Eliciting Managers’ Personal Values: An Adaptation of the Laddering Interview Method

The authors describe an adaptation of the laddering method that allows interpretive researchers to uncover informants’ personal values during the course of a single interview where other subjects are also explored. The authors explain laddering and illustrate its outcomes by means of case examples. The method allows the exploration of personal values to be integrated into a more flexible interview method, providing greater scope for probing salient issues while optimizing the (potentially limited) time available with informants.