Bridging the Knowledge Gap in Collaborative Research—in Dialogues We Trust

• Published in: Systemic practice and action research Vol. 35; no. 5; pp. 655 - 677
• Main Authors: Melander, Anders, Mullern, Tomas, Anderssson, David, Elgh, Fredrik, Löfving, Malin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.10.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Business and Management; Collaboration; Methodology of the Social Sciences; Organization; Original Research; Sociology
• ISSN: 1094-429X; 1573-9295; 1573-9295
• DOI: 10.1007/s11213-021-09589-2

By building upon the prior work exploring the nature of practicing and knowing in collaborative research (CR), this article argues that focusing on how trust evolves in collaborative dialogue could enhance the learning potential in CR projects. Drawing from 42 workshops within a CR project, we analyze how dialogue and learning practices develop trust. We use the dialogical framework developed by Walton and Krabbe ( 1995 ) to identify and classify 107 dialogues. From our data, we identify three distinct dialogical patterns (educating, inquiring and practicing). These three dialogical patterns are related to four learning practices that are conceptualized as knowledge sharing, knowledge gapping, knowledge bettering and knowledge speculating. Combined, these dialogical patterns and learning practices develop collaborative trust in CR projects. We propose that these results represent an emerging conceptual language that addresses the development of trust in managing CR projects. This conceptual language can both improve managerial practice in the CR context and inspire future theory building.