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The circumstances for the emergence of new ideas in organizational theory have previously been explored from several viewpoints. Researchers trace the origins of new ideas to previous literature or compare ideas across continents and countries. The author takes another point of departure. Following Merton (1957, 1963), she focuses on “multiple discoveries” in science, studying the independent, simultaneous (re-)discovery of certain aspects of institutional theory in organizational theory. Specifically, she follows the circumstances under which two pairs of researchers proffered similar explanations for the phenomena they encountered (Jönsson & Lundin, 1977; Meyer & Rowan, 1977). Without ever having met, they suggested an analogous way of understanding the concept of organizing, though their research used different frames of reference and field material and was published in different outlets. The author’s analysis of the circumstances surrounding the two papers led her to explore elements in the emergence of new ideas: the Zeitgeist – the spirit of the times – international networks, and collegial work. When these factors are in play, physical meetings do not seem to be required, but scholars must be involved in networks in which their colleagues provide judgment and advice.

The purpose of this paper is to address the distinctive problems of interventionist research that originate from intervention in ongoing practices as opposed to the experiment's design of a theory‐relevant context.

The paper is an essay, based on arguments of mapping closely and understanding the work environment of the managers under study, and of re‐framing (or re‐education) practices.

The paper finds that the intervention is valued in terms of improved practice, as well as theoretical contribution.

Learning theories (organizational and individual) should be included in the toolbox as well as methods of observing ongoing practices.

Interventionist research changes the way organizations think about how they organize their work (the appellate case); learning theory impacts work organization very concretely.

Management itself is intervention in organizational work practices, intervention in management practices will be something akin to Argyris et al.'s second loop (or Rorty's abnormal discourse) learning, which can be understood as re‐framing (or re‐education) practices. The use of case narratives and storytelling as ways of data capture are of particular interest in that respect.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction and overview of the various papers in this special issue.

A short discussion of the main quests of interventionist research and how these are related to the papers in this special issue, is undertaken.

The essence of interventionist research is its methodological location, researching where practice and theory meet.

Interventionist research places strong demands on the individual researcher's interpretative, social, and abstracting skills in order to carry observations to ontological and epistemological levels.

Interventionist research is rich in research designs and specific intervention types. Selecting the “right” one is strongly related to the connection the researcher makes with the social context she/he will operate in. Changes over time in both design and intervention can be expected, given the dynamic, longitudinal and interactive nature of interventionist research.

This special issue provides examples of a varied set of interventionist research situations, including the selection of typical intervention methods and how knowledge contributions were extracted.

The purpose of this paper is to give advice on how to achieve more productive academic writing work by commenting on 13 rules for good work. This is an increasingly important aspect of academic work for young scholars as publication is the main basis for promotion and salary increases in Europe today.

The approach is to draw on many years of experience as editor of management journals and, when possible, give illustrative comments.

The claim brought forward by the entire list of academic writing rules is that by living up to them the academic will improve his or her publication record, which will effect life income.

There is an expanding literature on academic writing, mostly in book form. This paper provides the essentials in compressed form.

This paper aims to propose an interventionist research model for cost measurement in small manufacturing companies.

The study was based on an interventionist model that consisted of two phases – training and intervention. The innovative model used in the study combined Labro and Tuomela’s (2003) framework with the socialization, externalization, combination and internalization model developed by Nonaka et al. (2001), and it was subsequently applied to two Brazilian manufacturing companies.

The main findings were as follows: the training phase is the one that generated the greatest impact on the cost calculation; competitors should not be invited to participate in the same program; it is necessary for the researchers to have professional experience of the subject being investigated and to have experience of micro and small enterprises; the training phase must be presented using appropriate language; and a better understanding of the costs can increase entrepreneurs’ confidence when negotiating prices with clients.

The main limitation was the small number of companies that were included in the study. Future research could involve longitudinal studies to evaluate the long-term results of interventionist studies.

The study showed that even small business owners can implement costing techniques, but that this requires the development of an environment of knowledge creation, followed by an implementation phase. The model can be replicated on a large scale, with affordable costs.

Improving the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises, which are high employers, with low implementation cost is a demand of society.

The model proved to be valid, and it could easily be replicated on a larger scale; the study therefore helps to demonstrate the benefits of interventionist research.

The aim of this paper is to contribute to understanding how measuring intellectual capital (IC) can favor IC mobilization, examining the role of actors who design and implement the system in influencing managers’ IC learning processes and their take up of IC management practices.

A constructive case study, in which the researcher was directly involved in measuring IC, is presented. Kolb's experiential learning theory model examines if and how the actors mobilized IC and how the researcher and controller influenced their learning process.

The paper shows that actors must complete an experiential learning cycle to mobilize IC. The controller's role is pivotal in promoting IC mobilization, provided he/she experiences a deep learning process and he/she moves from “IC counting” to “IC accounting.” The paper also highlights how research intervention contributes to IC mobilization by influencing the actors’ learning process.

The paper is limited to one Italian company, so the results cannot be generalized; they were influenced by the researcher's “strong” interventionist approach and by the model adopted.

Companies introducing IC will become aware of barriers and levers to measuring and mobilizing IC, thus enabling them to devise strategies to avoid the former and take advantage of the latter.

The experiential learning theory model offers an alternative way of understanding how IC measurement produces effects and how the controller and researcher can influence the managers’ IC learning journey thus contributing to mobilization of IC.

The purpose of this chapter is to investigate students’ qualitatively different ways of understanding the learning object in three undergraduate courses in the discipline of accounting. The theoretical framework of variation theory, a general learning theory, is applied. The lecturers chose a learning object which is investigated under two different teaching conditions – the conventional lecture model and the variational method. Two student groups were identified as a comparison group and a target group, comparable in various relevant parameters. All students took three required accounting courses. In the comparison group, the lecturers used the conventional lecture model and in the target group the variational model. The results indicated significant differences between the two groups’ examination results in the three courses, with students in the target group performing much better. The educational implications and limitations of the study, and areas for further research, are discussed.