Realizing the critical performative potential of responsible organizational research through participant action research

Langmead, Kiri; King, Daniel

Abstract

Management research, particularly critical management research, has long been criticised for making little impact on practice. One response to this critique has been Critical Performativity; an attempt to make critical scholarship actively involved in supporting progressive forms of organizing. However, whilst some critical scholars have called for such engagement few have carried this through to practice. This chapter responds to this gap by describing, and reflecting on one author’s experience of critical engaged scholarship; a form of scholarship that seeks to directly engage with, and intervene to change, organizational practice in support of alternative ways of organizing. It thus builds upon Critical Performativity by introducing Participant Action Research as a means to combine a critical sensibility with a desire to bring about change. Despite the challenges arising from this approach, we argue that it is important to continually examine what the critical performative potential of responsible management research could look like. The chapter ends with some suggestions on how this performative potential might be developed amongst responsible management scholars through reflexive approaches to organizational research, teaching and practice.

Citation

Langmead, K., & King, D. (2020). Realizing the critical performative potential of responsible organizational research through participant action research. In O. Laasch, R. Suddaby, R. Freeman, & D. Jamali (Eds.), Research Handbook of Responsible Management (700-714). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788971966.00058

• Publication Date: May 18, 2020
• Deposit Date: Jun 28, 2023
• Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
• Pages: 700-714
• Book Title: Research Handbook of Responsible Management
• ISBN: 9781788971959
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788971966.00058