Guest editorial.
| Autor | de Mello, Adriana Marotti |
What is applied research anyway?
The above-mentioned question brings no huge mystery. The respected Frascati Manual has a good answer for it. Applied research is original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge; it is, however, directed primarily towards a specific, practical aim or objective (OECD, 2015). It is about using the existing stock knowledge with the appropriate methodology towards a specific objective, which is usually related to the resolution of a practical problem.
It all would be simple, were it not for the unrestrained creativity of scientists to appropriate, interpret, (re)signify and transmute concepts. This is how the above-mentioned question tends to get different answers, which are influenced by the perspective and personal interest of respondents.
Many scholars advocate that every research in Administration is applied; after all, this is an essentially practical field. It does not mean, however, that executives and entrepreneurs will look forward to the latest edition of Academy of Management Journal or of RAUSP to solve their problems. There is a time and place for everything. It is expected that the significant amount of published articles in good scientific journals contribute for the advance of the administrative science. In some point, the accurate accumulated knowledge will serve as a basis for books, popular articles, lectures and consulting projects, reaching therefore its final destination.
However, there is an increasing unease regarding the functioning of the massive machine that generates such knowledge. Renowned researchers and academic leaders from several areas and places have been criticizing the system for two decades. They affirm that this powerful machine became wicked, too expensive, inefficient, obsessed with precision and focused only on its self-interests, ignoring the real world. There has been several propositions of diagnosis for a structural reform, which involved scientific journals, business schools, academic associations and certification and regulation entities. In short, it is necessary to redirect the system towards its original noble aim: to help managers facing challenges and building a better world.
Institutional changes are always difficult and time-consuming. It is necessary to overcome the interests of established groups and the inertia of embedded practices. Still, several initiatives towards the construction of bridges between theory and practice have been...
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