The Performativity of ‘Relevance’ in the Business School

Abstract

Recent literature has examined the perceived gap between academic rigor on the one hand and practical relevance on the other. Commentators have suggested that this gap can be bridged by changing the style, content, or mode of production of academic knowledge. While this debate sheds important light on the usefulness of management research, it neglects to consider the practical implications of relevance within the business school. The paper redresses the balance by presenting a case study of a large northern European business school, focusing in particular on a recent strategy initiative. Drawing on the work of social theorist Bill Readings, we show that the discourse of relevance – often accompanied by the language of excellence – has multiple performative dimensions, not only when uttered by university administrators as part of an organizational change process but also when reproduced by management researchers as part of their daily working lives. We argue that the discourse of relevance serves to reinfo...