Nirrangaw – a basic social psychological process in an island community

Abstract

This contribution proposes a qualitative research strategy and method to attempt to inquire into problem solving processes which people apply in one particular location, at a specific point in time. With insights from the paradigm of action research embedded within a phenomenological perspective, the research combines a preliminary deductive analysis of secondary quantitative and qualitative data with a grounded approach to inductive analysis to generate and inter-relate data emanating from a wide range of real life qualitative sources. By externalising the tacit processes which small-island managers and business leaders consistently fall back on to solve their day-to-day problems, the research outcomes illuminate distinctive ways that people in the action scene both 'just manage' to survive as well as to thrive under restrictive conditions. The paper concludes that the core social psychological process of nirranġaw both enables and inhibits the small island's residents in developing their resourcefulness.