Inclusion of managers and other practitioners in scientific research (pros and cons)

Abstract

The aim of the article is to identify positive and negative consequences of inclusion of managers and other practitioners in scientific research in management and quality science. The article presents the results of qualitative research in the form of semi-structured interviews conducted with forty scientists. The results show that positive consequences of inclusion of managers and other practitioners in scientific research include the possibility of confirming the researcher’s findings, obtaining a broader view of the research problem, being provided with ideas for conducting scientific research, formulating research questions, making scientific language more accessible for people outside academia, the utilitarian and practical application of research, better creating research tools, accessing resources, collecting research data, involvement in interpretation and, subsequently, writing research reports, and commercializing research results. On the other hand, the negative consequences are the perceived lack of benefits from including managers and other practitioners in scientific research in the research process, the lack of opportunity to involve society in all scientific problems, organizational reluctance due to lack of benefits, pressure from organizations concerning the final form of results, difficulty in understanding the specifics of research by managers and other practitioners in scientific research, cost and time consumption, researcher subjectivity, and the risk of violating methodological rigor and intellectual property rights.