海角社区

Have you ever wondered how groundbreaking academic research makes its way to the entrepreneurs and business leaders who could use it most? The process is not always as smooth as you might think.

Ted Waldron, Alvin C. Copeland Endowed Professor of Business in the 海角社区 Stephenson Department of Entrepreneurship & Information Systems, tackled the thorny issues surrounding this question in a recent article published in the prestigious Journal of Business Venturing. He and his co-authors built a framework to address a long-standing challenge in academia: the "relevance gap", where academic research struggles to make its way to those who could most directly benefit from implementing new knowledge and practices.

鈥淭his article was partially motivated by growing public distrust of academic research,鈥� Waldron remarked. 鈥淭he underlying premise is that, by considering the broader relevance of research when conducting it, researchers can produce more trustworthy, useful insights that meaningfully shape business practice.鈥�

 

A Framework for Translatable Research

The core issue is straightforward. While entrepreneurship scholars produce valuable knowledge, practitioners such as startup founders, angel investors, and other stakeholders rarely read scholarly journals to find it. Waldron and his co-authors argue that instead of hoping entrepreneurs will come to the research, the research must come to the entrepreneurs. They propose that researchers should design their studies from the very beginning to be easily translated for the media outlets that practitioners do read, such as Forbes or the Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange.

鈥� Designing research solely for consumption by [a journals鈥橾 niche academic audiences, without considering its relevance to business practice, introduces the potential for disconnects between what this work reports academically and what happens realistically. 鈥�

But how can scholars make their work more accessible without sacrificing academic rigor? The article proposes a practical framework centered on three key design criteria: Importance, Insight, and Impact. This approach serves as a guide for researchers who want their work to have real-world applications.

• Importance: This principle urges scholars to study phenomena that are timely and consequential to what鈥檚 happening in entrepreneurship right now. The goal should revolve around exploring real-world problems business leaders face, not just filling a gap in academic literature.
• Insight: Research must offer clear academic contributions that improve society鈥檚 understanding of a topic. Findings should be not only theoretically sound but also easily distillable into practical, usable advice for decision-makers.
• Impact: Instead of being an afterthought, the "practical implications" section of a paper should offer actionable advice, written in non-academic language, making future translation for a broader audience much easier.

鈥淕etting someone 鈥� especially a highly trained researcher 鈥� to do something they aren鈥檛 trained or incentivized to do, regardless of the importance of doing it, constitutes a profound challenge,鈥� Waldron noted. 鈥淗owever, various factors indicate that times are changing. For example, based on a survey of Journal of Business Venturing鈥檚 editors, we learned that some business schools are beginning to call for and incentivize research that can be disseminated beyond academic audiences鈥攁long with embracing scientists鈥� efforts to do so.鈥�

 

Why This Matters Now

Waldron's research serves as an example of 海角社区's Scholarship First Agenda in action. Demonstrating the everyday relevance of academic work is more important than ever, and 海角社区鈥檚 university-wide mission calls on researchers to address critical, real-world problems and better the lives of citizens. For Ourso College students and alumni, as well as Louisiana business owners, a renewed focus on translatable research means gaining more direct access to cutting-edge knowledge that can inform their own ventures and help solve challenges they face every day.

However, for Waldron and his colleagues, empowering researchers to do this work requires looking further at the root causes of the very academic distrust their framework addresses. They plan to continue to investigate the systemic pressures that can sometimes lead research astray. 鈥淥f particular interest [to us] will be institutional design considerations that contribute to [distrust]鈥攐ften unintentionally," Waldron said. "For example, does satisfying accrediting agencies and their requirements create administrative pressure for faculty to publish as much research as possible and thus to take 鈥榮hort cuts鈥� to satisfy this expectation?鈥�

By addressing these institutional issues, Waldron hopes to clear the path for more scholars to ask the big, consequential questions about the state鈥檚 future, with the ultimate goal of equipping Louisiana鈥檚 brightest minds to tackle the state鈥檚 toughest challenges.

鈥� How do we incentivize and equip entrepreneurs to tackle the biggest, thorniest problems affecting Louisianans?  Poverty, health, population loss, infrastructure, and pollution, among other issues, would benefit from entrepreneurial attention and action. What might impact鈥攚hether positively or negatively鈥攅ntrepreneurs鈥� efforts to cultivate commercial solutions to these sorts of seemingly intractable social problems? 鈥�

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About the Researcher

Theodore (Ted) Waldron is the Alvin C. Copeland Endowed Professor of Business at 海角社区. He earned his BS and MBA from Villanova University and his PhD from The University of Georgia. In addition to his academic career, Ted has worked in hospital administration and management consulting.

His research, which emphasizes theory development and qualitative research methods, has been published in top management and entrepreneurship journals and he serves as a field editor of the Journal of Business Venturing and an editor for Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange.

Waldron applies experiential models to enable students to become more effective critical thinkers, problem solvers, leaders, communicators, and colleagues. These experiences typically involve real projects where students develop skills of meaning and value to their intended professions. Consistent with such efforts, he has also engaged in executive advisement for clients ranging from startups to multinationals and published widely read thought leadership works in Harvard Business Review and Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange.