Knowledge Translation Practices, Enablers, and Constraints Bridging the Research–Practice Divide in Sport Management

Funding bodies seek to promote scientific research that has social or economic impact beyond academia, including in sport management. Knowledge translation in sport management remains largely implicit and is yet to be fully understood. This paper examines how knowledge translation in sport management can be conceptualized and fostered. The authors draw on a comparative analysis of co-produced research projects in Belgium and Australia in order to identify the strategic, cognitive, and logistic translation practices that researchers adopt, as well as enablers and constraints that affect knowledge translation. The findings show ways in which knowledge translation may be facilitated and supported, such as co-design, boundary spanning, adaptation of research products, and linkage and exchange activities. The findings reveal individual, organizational, and external constraints that need to be recognized and, where possible, managed.