ABSTRACT
There is a considerable literature on the "academic–practitioner gap" in multiple social science disciplines. The gap in management is of particular significance, since practitioner absorption of scholarly knowledge may improve organizational practice and performance, and academic adoption of practitioner innovations may further scholarship. The contact storyline is that academic–practitioner contact enhances both practitioner implementation of academic findings and citations of academic articles. These stories start with a question about whether contact between academics and practitioners can be fruitful for either group or both. The discrepancies storyline is that differences in interests and the value placed on research lead to discrepancies between academics and practitioners in beliefs and values. The culture storyline is that fundamental differences in the underlying cultures of academics and practitioners foster tensions between them. The impact storyline is that practitioner journals have more impact on academia than academic journals have on practice.
