Three-dimensional (3D) Reflexivity

This paper draws on empirical work done within an interpretative phenomenological tradition to offer up a new conceptualisation of reflexivity. By using examples from a biographic narrative study of the impact of personal trauma (i.e. critical illness or bereavement) on the professional lives of managers in the UK, this paper outlines the concept of three-dimensional (3D) reflexivity, and argues that this is a new way of producing critically reflexive management research. Drawing on empirical data from the study, this paper demonstrates how 3D reflexivity makes two contributions to the practice of reflexivity by incorporating three of the key elements that scholars have argued are missing from critically reflexive management research. These are: working with multiple variants of reflexivity in the same study; the surfacing of different reflexive voices as opposed to just the researcher’s solipsistic own; and a sensitivity to the concept of reflexive time, by reflecting forwards, backwards and in-the-moment at different time points in the study. This paper concludes by arguing that the conceptualisation of reflexivity offered here is not merely an end in itself, but offers a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of individual lived experience, both on the part of the participant and the researcher. This paper aims to stimulate further discussion about the application of reflexivity in empirical work in the field.