Academic engagement as knowledge co-production and implications for impact: Evidence from Knowledge Transfer Partnerships

Researchers have argued that management academics' engagement with non-academic stakeholders involves knowledge co-production rather than simple knowledge transfer from the former to the latter. This study suggests that the conceptual lens of knowledge co-production not only more fittingly describes academic engagement but also enables a clearer understanding of how academic engagement produces impact beyond academia. Building upon qualitative evidence on collaborations between management academics and businesses in the United Kingdom, the study supports the characterisation of academic engagement as knowledge co-production and argues that its impact (i) strongly depends on sustained knowledge co-producing interactions, (ii) 'ripples out' serendipitously, indirectly benefiting many stakeholders in ways that often cannot be anticipated, and (iii) unfolds and persists over a long period. These findings have implications for impact assessment and the development of the impact research agenda.