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From productive interactions to impact pathways: Understanding the key dimensions in developing SSH research societal impact

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  • Reetta Muhonen
  • Paul Benneworth
  • Julia Olmos-Peñuela

Abstract

Impact is increasingly important for science policy-makers. Science policy studies have reacted this heightened urgency by studying these policy-interventions meaning that policy has developed more quickly than theory. This has led to the prevalence of a ‘common sense’ impact definition: research’s societal impact are direct economic effects, such as income generated by licenses, patents, and spin-out companies. These indicators are recognized as weak proxies for research’s societal benefits, and in response, science policy has undertaken a huge descriptive effort to more precisely define impact. Social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines have been highly active in this because economic metrics are very poor measures of their societal impact. One interesting theoretical development describing diversity was Spaapen and Van Drooge’s ‘productive interactions’ concept. In this article, we seek to realize the potential that Spaapen and Van Drooge’s productive interactions concept offers, but which we argue has been lost through its operationaliation as a process of ‘counting interactions’. We address the need to pay attention not only to productive interactions, but to the changes they mediate. Therefore, we ask the following research question: how can we develop a typology that captures the diversity of the mechanisms by which SSH research leads to societal impact? Drawing on a comparative analysis of 60 examples of SSH impact, we develop a typology of SSH pathways to societal impact. Considering that the absence of societal impact of research is not necessarily a sign of uselessness of research in impact assessment, we address the importance of paying attention also to the conditions supporting impact processes.

Suggested Citation

  • Reetta Muhonen & Paul Benneworth & Julia Olmos-Peñuela, 2020. "From productive interactions to impact pathways: Understanding the key dimensions in developing SSH research societal impact," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 29(1), pages 34-47.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rseval:v:29:y:2020:i:1:p:34-47.
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lutz Bornmann, 2013. "What is societal impact of research and how can it be assessed? a literature survey," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 64(2), pages 217-233, February.
    2. Claire Donovan, 2007. "The qualitative future of research evaluation," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 34(8), pages 585-597, October.
    3. Zoe Bulaitis, 2017. "Measuring impact in the humanities: Learning from accountability and economics in a contemporary history of cultural value," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Stefan P. L. de Jong & Jorrit Smit & Leonie van Drooge, 2016. "Scientists’ response to societal impact policies: A policy paradox," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 43(1), pages 102-114.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kroll, Henning & Hansmeier, Hendrik & Hufnagl, Miriam, 2022. "Productive interactions in basic research an enquiry into impact pathways at the DESY synchrotron," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    2. Juha-Pekka Lauronen, 2022. "Tension in Interpretations of the Social Impact of the Social Sciences: Walking a Tightrope Between Divergent Conceptualizations of Research Utilization," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, April.
    3. Marina Apgar & Mieke Snijder & Grace Lyn Higdon & Sylvia Szabo, 2023. "Evaluating Research for Development: Innovation to Navigate Complexity," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 35(2), pages 241-259, April.
    4. E Sormani & K Uude, 2022. "Academics’ prosocial motivation for engagement with society: The case of German academics in health science [Why Do Academics Engage Locally? Insights from the University of Stavanger]," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 49(6), pages 962-971.
    5. Helka Kalliomäki & Sampo Ruoppila & Jenni Airaksinen, 2021. "It takes two to tango: Examining productive interactions in urban research collaboration [Generating Research Questions through Problematization]," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 30(4), pages 529-539.
    6. Andrea Bonaccorsi & Filippo Chiarello & Gualtiero Fantoni, 2021. "Impact for whom? Mapping the users of public research with lexicon-based text mining," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(2), pages 1745-1774, February.
    7. Stefan P L de Jong & Corina Balaban & Maria Nedeva, 2022. "From ‘productive interactions’ to ‘enabling conditions’: The role of organizations in generating societal impact of academic research [One Size Does Not Fit All! New Perspectives on the University ," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 49(4), pages 643-645.
    8. Alba Viana Lora & Marta Gemma Nel-lo Andreu, 2020. "Alternative Metrics for Assessing the Social Impact of Tourism Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-12, May.
    9. Karaulova, Maria & Edler, Jakob, 2023. "Bringing research into policy: Understanding context-specific requirements for productive knowledge brokering in legislatures," Discussion Papers "Innovation Systems and Policy Analysis" 77, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    10. K. L. Akerlof & Alessandro Allegra & Selena Nelson & Cameryn Gonnella & Carla Washbourne & Chris Tyler, 2022. "Global perspectives on scientists’ roles in legislative policymaking," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 55(2), pages 351-367, June.
    11. Dotti, Nicola Francesco & Walczyk, Julia, 2022. "What is the societal impact of university research? A policy-oriented review to map approaches, identify monitoring methods and success factors," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    12. Jorrit P Smit & Laurens K Hessels, 2021. "The production of scientific and societal value in research evaluation: a review of societal impact assessment methods [Systems Thinking, Knowledge and Action: Towards Better Models and Methods]," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 30(3), pages 323-335.
    13. Juha-Pekka Lauronen, 2022. "The epistemic, production, and accountability prospects of social impact: An analysis of strategic research proposals," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 31(2), pages 214-225.
    14. Harald Rohracher & Lars Coenen & Olga Kordas, 2023. "Mission incomplete: Layered practices of monitoring and evaluation in Swedish transformative innovation policy," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 50(2), pages 336-349.
    15. Stefan P L de Jong & Corina Balaban, 2022. "How universities influence societal impact practices: Academics’ sense-making of organizational impact strategies [Between Relevance and Excellence? Research Impact Agenda and the Production of Pol," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 49(4), pages 609-620.

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