Taking stock of four decades of quantitative research on stakeholder participation and evaluation use: A systematic map

• The quantitative literature on stakeholder participation and evaluation use has never been systematically reviewed.
• A total of 27 studies are included in this scoping review.
• Most studies have a cross-sectional design and focus on North America and the education sector.
• There is no consensus on what stakeholder participation means or on how to measure it.

Stakeholder participation and evaluation use have attracted a lot of attention from practitioners, theorists and researchers. A common hypothesis is that participation is positively associated with evaluation use. Whereas the number of empirical studies conducted on this topic is impressive, quantitative research has held a minority position within this scientific production. This study mobilizes systematic review methods to ‘map’ the empirical literature that has quantitatively studied participation and use. The goal is to take stock and assess the strength of evidence of this literature (but not to synthesize the findings) and, based on this assessment, to provide directions for future research.