It is widely agreed that the availability of high quality evidence does not translate readily into influence over policy decisions. This insight has generated long-running debates about the most effective way to 'bridge the gap' between policy research and policymaking, and to increase policy research 'uptake'. The proposed remedies (for example, greater 'linkage and exchange activity', 'knowledge brokering', 'joint knowledge production') tend to be premised on the idea that increased contact will increase preparedness to take on board other stakeholders' views. We agree that contact is important, along with adequate resourcing and access to good quality research evidence. However, as social and organisational psychologists have shown, trust and mutual understanding do not automatically emerge from more intensive interaction, but require effective 'identity leadership', to ensure core values (about shared goals and directions) become internalised in new shared self-understanding. So far, these insights have been neglected in the evidence-based policy literature, and the purpose of this paper is to fill this gap. More specifically, we draw on social-psychological research into 'identity leadership', and use illustrative data from interviews with leaders in public agencies and a major NGO partnership, to show (a) that leaders play an important role embedding commitment to evidence-based policy into 'organisational culture'; and (b) that leaders of successful partnerships go to great lengths to unite stakeholders and to promote a shared (overarching) sense of purpose and 'mission'.

中文翻译：

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弥合研究与政策的差距：有效的身份领导和共同承诺的重要性

人们普遍认为，高质量证据的可用性并不容易转化为对政策决策的影响。这一见解引发了关于“弥合政策研究和政策制定之间的差距”以及增加政策研究“吸收”的最有效方法的长期辩论。提议的补救措施（例如，更大的“联系和交流活动”、“知识中介”、“联合知识生产”）往往以这样一种想法为前提，即增加接触将增加接受其他利益相关者观点的准备。我们同意联系很重要，同时还有足够的资源和获得高质量研究证据的途径。然而，正如社会和组织心理学家所表明的那样，信任和相互理解不会从更密集的互动中自动产生，而是需要有效的“身份领导”，以确保核心价值观（关于共同目标和方向）在新的共同自我理解中内化。到目前为止，这些见解在循证政策文献中都被忽视了，本文的目的就是填补这一空白。更具体地说，我们利用对“身份领导”的社会心理学研究，并使用来自公共机构领导者和主要非政府组织合作伙伴的访谈的说明性数据，以表明 (a) 领导者在嵌入对基于证据的承诺的承诺方面发挥着重要作用将政策纳入“组织文化”；