Translating, co-creating, and performing: Reflections on a 15-year journey for impact into the grand challenge of disaster insurance

Abstract

The grand challenges society faces compel strategy and organization scholars to engage meaningfully with practice and contribute toward solution development. As global complexities escalate, the importance of addressing these challenges intensifies. While the notion of “impact” in organization theory remains elusive, a recent surge in scholarly work highlights the tensions and challenges associated with conducting impact-driven research. In this essay, we reflect on our 15-year program of research into financial responses to disasters, illustrating the process of doing impact through activities of “translating, ‘co-creating,” and “performing.” We show how these activities fostered the emergence of new research questions, new collaborations, and novel impacts. Based on our journey, we generate four reflexive insights. First, translating, co-creating, and performing are an iterative, rather than sequential, process in which these activities partly overlap and build cumulatively on each other. Second, a flexible yet robust impact object is crucial. Third, while co-creation is indispensable, it is also, often, contentious. Finally, impactful research necessitates humility, courage, and persistence.