Productive Uneasiness as a Driver of Knowledge Creation Processes in Humanities-Business Collaborations

Abstract

Over the last few decades, Danish humanities researchers have become increasingly expected to engage in business collaborations that have an impact beyond academia. Although there is great willingness to work together, humanities-business collaborations are often tense affairs. This calls for a deeper understanding of the collaboration and knowledge creation processes. In this article, we develop the concept of productive uneasiness as a sensitizing tool to show how humanities scholars enable specific knowledge engagements. Examining three empirical examples, we discuss how emerging tension, discomfort, and the like come into play in business-humanities collaborations, and how accepting and engaging in this uneasiness can become productive, eventually leading to innovation. The aim of the article is to provide a tool for reflection for humanities and social science researchers wishing to engage in humanities-business collaborations and, more generally, to spark a discussion on how one of the core elements of the humanities – in-depth analysis of the intangible – can leverage business processes.