Let me in: Building an I-O bridge that combats the subtle redlining of the scientist–practitioner gap

Amid discussions of the scientist–practitioner gap in I-O, it is often assumed that there is a single bridge to cross that has two parties on either side: academic researchers and practitioners. However, whether intentionally or not, small businesses have largely been neglected in efforts to fortify the bridge between the aforementioned parties, leaving the route between academic research and small businesses poorly maintained. As such, our commentary will focus on various aspects of the points of invitation for debate provided in Zhou et al. (Reference Zhou, Campbell and Fyffe2024), namely the prevalence of the scientist–practitioner gap between I-O researchers and small business owners and the access small businesses have to academic research insights. Although all authors on this paper are I-O-trained researchers working in and contributing to the academic field, two coauthors are also small business owners, adding nuanced richness to this conversation. Further, as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) researchers, we consider equitable access to the knowledge generated by academic research as a key principle to our work.