has been drawn because the CircularOffice is applied to the UWV office building. It is the sub-case that makes that the consortium develops and shows what it does in practice. That is why UWV is mentioned in the framework, it creates a connection with practice.
The research is partly based on the Policy Arrangement Approach. The four dimensions of this theory are included in the conceptual framework. The four dimensions
Material resources • Money • Possessions • Technology Non-material resources • Authority • Network • Knowledge
23 actors, resources, rules and discourse are connected to the CircularOffice set-up via two directional arrows.
The concept of the Circularity Ladder is involved as well, represented by three elements: reduce, reuse and recycle. In this case reduce consists of refuse, rethink and reduce, reuse consists of reuse, repair and refurbish and recycle consists of remanufacture, repurpose, recycle, recover. The three R’s give shape to the shift from linear economic principles to circular economic principles. The elements lay the foundation for a changing discourse where the arrangement is dealing with and reacting on.
Figure 7: Conceptual Framework (own work).
Based on the four dimensions of the Policy Arrangement Approach together, hence the blue box behind the four dimensions, organisational factors can be extracted. These factors can be used to answer the research question. In addition, the factors can be used to develop the content of the circular scan and that answers the advice question as well.
2.5 | Sub-questions
The elements of the conceptual framework are related to the sub-questions of this research. The sub-questions support the answering of the research question of this research: “what factors influence and determine the circularity of the soft facility services in an office building, and why?”. The sub-questions are based on the literature and within this research CircularOffice is seen as an arrangement. The sub-questions are:
1) How does the theory-based discourse of the circular economy change when ideas are put into practice?
2) What are the consequences of applying the concept of reduce, reuse & recycle within the soft facility services domain in an office surrounding?
3) What opportunities and problems do occur when the concept of reduce, reuse and recycle is applied in an office surrounding within the soft facility service domain?
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3 | Method
This chapter describes the method used in this study. First, the chosen research strategy is discussed (§3.1). Then the research design is explained (§3.2). The third section focuses on data collection (§3.3). This includes the literature, interviews and observations. The analysis of the data is central in the fourth section (§3.4). At the end of the chapter, the reader has insight into the way in which this research has been conducted and what choices have been made and why. The fifth section discusses the trustworthiness and authenticity of the research (§3.5). Here the credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability are central.
3.1 | Strategy
According to Bryman (2016, p.35), a research strategy is a general orientation for conducting social research. The aim of this research is to gain insight into what factors influence and determine the circularity of soft facility services in an office environment. In order to obtain this insight, a qualitative study was carri ed out. The emphasis of the qualitative research is on words rather than quantification when collecting and analysing data (Bryman, 2016, p.380). This is in line with the research question of this study, which calls for an answer in words.
Our prepossessed assumptions influence the way in which research problems and questions are shaped and thus influence the outcome of a research. When conducting research, it is therefore important to consider the philosophical assumption of the researcher (Garrick, 1999). The chosen framework of this research is post-positivism. In a post-positivist worldview, the research reports systematic data collection and analysis procedures to be extremely thorough and careful (Creswell & Poth, 2018). In a post-positivism research, knowledge is guesswork because the researcher’s background knowledge and values influence the observations during the research. According to Philips & Burbules (2000) evidence emerged from this research is always subject to reconsideration. Creswell & Poth (2018) state that this worldview looks at multiple perspectives of participants rather than at a single reality. This fits the approach of this research and the interviews with all persons and parties involved at CircularOffice.
Bryman (2016, p.23) also mentions the role of theory in the research. The role that theory plays can be expressed in a deductive approach and an inductive approach. The deductive approach starts with a theory and tests the theory by doing research (Bryman, 2016, p.23). The inductive approach is the other way around, first collecting data and then base a theory on it. The core of this research is based on several theories, like the Policy Arrangement Approach and the Circularity Ladder. This indicates the deductive approach of this research. On the other hand, generating theory takes place when developing the factors. We can say that both complement each other in this case because the deductive approach as well as the inductive approach play a role in this research.
3.2 | Design
A case study design was chosen for this qualitative research. A case study is a research based on a case or cases in a real, contemporary context (Yin, 2014). Yin (2014) states that a case can take different forms, namely: an individual, a small group, an organisation or a partnership. But also on a less concrete level, a community, a relationship, a decision-making process or a specific project can be considered as a case. Bryman (2006, p. 60) has a similar view and writes that a case relates to cases with an organization, in which the emphasis is on an intensive investigation of the setting. The CircularOffice consortium is an organization in itself, consisting of several organizations, and is a partnership as well. Matters such as decision-making processes take place within the consortium. This makes the CircularOffice consortium case worthy. In order to gain more insight into the consortium, a sub-case has been chosen
25 that serves as a clarification. The pilot of CircularOffice at UWV Utrecht is the sub-case because involving this sub-case offers an extra connection to practice and therefore provides more insight into the case and how it works. Figure 8 shows the case and the sub-case in their context.
Figure 8: Case and sub-case design (own work).
UWV is responsible for the national implementation of the employee insurance and for the provision of labour market and data services. They do this as an independent administrative body commissioned by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (UWV, 2019). At one of the locations of UWV the CircularOffice’s pilot takes place. The Policy Arrangement Approach is related to the way in which a domain is designed during a specific period of time (Arts and Tatenhove, 2005, p. 341 – p. 342). The case study design of this research lays down a solid foundation for the application of a clear arrangement. The arrangement and the case cover the same period, namely from the start of the consortium in October 2017 till July 2019 in which the UWV pilot was set up.
This case and its sub-case provide enough information for answering the research question. This is because the consortium is concerned with circularity within soft facility services. Everything they do is focussed on achieving this, so mapping this helps answer the research question: “what factors influence and determine the circularity of the soft facility services in an office building, and why?”. This case is also chosen for practical reasons. It was a consortium member who created the internship as basis for this research and the sub-case concerns the first pilot where the consortiums put activities in practice.
3.3 | Data collection
Bryman (2016, p.40) states that data collection is an investigative method. In structural confirmation, the researcher uses different types of data to support the interpretation (Eisner, 1991, p.110). In this study, different forms of data collection have been used to answer the research question. Because the same information returns in different places, this conclusion is more solid. This chapter discusses the different forms used, namely literature, secondary literature, experts and interviews.
3.3.1 Literature
Scientific literature was available for the creation of the theoretical framework. However, because the research is built around the case study of CircularOffice, no scientific literature on this specific subject was available. What is present, however, are internal documents as well as external documents and publicly available news articles. The internal documents are documents that are used during the development phase of CircularOffice. These include documents such as vision documents, position papers, previous scans and related reports.
Context: Circular Soft Facility Services Case: CircularOffice
Sub-case: UWV Utrecht
26 Also, externally available information is used, for example new articles about CircularOffice in the media and on the websites of the joining companies.
These documents are included in the Atlas-TI-data file what makes the data traceable. The news articles about the companies were written based on interviews with the representatives of the consortium members. The assumption is that these articles should only be placed after a check. This also adds value to the reliability of the content of these articles. The analysed internal documents were created by the representatives of the consortium members, so there are reliable as well. The documents referred to in this report are mentioned in Table 1. The author or authors and date of publication are shown as well. In this report the documents are referred to by their number.
Table 1: Overview used internal documents (own work).
# Name document Author(s) Date
1 Plan van Aanpak ‘Kantoren als Grondstoffendepot’
Consortium BRSW-360 + Economic Board Utrecht
12 January 2018 2 Consortium – Kantoren als
Grondstoffendepot
Consortium KAG 3 October 2017 3 CircularOffice – Get Connected Consortium CircularOffice 8 October 2018 4 Oproep tot Participatie Economic Board Utrecht August 2017 5 CircularOffice @ UWV Consortium CircularOffice 28 January 2019 6 Actie- en besluitenlijst Consortium project groep
UWV- pilot
9 April 2019
3.3.2 Interviews
The most important method of collecting data to answer the question is to conduct semi-structured interviews. This means that the most important questions are determined in advance (Baarda, Bakker, Fischer, Jusing, Peters and Van der Velden, 2013, p.150), but that there is room for spontaneous questions. This approach was most appropriate because the interviewees had very different backgrounds in the work, so a checklist (included in Appendix I) of the topics to be discussed was very valuable to ensure that the identified topics were dealt with a certain degree of flexibility. The checklist consists of three main topics. The first topic is the consortium: how did the consortium emerge and develop into what it is today? The focus is on the theoretical concepts of actors, resources, rules and discourse. The second topic is circularity within facility management: how can the circular economy shape facility management? Emphasis is placed on the concept of the circular economy, the three R’s. And the third topic is the circular scan: what ideas do you have about what the circular scan should look like? Here the focus is on the factors and the circular scan, what should be the outcome of the research and that is the focus of the advice question. And in order to get a complete picture it was good to be able to ask further questions in order to be able to hear all the information.
The interviews are recorded with the permission of the interviewee. After the interview, the recording is worked out into a literal transcript. The non-verbal communication is not recorded, as Rapley (2011) describes as one of the possibilities for transcription. The non-verbal communication is not relevant to the mapping of the consortium, so it has not been recorded. Intonations, however, are shown with accents, because they emphasize something and that gives more weight to the information. The transcriptions are sent to the interviewees and the interviewees were given the opportunity to make corrections. This ensures the reliability of the information, because the words mentioned are all written down and the interviewee has given his or her confirmation about the written text. An example of the transcriptions can be found in appendix II. All transcriptions are available from the researcher.
27 The interviews were held in different settings. Most of them were held in person and some over the phone. The non-verbal communication is not so important in this study, so little information is missed by the telephone interviews. The interviewees could still tell their side of the story. Table 2 shows how the interview took place. In the report is referred to the numbers of the interviews.
Conducting interviews fits well with the qualitative character of this research. Table 2 shows the respondents to this study. In order to map out the arrangement of the consortium, it was essential to talk to those involved. That is why the representatives of all four companies participating to the consortium were interviewed. They are closest to the establishment and development of the consortium. Moreover, they know what is important for their own theme and what they have to ask for the circle scan. The representative of the Economic Board Utrecht is also interviewed. These interviews took place in person because the content to be discussed was relatively large and these persons can be seen as the most important people involved.
The start-ups associated with the consortium are also interviewed. Firstly, to tell their story about the creation and development of the consortium and their own involvement. Secondly, to obtain information for the advice question. For the latter, some interviews were also held with old potential clients. These conversations were conducted by telephone because the estimated duration of the conversations was such that a conversation in person would not be efficient. Especially because the start-ups are very busy growing and have few staff. In addition, a number of interviews with so-called experts took place to find out more about the possibilities for circularity within facility management.
Table 2: Overview interviewees (own work).
# Name Organisation Date Location Transcript
availability
1 A. Hop Gem. Utrechtse Heuvelrug
05-06-2019 Telephone Yes 2 A. Mikkers Sodexo 20-05-2019 Capelle a/d IJsel Yes 3 A. Teeuw Planq 22-05-2019 Telephone Yes 4 F. Dobbelsteijn Returnity 09-05-2019 Utrecht Yes 5 F. van Bokhorst Gro 23-05-2019 Telephone Yes 6 H. Conneman Alpheios 15-05-2019 Telephone Yes 7 I. ten Dam Economic Board
Utrecht
30-04-2019 Utrecht Yes 8 L. Broos Phi Factory 02-05-2019 Amsterdam Yes 9 M. Beelt Sodexo 07-05-2019 Breukelen Yes 10 M. Dekkers i-did 31-05-2019 Telephone Yes 11 M. van der Meer Sodexo 24-04-2019 Breukelen Yes 12 M. Zeij Westerveld 14-05-2019 Eemnes Yes 13 R. Baggerman Sodexo 07-05-2019 Breukelen Yes 14 R. Dekker Sodexo 07-05-2019 Schiphol Yes 15 S. van
Stempvoort
Peel Pioneers 24-05-2019 Telephone Yes 16 W. van der
Zeeuw
Bammens 09-05-2019 Maarssen Yes
3.3.3 Observation
Because the researcher did an internship at Sodexo, some of the processes and developments of the consortium were experienced. The researcher took part in meetings, telephone conversations and was also in close contact with I. Kruining who discussed what was going
28 on. This information was not officially recorded because it was not an 'official' moment. But the information was subconsciously stored in the head of the researcher. Some of the information in this research therefore has no official source, but is still useful to complete the description of the development of the consortium. This information is just right for completing the vision of the consortium, because the factual state of affairs has been well established. It is valuable as a supplement to the interviews, where people may describe things a little more colourful than they really are.
Although the researcher was an intern at Sodexo's, an attempt was made to adopt a neutral stance. This was possible because the intern had no previous connection to Sodexo, so the other companies were just as new to the researcher as Sodexo was. This made it possible to have an as neutral a point of view as possible.
3.4 | Data analysis
After data collection of documents and interviews, these will be analysed. The written documents and transcribed interviews will be added to analysis program Atlas TI. The choice for Atlas TI is twofold. Firstly, the experience and knowledge of the researcher about the programme and secondly, because the programme can process different forms of documents, which is very relevant for this research. Appendix III contains an overview of all documents added to the programme. Atlas TI is used to analyse the data collected by means of coding, in order to create an index of key concepts (Bryman, 2016, p.581). In addition, the purpose of the coding is to go through all the data without losing the connection to the data (Wagenaar, 2011). Therefore, labels were used during the study to check the amount of data in Atlas TI.
In the analysis of the data a structural coding has been applied. This type of coding is a conceptual phrase representing a topic of inquiry to a segment of data that relates to a specific research question used to frame the interview (MacQueen, McLellan-Lemal, Bartholow, & Milstein, 2008, p.124). This method is suitable for qualitative research with multiple participants and semi-structured data collection protocols (Saldaña, 2009). In coding, the theoretical framework was used as a starting point to study the data. The use of the Policy Arrangement Approach and the Circular Economics Theory makes this approach appropriate, because you have to look for these specific topics in the data. The checklist for the interviews consists of three main topics that are directly related to the theory. Namey, Guest, Thairu, & Johnson (2008, p.141) suggest that structural coding may be more suitable for interview transcriptions than other data. The transcripts of the interviews conducted form an important basis for the data of this study.
In addition to this structural coding based on the conceptual framework, other codes have also been created. These codes were invented during the analysis of the data. They include, for example, personal information, future plans and problems that arise. After the coding, equivalent codes were merged. An overview of the labels used is given in Appendix IV.
On the basis of all the codes, groups have been created. Appendix V shows which codes belong to which groups. The codes in these groups are united in a group based on similarities. For example, all codes that have something to do with 'actors' have been placed in the group 'PAA_actors’. In order to make it easy to find codes in the programme and keep them themed together, code from the same group start with the same word. For example, the codes reduce, reuse and recycle from the circular economy-theory start all with ‘3R’ followed by for example ‘_reduce’. This results in ‘3R_reduce’ as code for fragments about reduce. The same is done for all codes linked to ‘consortium’, ‘general’ information, ‘PAA’ (Policy Arrangement Approach) and ‘scan’. This can be seen in the overview in Appendix VI.
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3.5 | Trustworthiness and authenticity
Lincoln and Guba (1985, 1994) propose that it necessary to specify terms and ways of establishing and assessing the quality of qualitative research that provide an alternative to reliability and validity, namely trustworthiness and authenticity. Instead of using the terms internal validity, external validity, reliability and objectivity related to quantitative research, we now use respectively credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. The authenticity criteria raise a wider set of issues concerning the wider political impact of research (Bryman, 2016, p.393). This is comparable to the societal and scientific relevance (§1.4) which is why this section will not go into more detail here. Each term of trustworthiness is explained in sub-section.
3.5.1 Credibility
Credibility concerns the establishment of the credibility of findings (Bryman, 2016, p390). The research’s goal is to provide indicators that represent circularity in an organisational sense. In order to meet this requirement, the choice was made to choose a case study and to describe it. In order to map out this arrangement, interviews were held with (almost) all those involved. This strengthens the research’s credibility because who knows better how it all developed than the people involved themselves. In addition to the interviews, documents and observations are also part of the data collection. This results in a more complete picture, but also confirmation of information obtained from one of the other sources. So, there is triangulation in this research, what according to Bryman (2016, p.392) entails using more than one research method or source of data in the study of social phenomena. It is important for the consistency of the measures (Bryman, 2016, p.169). He recommends this technique for strengthening credibility (Bryman, 2016, p. 390). Another technique he recommends in his book is respondent validation. It is a process whereby the researcher provides the people whom he has conducted research with an account of his findings and requests feedback on that account (Bryman, 2016, p.715). This technique also has taken place and therefore has a positive influence on the credibility of this research. As described, the interviews have been recorded and a transcript is made and then shared with those concerned for verification. Another aspect that enhances credibility is that the interviews were conducted in Dutch. Because it is both the interviewer and interviewee’s native language, it reduces the chance of things being meant or interpreted differently.
3.5.2 Transferability
Qualitative research typically entails the intensive study of a small group sharing qualitative findings tend to be oriented to the contextual uniqueness and significance of what is being studied (Bryman, 2016, p.392). To avoid an empirical issue whether findings hold in some other context or even in the same at other time, it is recommended to produce a thick description as Geertz (1973) it calls. These provides others ‘a database’ for making judgements about the possible transferability of finding to other situations. Chapter 4 presenting the results is a full description of the case study being studied. All actors, resources, rules and discourses are discussed, but also the origin and development context as well as the pilot phase. This complete description can be viewed by everyone, so one can use it as a thick description when one wants to use this research to apply it to other cases.
3.5.3 Dependability
To establish the merit of research in terms of this criterion of trustworthiness, researchers should adopt an auditing approach (Bryman, 2016, p.392). He explains that this entails that complete records are kept of all phases of the research process in an accessible manner. The research report provides insights in the problem formulation and the reason why this research
30 is conducted. In addition, why the interviewees are chosen is explained in this chapter. The interview transcripts and used documents analysed are available on request from the researcher. This accessibility increases the dependability of this research, because others can control the research process.
3.5.4 Confirmability
Confirmability is concerned with the objectivity of the researcher (Bryman, 2016, p.393). Although complete objectivity is not possible, as an investigator it is important to demonstrate that you are acting in good faith. The fact that complete objectivity is not possible matches the post-positivist worldview, as explained in the first section of this chapter (§3.1). The fact that the researcher was on temporary employment with one of the consortium members did not influence the interpretation during the investigation. Especially because these would be no work agreement after the internship period, so no interests that would have led to different interpretations.
