Productive interactions without impact? An empirical investigation of researchers’ struggle to improve the elderly’s oral health

Abstract

Background: Achieving impact of research is often seen as requiring productive interaction between researchers and stakeholders. Still, interactions are sometimes not ‘productive’ and lead to no visible impacts.

Aims and objectives: This article studies repeated attempts by researchers to involve different stakeholders to facilitate pathways to societal impact. We look in particular at possible explanations for the lack of impacts.

Methods: This is a longitudinal case study of an interdisciplinary group of researchers where we acted as participant observers over a period of close to six years. The studied researchers have in various ways targeted the societal challenge of oral healthcare for the elderly.

Findings: We see the societal challenge as a ‘problem area’ where researchers are one of many stakeholder groups, and where the different stakeholders vary in salience, legitimacy and power. A lack of funding for the research led to continuous efforts to involve new stakeholders, envision new forms of impact, and establish a sense of urgency of the societal challenge.

Discussion and conclusion: The case highlights different gaps in the problem area that are organisational, social, and institutional. We also find that there are gaps in how the fundamental societal issue is described and prioritised, and in how responsibilities for finding solutions are distributed. This seems to lead researchers away from extensive interaction and towards more traditional forms of impact through randomised controlled trials and technology push initiatives.