We examine an underaddressed issue in organizational research, the nature of the politicization of knowledge and its consequences for conducting research. Drawing on an illustrative case from a PhD research study and the underutilized theory of politicization, we go beyond previous work on politics in organization and management research to offer three contributions. First, we develop a process model underscoring the potentially emergent and interwoven nature of the politicization of research. In particular, we suggest politicization be seen as a trajectory of moments of difference in which researchers may or may not be aware of the potential political significance. Second, we offer four analytical resources to help researchers make sense around why politicization may occur: disputes over the “ownership” of knowledge, clashes of representational logics, ideological differences, and identity struggles. Third, we argue that politicization can be a catalyst, rather than an obstacle, for knowledge production and propose ways of anticipating and negotiating differences. Our aim is to raise awareness of the importance of understanding and anticipating the politicized situations researchers may encounter in their work.

我们研究了组织研究中一个尚未充分解决的问题，知识政治化的性质及其对开展研究的后果。借鉴博士研究研究的一个案例，以及未充分利用的政治化理论，我们超越了组织和管理研究中有关政治的先前工作，提供了三点贡献。首先，我们建立一个过程模型，强调研究政治化的潜在出现和交织的本质。特别是，我们建议政治化被视为差异时刻的轨迹，研究人员可能会或可能不会意识到潜在的政治意义。其次，我们提供了四种分析资源来帮助研究人员弄清为什么可能会发生政治化：关于知识“所有权”的争议，表现逻辑，意识形态差异和身份斗争的冲突。第三，我们认为政治化可能是知识生产的催化剂，而不是障碍，并提出了预测和谈判差异的方法。我们的目的是提高人们对理解和预测研究人员在工作中可能遇到的政治化情况的重要性的认识。