Acknowledgments

I created NCA during a long process that spans more than a decade. NCA and the content of this book are not only the result of my own thinking and reading but also of many discussions with fellow researchers during in-person and online meetings, at conferences, workshops, seminars, webinars, and in email exchanges. These interactions have played an important role in shaping NCA.

I wish to express my gratitude to the universities and other research organizations that invited me to deliver NCA seminars and workshops, both in its early years and more recently. These engagements enabled valuable face-to-face discussions that contributed to the development of NCA. I would like to mention the following institutions in alphabetical order: AGH University of Krakow (Poland), Bocconi University (Italy), Chalmers University (Sweden), Deakin University (Australia), Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands), Erasmus University (Netherlands), Federal University of Pernambuco (Brazil), George Washington University (USA), Helmut Schmidt University (Germany), INSEAD Business School (France), Jagiellonian University (Poland), LUISS (Italy), Mines Paris Tech (France), Nottingham University (UK), Oslo University (Norway), Oxford University (UK), Penn State University (USA), Radboud University of Nijmegen (Netherlands), RIVM (Netherlands), Tilburg University (Netherlands), University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), TNO (Netherlands), University of Bayreuth (Germany), University of Beira Interior (Portugal), University of Bologna (Italy), University of Coimbra (Portugal), University of Côte d’Azur (France), University of Durham (UK), University of Groningen (Netherlands), University of Kassel (Germany), University of Lincoln (UK), University of Maastricht (Netherlands), University of Paris (France), University of Porto (Portugal), University of Sevilla (Spain), University of Trento (Italy), University of Valencia (Spain), and Wroclaw University of Economics and Business (Poland).

I would also like to express my special appreciation to the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University (Netherlands). Since the incubation of NCA, the school has supported me in developing and disseminating NCA. In particular, I wish to thank Erik van Raaij and Finn Wynstra for their enduring support.

I extend my acknowledgments to the dedicated team of NCA ambassadors and supporters who have contributed in different roles to the dissemination and advancement of this approach, ranging from student assistants to co-authors and co-developers: Jorick Alberga, Florence Allard-Poesie, Tatiana Andreeva, Joost Baart, Gijs van Biezen, Ruben Blom, Stefan Breet, Jon Bokrantz, Govert Buijs, Silvia Dello Russo, Monique van Donzel, Ger Haan, Tony Hak\(^\dagger\), Sven Hauff, Patrycja Klimas, Wilfred Knol, Roelof Kuik, Erwin van der Laan\(^\dagger\), Wangoo Lee, Igor Marchetti, Magdalena Marczewska, Justine Massu, Indy Oostrom, Erik van Raaij, Henk van Rhee, Nicole Richter, Krista Schellevis, Chloé Schwitzgebel, Daniele Spinelli, Zsófia Tóth, and Caroline Witte. Their support greatly accelerated the adoption of NCA in research.

Throughout the development of NCA, I engaged in extensive and ongoing discussions with numerous scholars and practitioners regarding the positioning of NCA in relation to mainstream approaches. In particular, I learned a lot from my conversations with Gary Goertz, regarding the positioning of NCA vis-à-vis regression analysis and statistics; Barbara Vis and Claude Rubinson on using NCA within the context of QCA; Oskar Kosch on the relationship between NCA and machine learning; Roelof Kuik on the detailed mathematical and statistical foundations of NCA, and Ger Haan on strategies for making NCA appealing to practitioners.

Finally, I would like to thank Bob Bastian, Gijs van Biezen, Jon Bokrantz, Patrycja Klimas, Roelof Kuik, Igor Marchetti, and José Luis Roldán for commenting on a draft version of this book.

Thank you all. Without your help, NCA would not be what it is today.