Knowledge‐for‐action theories in evaluation: Knowledge utilization, diffusion, implementation, transfer, and translation

Abstract

Abstract Five knowledge‐for‐action theories are summarized and compared in this chapter for their evaluation implications: knowledge utilization, diffusion, implementation, transfer, and translation. Usually dispersed across multiple fields and disciplines, these theories are gathered here for a common focus on knowledge and change. Knowledge in some form (ideas, innovation, skills, or policy) moves in some direction (laterally, hierarchically, spreads, or exchanges) among various stakeholders (knowledge producers, end users, or intermediaries) and contexts (national, community, or organizational) to achieve some outcomes (intended benefits, unanticipated outcomes, or hijacked effects). Although rooted in different disciplines, sensitive to different key indicators, and following different process paths, these theories individually and collectively provide multiple lenses on the evaluation of complex interventions. A table compares key theory points of disciplinary roots, type of knowledge, movement of knowledge, contextual influences, and the added lens of each theory. These lenses are used to analyze the set of theories for evaluation implications. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc., and the American Evaluation Association.