From crisp to fuzzy-sets QCA in exploring causal configurations: Examples from the New Zealand context

Abstract

This article outlines illustrative applications in the use of QCA and its fuzzy-set variant in three examples of business promotion in New Zealand in the establishment of ethnic business networks, new land-based ventures, and the success and failure of end-user innovation. The three studies offer insights into the genesis of ideas, assembly of business support, and development and dissemination of designs, prototypes, and products. The focus of the article is the methodological power of QCA to present empirically-derived Boolean equations that describe configurations of particular outcomes across multi-level analyses of the business groups and networks, industries, and individual businesses.