Aims and Methods of the Study

The chapter explains the adoption of the comparative case study method for our research analysis on international organizations. The choice of this method resides in the contemporary and complex nature of global public management decisions, the need to retain their holistic characteristics, and the type of research questions to address. Furthermore, given that management reform strategies are path-dependent and conducted in several rounds, it is necessary to observe a multi-year timeframe that would provide insight into the sequence and dynamics of decision-making processes and behaviours. The research case studies include the OECD and the European Union. The aim was to create more theory-driven variance in the data by selecting cases with different external and internal contexts and varying organizational size and characteristics.