A Boundary Spanning Perspective of Practical Impact: The Case of IS Practitioner Doctorates

McCarthy, Stephen; Scholta, Hendrik; Hausvik, Geir Inge; Busch, Peter André

Abstract

IS research often seeks to deliver practical impact, in addition to the traditional requirement for theoretical contribution. While an admirable goal, it is nevertheless a challenging prospect, as key questions remain around how to best facilitate a relationship between IS academic and practitioner communities. To explore this question, our paper investigates boundary spanning by ‘practitioner doctorates’ - PhD students with professional experience who seek to span the fields of academia and practice during their research. Drawing on in-depth interviews with practitioner doctorates, our findings point towards several factors for practical impact such as researcher legitimacy, expectation management, and adapting to changes in industry requirements. In doing so, we contribute towards an understanding of engaged scholarship in IS and take steps towards addressing the dearth of research on doctoral studies in the IS field to date.

Keywords
Practical Impact; Practitioner Doctorate; Boundary Spanning