Luederitz Christopher, Etzion Dror
McGill University, Canada.
The University of Vermont, USA.
Strateg Organ. 2025 Feb;23(1):54-78. doi: 10.1177/14761270241239137. Epub 2024 Apr 3.
In this contribution, we theorize generativity as a heuristic for impact-driven management scholars seeking to address grand challenges through research. We use generativity to connote the engagement of diverse actors in pluralistic inquiry to create conditions for future flourishing. Our theorization applies a pragmatist worldview and builds on insights from the multidisciplinary literature on generativity to envisage researchers as agents of care, collective learning, and transformative change. We synthesize four tenets for researchers seeking both academic and real-world impact. These tenets can support researchers addressing grand challenges by guiding their efforts to diversify inputs, distribute agency, conduct experiments, and pursue prospective impacts. We illustrate generativity in action by drawing on our experience in a transdisciplinary research project on small- and medium-sized enterprises taking climate action in Canada. We show how the four tenets foster generativity to promote an inclusive understanding of grand challenges and a bias toward action, thereby providing an optimistic stance toward addressing issues of social concern.
在本论文中，我们将生成性理论化为一种启发式方法，供那些希望通过研究应对重大挑战的、以影响为导向的管理学者使用。我们用生成性来表示不同行为者参与多元探究，以创造未来繁荣的条件。我们的理论化运用了实用主义世界观，并基于多学科文献中关于生成性的见解，将研究者设想为关怀、集体学习和变革性变革的推动者。我们为追求学术和现实世界影响的研究者综合了四条原则。这些原则可以通过指导研究者努力使投入多样化、分配行动主体、进行实验以及追求预期影响，来支持他们应对重大挑战。我们借鉴在加拿大一个关于中小企业采取气候行动的跨学科研究项目中的经验，来说明生成性在实践中的应用。我们展示了这四条原则如何促进生成性，以推动对重大挑战的包容性理解和行动偏向，从而为解决社会关切问题提供一种乐观的立场。
