Dialogical action research as engaged scholarship: an empirical study

Abstract

The rigor versus relevance debate continues to be a matter of lively discussion in the information systems discipline. The main argument of this paper is that dialogical action research provides a methodology to pursue engaged scholarship in the IS field. The context is an examination of innovation management in an Irish subsidiary of APC by Schneider Electric. The primary objective of the paper is to answer the following research question: how does dialogical action research provide a milieu for engaged scholarship between researchers and practitioners. The work seeks to make a contribution by: testing out a novel form of action research; providing an empirical study of researcher-practitioner engagement; and suggesting improvements to the methodology. As a result the study should be pertinent to scholars who are interested in exploring approaches that facilitate real-world collaboration while also contributing to academic discourse.