Knowledge brokering organisations: A new way of governing evidence

MacKillop, Eleanor ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3345-7499 and Downe, James ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0772-3183 2023. Knowledge brokering organisations: A new way of governing evidence. Evidence and Policy 19 (1) , pp. 22-41. 10.1332/174426421X16445093010411

Preview	PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial. Download (293kB) | Preview
	PDF (Interview Topic Guide) - Supplemental Material Download (114kB)
	PDF (Tables) - Supplemental Material Download (213kB)

Abstract

Background: Government-funded knowledge brokering organisations (KBOs) are an increasingly prevalent yet under-researched area. Working in the space between knowledge and policy, yet framing themselves as different from think tanks and academic research centres, these organisations broker evidence into policy. Aims and objectives: This article examines how three organisations on different continents develop similar narratives and strategies to attempt to inform policymaking and build legitimacy. Methods: Using documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews, it shows how the organisations construct their credibility and legitimacy, and make sense of their emergence, activities and relationships with policymakers. Findings: The study responds to the lack of political focus on many existing studies, examining how KBOs make sense of their origins and roles, articulating notions of evidence, and mobilising different types of legitimacies to do so. The research also addresses an empirical gap surrounding the emergence and activities of KBOs (not individuals), analysing organisations on three different continents. Discussion and conclusions: KBOs developed similar narratives of origins and functions, despite emerging in different contexts. Furthermore, they build their legitimacy/ies in similar ways. Our research improves our understanding of how a new ‘tool’ in the evidence-informed policymaking (EIPM) arsenal – KBOs – is being mobilised by different governments in similar ways.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Business (Including Economics) Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP)
Additional Information:	This article is Open Access under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY-NC licence.
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
ISSN:	1744-2648
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 February 2022
Date of Acceptance:	31 January 2022
Last Modified:	04 Oct 2023 20:40
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/147103

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item