Academic-Practitioner Relationships: Developments, Complexities and Opportunities

While executives are keen to harness organizational knowledge and improve business performance, the topic of how academics can produce rigorous and relevant theory in working relationships with practitioners is a much contested topic. Many aspects of this knowledge co-creation can create tensions, and the ways in which research is conducted and published can affect practitioner acceptance, as well as its consequent uptake and use in different contexts.

Expertly compiled by Jean Bartunek and Jane McKenzie, with contributions from global thinkers in the field, this book offers a concise and up-to-date review of the essential analysis and action underlying scholarly engagement with the world of business. It discusses the sorts of capabilities academics need to collaborate effectively with practitioners and illustrates good practice through international case studies drawn from acknowledged centres of excellence. These show how to negotiate different constituencies with different priorities, values, and practices to work together to produce research of rigor and relevance.

It will be a key reference and resource for all researchers who are engaged with practitioners, and an invaluable tool for training academics to develop research with impact.

Jean M Bartunek is the Robert A. and Evelyn J. Ferris Chair and Professor of Management and Organization at Boston College, USA.

Jane McKenzie is Professor of Management Knowledge and Learning at Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK.