Rethinking the theory-practice divide: How academia-industry collaboration contributes to theorising

Abstract

While the literature on academia-industry collaboration highlights the challenges linked to the theory-practice divide, it only partially addresses the heterogeneous nature of the knowledge produced and the scope of the theorising process. Based on an exemplary case, this paper suggests that academia-industry collaboration is a useful but insufficient platform for academic and managerial theorising. Its key contributions include: 1) a model depicting a total knowledge development process enlarging the scope of collective theorising beyond the dyad and the co-production of knowledge resources; 2) envisioning this collaboration as a relationship with evolving roles and interaction patterns; and 3) shedding new light on the theory-practice divide and the idea of knowledge relevance.