A Story within Stories: Using an Analytic Framework to Move from Individual to Collective Storying in the Analysis of Academic Entrepreneurship Narratives

Authors

Olga Gusak, Midwestern Career College, Chicago, USAFollow
Elena Lyutykh, Concordia University Chicago, USAFollow

Abstract

In this article the objective is to tell a story of one narrative inquiry that employed paradigmatic analytic procedures to explore academic entrepreneurship. Participating twelve college leaders in executive positions in vocational education schools in the USA, invited as information rich cases from personal networks, were powerful storytellers, comfortable with sharing representative anecdotes and shaping the strategic story for their organizations. Their stories were gathered during two rounds of in-depth interviews. Relational ontology and constructivist epistemology underpinned data collection and inductive analysis with assumptions about researchers and participants as co-constructors of the meaning of the social phenomenon of academic entrepreneurship. Application of an analytic framework from previous literature added a description of the entrepreneurial institutional culture as service-oriented around student needs, fast-paced and metric-oriented to stay in business, and engaging stakeholders for expansion and development. We present an analysis of individual stories enhanced with theoretical insights to show the structuring of a collective narrative of academic entrepreneurship in private for-profit vocational postsecondary education and to demonstrate how the application of the analytic framework borders and strengthens the consolidated storyline. Methodology of themeing and narrating a story, emplotted in the concepts of academic entrepreneurship is illustrated, followed by the discussion of the role of the analytic framework in narratives analysis.

Keywords

narrative inquiry; analytic framework; narrative analysis; academic entrepreneurship; vocational education

Author Bio(s)

Olga Gusak, Ph.D., is an accomplished executive leader in higher education. She currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs and Principal Designated School Official at Midwestern Career College in Chicago, IL. Her expertise lies in academic entrepreneurship, and her research interests focus on the intersection of business, entrepreneurship, and academic operations. Please direct correspondence to ogusak@mccollege.edu

Elena Lyutykh, Ed.D., is Professor of Research Methodology at Concordia University Chicago where she teaches courses, develops curricula, and advises graduate students and doctoral candidates on research design and methods. She serves as a reviewer and editor for conferences and journals that publish qualitative and mixed methods research. Please direct correspondence to elena.lyutykh@cuchicago.edu

Acknowledgements

We thank the participants in this study, the teaching faculty and members of the dissertation committee, and the reviewers from the World Conference on Qualitative Research for the time, expertise, and feedback that they provided in the initial research and on earlier drafts of this article.

Publication Date

10-25-2025

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2025.8432

Recommended APA Citation

Gusak, O., & Lyutykh, E. (2025). A story within stories: Using an analytic framework to move from individual to collective storying in the analysis of academic entrepreneurship narratives. The Qualitative Report, 30(10), 4470-4490. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2025.8432