What Makes Knowledge Relevant? A Practice-Theoretical Perspective

Abstract In this article, we introduce and empirically illustrate a practice-theoretical framework for understanding the relevance of knowledge. We argue that the notion of relevance - while proliferating in the science-policy debates and knowledge management discourses - has remained strikingly under-theorised and not sufficiently sensitive to the diversities of knowledge-producing and -adopting contexts. To alleviate this, we develop an account of relevance that draws on the practice-theoretical approach in social theory and its view of knowledge as essentially embedded in social practices. We propose that the relevance of knowledge relies on making connections between the incoming knowledge and the heterogeneous configuration of elements constituting the knowledge-receiving practice, including pre-existing knowledge, meanings, aspirations, technologies and tools. In our framework, relevance is not an intrinsic or universal characteristic of knowledge but a relational, multidimensional and dynamic outcome of how knowledge becomes externalised and how it aligns with the organisation of a given practice. In the second part of the article, we employ this framework to account for the patterns of adoption of knowledge produced in the so-called User Experience research. We conclude by suggesting that the proposed practice-theoretical understanding may inspire more finely-grained strategies for achieving the relevance of knowledge.