Engaged scholarship: Questioning relevance and impact in contemporary entrepreneurship/small and medium-sized enterprise research

Abstract

The aim of this Special Issue is to make a significant contribution to understanding the theory and practice of engaged scholarship; by engaged scholarship we mean ‘collaborative form of inquiry in which academics and practitioners leverage their different perspectives and competencies to coproduce knowledge about a complex problem or phenomenon that exists under conditions of uncertainty found in the world’. Such a definition draws attention towards the co-constructed nature of knowledge which has relevance by creating space for interaction between the academic and practitioner, creating the opportunity for knowledge and understanding to be co-created and enacted into practice. This space facilitates the ability to question one another and gain mutual understanding by directly bringing together methods of inquiry and practice.