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Problematizing the Relation Between Management Research and Practice

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Handbook of Philosophy of Management

Part of the book series: Handbooks in Philosophy ((HP))

Abstract

The epistemological question of how management research can impact management practice is of central concern to management scholars. This question has been the subject of a long-standing discussion about the status of management studies as an applied science, the so-called relevance debate. In this chapter, we discuss the relation between management research and practice from the perspective of the “descriptive” stream of the practical relevance literature, analyzing the forms and conditions of practical relevance in epistemological terms. Drawing on Niklas Luhmann’s sociology of science, we start with a characterization of research as self-referential communication and discuss its most fundamental implication for the question of practical relevance: the impossibility of a linear transfer of research results to practice. Based on this, we discuss the ways in which management research can impact management practice and indicate a number of implications for the relation between research and practice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Benjamin Grossmann-Hensel & David Seidl

Authors
  1. Benjamin Grossmann-Hensel
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  2. David Seidl
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Correspondence to Benjamin Grossmann-Hensel .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Cristina Neesham

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Management, Society & Communication (MSC), Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark

    Dennis Schoeneborn

  2. Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Professur für Strategisches Management, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Deutschland

    Markus Reihlen

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Grossmann-Hensel, B., Seidl, D. (2021). Problematizing the Relation Between Management Research and Practice. In: Neesham, C. (eds) Handbook of Philosophy of Management. Handbooks in Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48352-8_57-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48352-8_57-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-48352-8

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