Reflexive Evaluation of an Academic–Industry Research Collaboration: Can Mode 2 Management Research be Achieved?

Abstract

We present a reflexive retrospective account of a UK government research council funded project deploying knowledge management software to support environmental sustainability in the construction industry. This project was set up in a form typical of a Mode 2 research programme involving several academic institutions and industrial partners, and aspiring to fulfil the Mode 2 criteria seen as transdisciplinarity and business relevance. The multidisciplinary nature is analysed through retrospectively reflecting upon the research process and activities we carried out, and is found to be problematic. No real consensus was reached between the partners on the 'context of application'. Difficulties between industry and academia, within industry and within academia led to diverging agendas and different alignments for participants. The context of application does not (pre-)exist independently of institutional influences, and in itself cannot drive transdisciplinarity since it is subject to competing claims and negotiations. There were unresolved tensions in terms of private vs. public construction companies and their expectations of ICT-based knowledge management, and in terms of the sustainable construction agenda. This post hoc reflexive account, enables us to critique our own roles in having developed a managerial technology for technically sophisticated and powerful private industrial actors to the detriment of public sector construction partners, having bypassed sustainability issues, and not reached transdisciplinarity. We argue that this is due to institutional pressures and instrumentalization from academia, industry and government and a restricted notion of business relevance. There exists a politically motivated tendency to oppose Mode 1 academic research to practitioner-oriented Mode 2 approaches to management research. We argue that valuing the links between co-existing Mode 1 and 2 research activities would support a more genuine and fuller exploration of the context of application.

Building Theory at the Intersection of Ecological Sustainability and Strategic Management

“…In this sense, it is a buzzword for both academia and business practice (Kotler 2011;Mitev and Venters 2009). However, the more precise definition of sustainability used in ecological sciences indicates closed-loop systems that can support themselves in perpetuity, without any external support or input except sunlight (Belz and Peattie 2009;Borland 2009;Lovelock 2000;Stead and Stead 2004).…”

Journals à la mode? Twenty years of living alongside Mode 2 and the new production of knowledge

“…Where Mode 2 research is the object of study, the nature and value of knowledge produced is often questioned (MacLean et al, 2002: 203). In reflecting on their own experiences, Mitev and Venters (2009) highlight the challenges faced in reaching consensus on the agendas, perspectives and expectations of collaborative research-experiences that resonate with one of the authors who has experienced the challenges of conducting research with industrial partners in the construction context where 'large, multi-disciplinary projects … have more chance of producing benefits to society' (Engineering Matters, April 2001: 1) (Bresnen and Marshall, 2000). Swan et al (2010) further highlight the dialectical processes that can lead not only to the undermining of Mode 2, but also to the positive reinforcement of Mode 1 principles.…”

Spanning the HRD academic‐practitioner divide: bridging the gap through mode 2 research

“…This complexity is central to Mitev and Venters' (2009) analysis of a project which brought together academic expertise and business in civil and building engineering, construction management, information systems and software engineering. The EPSRC funded project sought to foster practices in the construction industry (through the development of knowledge management tools) which enable the creation, sharing and re-use of knowledge to promote sustainability.…”