Moving towards appropriability of academic knowledge: a post-actionalist perspective

Based on recent contributions in managerial research, this article aims to suggest a new perspective for appraising and developing knowledge usability by studying the processes underlying its production: appropriation. The underlying problem is the following: how can the academic community help a community of practitioners appropriate knowledge it produced, co-produced or stimulated? First, a preliminary analysis is put forward as regards management sciences and the concept of knowledge 'actionability'. Some limitations are raised (1.). Then, the authors suggest to move from an 'actionability' (rather coherent with a classic vision of management sciences linked to the "sciences of the artificial") to an 'appropriability' perspective (2.). Lastly, the specificities of both perspectives are discussed (3.). Some limitations of this new vision are also pointed out, especially from a psychological standpoint.