TY - JOUR
T1 - Bringing the organization into organizational research
T2 - An examination of academic research inside organizations
AU - Rynes, Sara L.
AU - McNatt, D. Brian
PY - 2001
Y1 - 2001
N2 - One common suggestion for reducing the gap between research and practice is for academics to conduct more of their research in real organizational settings. However, there is considerable skepticism among academics about the willingness of organizations to open their doors to researchers, and among both academics and practitioners about the potential value of doing so. The present study examines how 141 successful academic research projects in real organizations proceeded from start to finish. Our results suggest that organizations may be more open to academic research than is commonly believed, and that most researchers experience few problems with participating organizations. On the other hand, most of the examined projects were not heavily collaborative, and only half of the researchers maintained organizational contact after the research was completed. Based on our findings, we offer suggestions for researchers wishing to do organizational research as well as for their organizational partners.
AB - One common suggestion for reducing the gap between research and practice is for academics to conduct more of their research in real organizational settings. However, there is considerable skepticism among academics about the willingness of organizations to open their doors to researchers, and among both academics and practitioners about the potential value of doing so. The present study examines how 141 successful academic research projects in real organizations proceeded from start to finish. Our results suggest that organizations may be more open to academic research than is commonly believed, and that most researchers experience few problems with participating organizations. On the other hand, most of the examined projects were not heavily collaborative, and only half of the researchers maintained organizational contact after the research was completed. Based on our findings, we offer suggestions for researchers wishing to do organizational research as well as for their organizational partners.
KW - Academic research in organizations
KW - Research collaborations
KW - Research-practice gap
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0041883070&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1023/A:1007806919754
DO - 10.1023/A:1007806919754
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0041883070
SN - 0889-3268
VL - 16
SP - 3
EP - 19
JO - Journal of Business and Psychology
JF - Journal of Business and Psychology
IS - 1
ER -