Researcher-Practitioner Collaboration During a PhD Study : A Single-Case Study

The academic-practitioner relationship has been alleged to be subject to various tensions and dualities; the divide between academia and practice has even been characterized as unbridgeable. This paper presents a research case of a long-lasting, successful collaboration between a researcher and senior practitioners during a PhD research process. An intensive single-case study was conducted to describe the unique characteristics of this collaborative process and to analyse and discuss the factors which contributed to the success of the collaboration. The objectives, practices as well as benefits and drawbacks of the collaboration are also described and discussed. Several factors of success related to the team, processes, and environmental characteristics of the collaboration were identified as significant. The study contributes to the literature on researcher-practitioner collaboration in management studies, and specifically in board work and corporate governance research.