Researchers increasingly take advantage of the comparative case design to build theory, but the degree of case dependence is occasionally discussed and theorized. We suggest that the comparative case study design might be subject to an often underappreciated threat—dependence across cases—under certain conditions. Using research on innovation diffusion as an illustration, we explore the role of social linkages across cases when building theory through comparison and contrast between cases. We develop an agent-based simulation, grounded by comparative case research about innovation diffusion, as novel way to study the implications of case dependence in theory building using multiple-case study research. Our simulation results suggest that the degree of case dependence has a nontrivial bearing on innovation diffusion experienced by case entities, specifically when the researcher draws a few case entities operating in a highly interconnected industry. Under these conditions, overlooking the degree of case dependence might weaken newly built theory against commonly held standards of internal validity and external validity in inductive research. We conceptualize the issue of case dependence as a concern about researchers’ bounded rationality. Accordingly, we build on our findings to provide actionable advice aiming to alleviate this concern while being amendable to the variety of approaches to build theory from multiple cases in social sciences.

研究人员越来越多地利用比较案例设计来构建理论，但是案例依赖程度有时会被讨论和理论化。我们建议，在某些情况下，比较案例研究设计可能会受到经常被低估的威胁（跨案例的依赖性）。以对创新扩散的研究为例，我们通过案例之间的比较和对比，在建立理论的过程中探索了案例之间社会联系的作用。我们基于对创新扩散的比较案例研究，开发了基于代理的模拟，这是一种使用多案例研究来研究案例依赖在理论构建中的含义的新颖方法。我们的模拟结果表明，案例依存度对案例实体所经历的创新扩散具有重要意义，特别是当研究人员得出在高度相互联系的行业中运作的一些案例实体时。在这种情况下，忽略案例依赖的程度可能会削弱归纳研究中通常建立的内部有效性和外部有效性标准的新理论。我们将案例依赖问题概念化为对研究人员有限理性的关注。因此，我们基于我们的发现提供可操作的建议，旨在减轻这种担忧，同时又可以对从社会科学中的多个案例构建理论的各种方法进行修正。忽略案例依存度可能会削弱归纳研究中常用的内部有效性和外部有效性标准，从而削弱新建立的理论。我们将案例依赖问题概念化为对研究人员有限理性的关注。因此，我们基于我们的发现提供可操作的建议，旨在减轻这种担忧，同时又可以对从社会科学中的多个案例构建理论的各种方法进行修正。忽略案例依赖的程度可能会削弱新建立的理论，使其与归纳研究中普遍采用的内部有效性和外部有效性标准相抵触。我们将案例依赖问题概念化为对研究人员有限理性的关注。因此，我们基于我们的发现提供可操作的建议，旨在减轻这种担忧，同时又可以对从社会科学中的多个案例构建理论的各种方法进行修正。