By François Longin, Professor of Finance and Adrian Zicari, Professor of Accounting and Management Control.

In this article, Prof. François Longin and Prof. Adrian Zicari explain how they deal with the three Rs of science – Relevance, Rigor, and Reach – in their research on corporate social responsibility (CSR).

A perennial tension

Ivory towers. Byzantine discussions. Detachment from reality. How often we have heard (or pronounced ourselves!) such harsh comments about research. This tension between rigor and relevance is not new, and it will most possibly continue in the future. It is part of our lives as researchers, as educators, as citizens. It has also been reflected by the arts. For instance, Jorge Luis Borges, in his short tale “Rigor in Science” presents the story of the rigorous cartographers who wanted to achieve a perfect map of their country. So accurate that map it was, so big it was, that it ended up being the size of the country it intended to represent. Such unserviceable map was rapidly forgotten and destroyed. Thus, cartographer’s fervor for scientific rigor led to the dismissal of cartography.

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