Design science in management research

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject Business economics - Business Management Corporate Governance grade: 10 European School of Business Reutlingen language: English abstract: Management research is constantly criticized in the academic community to have very little impact on managers in practical life. This problem is highly discussed in academic circles and often referred to as the utilization problem (van Aken 2004) or the rigor-relevance dilemma/gap (Fincham & Clark 2009; Avenier 2010). The problem is that the conducted management research is either scientifically verified but not relevant for practice or practically relevant but not scientifically verified (van Aken 2004). There are various explanations for this problem. Many researchers claim that a lack of sufficient communication presentation of management research is the root of the problem (Davies 2007). This is in accordance with the so-called knowledge transfer problem(Shapiro Kirkman & Courtey 2007). Others blame the little relevance of management research for practitioners (Denyer Tranfield & van Aken 2007) which is reflected in the knowledge production problem (Shapiro Kirkman & Courtey 2007). Furthermore management research is claimed as too descriptive (van Aken 2004) which means that management science is only describing and analyzing but not actually providing solutions to problems. Lastly some researchers describe management research as too fragmented in terms of research groups and knowledge products (Denyer Tranfield & van Aken 2007). The researchers claim that too little cooperation between researchers restricts knowledge solutions and weakens the position of management research. In order to increase relevance of management research and to create a clear academic identity (Tranfield & van Aken 2006) academic community calls for new research approaches particularly the so-called design science approach (van Aken 2004). Design science helps to a