Identifying New Roles and Actors in Action Research Management Studies in Specific Support Infrastructures

This study examines an extended view of both actors and roles of Action Research studies in the field of management. More specifically, we study the new actors and roles considering three specific support infrastructures: long-term funded projects; collaborative agreements; and educational programs. We carry out three stages based on a systematic literature review with Prisma methodology. Our findings permit identifying new actors and roles along the four factors of the complete theory of Action Research: context, relationships, process and outcomes. In this way, new actors such as the head of educational program, project researcher network, head of communication, lawyers, academic supervisor or senior management incorporate roles such as supervisor, facilitator, advisor, visualizer, or follower appear in these scenarios. The implications of these AR network of both roles and actors imply an increasing complexity to manage AR studies but, at the same time, the fact that these new actors may increase the visibility of AR projects and to enrich the process. This new map of actors and roles permits us to develop the “Action Research network”. We demonstrate the influence and challenges of this network in the four elements of complete action research theory. Furthermore, we highlight how support infrastructures are important in building formalized bridges that promote university-firm relationships in practice and increase their social impact.