Is there a theory-practice gap? Some thoughts from

organizational studiesKaren Golden-Biddle, School of Business Carole A. Estabrooks, Faculty of Nursing

Kathy GermAnn, School of Business

University of Alberta

KU03 Colloquium“From Theory to Practice”

Quebec CitySeptember 2003

In considering this question…

We had ongoing conversations over time about • What is ‘organization’ and why does it

matter? • Must knowledge go from theory TO practice? • What constitutes ‘knowledge’ and

‘evidence’? • What is the theory-practice gap? • How did the gap get construed as a problem

that needs fixing?

We explored different ideas from our respective disciplines of nursing and business

So we built on these conversations

To not only answer but reframe the question we had originally posed …

So, today we want to share a journey into the theory-practice gap that emerged from our interdisciplinary conversations

Seeing the theory-practice gap as ...

1. The theory-practice gap as

The great divide or chasm between two communities

• Prevailing view

– two communities metaphor (Caplan, 1979; Dunn, 1980)

• The gap exists because we are dealing with two communities with very different cultures

• Need to bridge the gap

Recommended bridging solutions

Trainresearchers to communicate research more

effectively; understand the practitioner world

practitioners to support the use of research; learn how to critically use research

Provide incentives for researchers and practitioners to collaborate on research

Recommended bridging solutions

Develop ‘best practices’ of knowledge transfer that can be generally applied

Integrate intermediaries

to assist and facilitate the communities’ understandings of each other

2. The theory-practice gap as The organizational

deficiencies preventing practitioners from using research

• Emergent view

• Because research is used by people in organizations, the gap exists because the organization gets in the way

• The two communities are OK; it is the organization that is the problem

• Need to figure out and change the organization

• In the nursing, the gap is presumed and cited often as rationale for knowledge utilization studies. It can be viewed as arising from differing views of nursing science as …

Fealy (1997; 1999)

Applied(Predominant conceptualization, found in writings of Ellis, Kim, Lindsay, Walker, and others)

• Theory and practice in opposition, theory to be integrated into practice; potential for complete or near complete integration

• Discourse explicitly couched in terms of the “theory-practice gap"

Solutions: Need for bridging solutions, emphasis on revision of practice domain, use of intermediaries (e.g., educators, specialists)

Practical(an approach with Aristotelian roots; exemplified by scholars such as Benner, J. Johnson, W. Lauder and others; also draws on Polanyi). Emphasizes…

• Nursing as a practice discipline

• Practice as source of theory

Solutions: Privileges practice domain, suggests revision of theorists (i.e., researchers), less emphasis on use of intermediaries more on recognition of legitimate forms of practice knowledge

Critical(an emancipatory approach with roots in Habermas, Mannheim and others; exemplified by nurse scholars such as D. Allen, J. Thompson, Wilson-Thomas and others). Emphasizes…

• Critical thinking

• Reflective practice

• Practitioner-as-researcher

Solutions: Difficult to determine. First requirement is for adequate explanation, revelation of actual nature of theory practice relationship. Suggests solutions may be in the use of critical thinking, reflection, and re-conceptualization of clinician as theorist

• In organizational studies, two

relevant streams of work:

Resource Based View of the Firm (RBV)

Institutional Theory (IT)

• RBV: Knowledge transfer in organizations is difficult and/or costly

• High transfer cost of knowledge (Von Hippel 1994)

• Recipient’s (unit or individual) lack of absorptive capacity and willingness and ability of organizational units (Szulanski 1996; 2000)

• Organization’s potential and realized absorptive capacity (Zahra and George 2002)

Solutions: Divert resources to developing learning capacities of organizational units. Need to develop absorptive capacity

• IT: Poor knowledge transfer results from a decoupling of the rhetoric and practice of evidence-based decision making (EBDM) in organizations

• Difficult to align daily practices with general and abstract institutional rules (Meyer & Rowan, 1977)

• Institutional rules can conflict with each other (Meyer & Rowan, 1977)

Solutions - Difficult because any solution results in organization’s loss of legitimacy

What if we see the “gap” itself as a sense-making device, a cultural category

Then we begin to see how we treat the gap as negative – as something to solve and resolve

And we can alternatively see ….

The theory-practice gap as

An opening or pass that connects researchers, practitioners and the organizations in which they work

Novel vantage point

The gap is connective and is an essential part of producing and using knowledge

Need to get close up so we can see and begin to explore….

Not only what divides us, but also what connects us

• And how these connections are sustained

Not only what is not working, but also what is working

• And how this is supported

Not only where research is neglected, but also where research is being used with great enthusiasm

• And how this energizes more of the same

Not only people participating in separate communities, but also people sharing communities of practice that facilitate producing and using research

Not only organizational deficiencies, but also organizational strengths that facilitate producing and using research

Not only researchers as knowledge producers and practitioners as knowledge users

But also researchers as knowledge users as they develop knowledge, and practitioners as knowledge producers as they seek to manage, organize and deliver the best care

(Estabrooks, Rutakumwa, et al., 2003; Golden-Biddle, Locke & Reay, 2003; Knorr-Cetina, 1999)

So, we now would re-title our presentation:

Reframing the theory-practice gap: Some insights emerging in

interdisciplinary conversation