Summary

We propose that working with marginalized communities requires a research shift from “extraction” towards “infusion”. We propose three guiding principles of infusion: respect for community agency and values, reciprocity in relationships, and reflexivity on assumptions and power dynamics. To make infusion actionable, we also propose three types of engagement: inclusion of local community members, facilitation by leveraging skills and resources to benefit communities, and intervention through offering direct involvement and expertise.

What is research infusion?

As management scholars investigating organizational phenomena involving marginalized communities, we are often conscious about whether our research is of any value for those who participated in it. The standard practice is one-sided: we collect data in brief stints and return to our comfortable offices to write “impactful” research articles for our peers (other academics, with similar interests) with little provided for the communities themselves. This approach, which we label “research extraction”, spurred us to reflect on what an alternative mode of knowledge production could look like. In our article, recently published in the Journal of Management Studies, we put forward a call for action to those working with marginalized communities to change their mindset towards an “infusion” mindset.

Infusion is an approach inspired by our community partner working with marginalized smallholder tea farmers in Brazil. Scholars, practitioners, and public policymakers studying marginalization have the moral obligation to engage in meaningful reciprocal engagement with communities, to absorb insights from those steeped in the context while also infusing the context with what they have to offer (knowledge, worldviews, resources, etc.). It is important to note that the emphasis is on working ‘with’ and ‘for’ rather than ‘in/on’ or ‘about’ marginalized communities. You might ask, however: what if I am not an academic? What if I work as a consultant, or public policymaker, lead advocacy groups, or even manage companies in which marginalized communities have a stake?

Consider adopting these “Three Core Principles” of infusion

When working with marginalized communities – irrespective of whether one is an academic or not – is necessary to consider three main guiding principles: respect, reciprocity, and reflexivity. We define respect as the act of acknowledging the agency, knowledge, and values of communities to determine what’s best for them, as well as recognizing their processes, terms, and timelines. Your role as an outsider should involve constant dialogue with community members in order to produce knowledge and actions that are useful for them according to their perspectives, not to what you believe should be done to help. Second, we propose that reciprocity entails giving marginalized communities an active voice and ownership throughout the entire process rather than treating them as objects of intervention. Instead of asking “What can I gain from this?”, try asking “What can we bring to each other?”. Third, we encourage people working with marginalized communities to adhere to the principle of reflexivity, which involves constantly revisiting your assumptions, biases, and power dynamics, practicing self-awareness to identify areas for improvement, and absorbing local knowledge by accepting their limitations as outside agents. These principles promote an ethical, equitable approach to engaging reciprocally with marginalized groups. However, how might we translate these principles into practice?

Action and the “Three Types of Engagement”

To practice infusion in your own work, we propose three types of engagement that can help develop meaningful and reciprocal relationships with marginalized communities: inclusion, facilitation, and intervention. The first type of engagement, inclusion, involves substantively including local stakeholders and community members in activities like fieldwork and writing reports, and providing them with the opportunity to express their voices to shift the narrative away from the outsider to those who can rightfully have a say about the problems of marginalization. Facilitation, on the other hand, means leveraging your access to resources and professional networks to directly benefit the communities and local organizations by, for example, raising awareness through practitioner communications or bridging communities with other stakeholders (e.g., public policymakers). Finally, we argue that through intervention, you can go even further by offering your expertise to directly participate in and support community partners’ efforts – with their consent, of course. Examples include providing voluntary consultancy, applying tools like design thinking and value chain mapping to aid local initiatives, and using your position to confer legitimacy to marginalized communities’ perspectives.

Taking marginalized communities seriously

Working with marginalized groups is accompanied by a moral responsibility to both think beyond one’s own self-interest and develop reciprocal relationships with those in the community. As outsiders, usually speaking from a privileged position in society, we have an obligation to take stock of the resources and opportunities afforded to us; we must leverage these privileges to help those in the community realize their goals. We compel researchers, managers, consultants, and public policymakers to substantively transform the way they work with marginalized groups and to move away from traditional extraction practices. Changing from extraction to infusion and engaging in inclusion, facilitation, and intervention is hard work. But from our experience, we know that it can be as rewarding as it is challenging.