Mobilizing Knowledge in Healthcare: Challenges for Management and Organization

The research-practice gap is a persistent problem in healthcare - significant new knowledge is created but only some of it is shared and even less is used. As a consequence, many innovative ideas fail to change practice in healthcare settings. Academics, practitioners, and governments alike, agree that finding new ways of mobilizing knowledge is critical to reducing this gap. Yet knowledge mobilization is especially difficult in such a complex setting. This is because knowledge is essentially social and contextual in its very nature. Straightforward, linear 'transfer' models fail to work.

This book provides an alternative 'knowledge mobilization' view, that examines in detail how knowledge is circulated and negotiated among those involved in healthcare, and how it is used to actually transform practice. Building on the collective scholarship of some of the most prominent academics in this area, the chapters explore the dynamics of knowledge mobilization, focusing on the challenges these pose for organization and management and how these challenges can be overcome.

Jacky Swan, Professor of Organizational Behaviour, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick,Sue Newell, Professor of Information Systems and Management and Head of the Department of Business and Management, University of Sussex,Davide Nicolini, Professor of Organization Studies, and co-Director of the IKON research centre, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick

Jacky Swan is Professor of Organizational Behaviour at Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, joint founder and Co-Director of the IKON Research Centre. Her research links innovation and networking to processes of creating, sharing and managing knowledge in complex organizational contexts, including healthcare. She recently completed a major funded study of the use of evidence-based knowledge in healthcare commissioning management.


Sue Newell is Professor of Information Systems and Management and Head of the Department of Business and Management, at Sussex University. She has a BSc and PhD from Cardiff University, UK. Sue's research focuses on understanding the relationships between innovation, knowledge and organizational networking, primarily from an organizational theory perspective.


Davide Nicolini is Professor of Organization Studies, as well as co-Director of the IKON research centre, both at Warwick Business School, University of Warwick. Widely published in major international journals, his current research focuses on the development of the practice-based approach and its application to phenomena such as knowing, collaboration, innovation and change in organizations.