Implementation Exchange: Implementing Implementation Research

For some time we have been concerned with the problems of putting management science into practice and how this can best be done. We and others have looked at the meaning of implementation and sought for the factors and methods which make it successful. Two conferences at the University of Pittsburgh resulted in our editing books about implementation research, and many studies have been published in management science literature, including Interfaces. Still, we question whether implementation research has itself been implemented. In editing and contributing to this column we hope to establish connections between the creators of theories about implementation and the practitioners who will use them, to give and receive information reciprocally. That is why we call this column the “Implementation Exchange.”