Dynasting Theory: Lessons in learning grounded theory

This article captures the key learning lessons gleaned from the author's experience learning and developing a grounded theory for his doctoral dissertation using the classic methodology as conceived by Barney Glaser. The theory was developed through data gathered on founders and successors of Malaysian Chinese family-own businesses. The main concern for Malaysian Chinese family businesses emerged as dynasting - the building, maintaining, and growing the power and resources of the business within the family lineage. The core category emerged as dynasting across cultures, where founders and successors struggle to transition from traditional Chinese to hybrid cultural and modernized forms of family business from one generation to the next. The key learning lessons were categorized under five headings: (a) sorting through different versions of grounded theory, (b) educating and managing research stakeholders, (c) embracing experiential learning, (d) discovering the core category: grounded intuition, and (e) recognizing limitations and possibilities.