Interactive Reflexivity: A Means to Addressing Methodological Challenges in International Research in Management

The non-academic impact of management research is increasing in importance, albeit at different rates between European countries. Management research – like the organizations studied – is increasingly international. If non-academic impact from academic research is to be realised in different countries, it is important that there are shared understandings of the meaning of impact and its realisation in different contexts. The authors established an international team to conduct a research programme to understand different meanings, obstacles and facilitators of non-academic impact in six different European countries. This “In Motion” article develops the concept of interactive reflectivity for the purpose of explaining the key problems encountered in this programme of research and how those problems were addressed when establishing such a team. The article uses an emergent case study that is adaptable to new and changing circumstances to report and reflect on the challenges associated with developing an international team. Various substantive challenges – including language to be used, targeted academic population, strategies to reach respondents and key concepts such as “engagement” – were addressed and resolved when they emerged through the team’s interactive reflexivity. Interactive reflexivity is a useful concept for finding solutions in both management practice and international research. This article’s unique contribution is how the concept of interactive reflexivity facilitated solutions to challenges encountered when establishing a truly multinational, European-wide team to investigate the non-academic impact of management research in different countries.