Benchmarking as an action research process

Abstract

This study participates in the debate on advancing theoretical developments in the field of benchmarking processes. It suggests that approaching benchmarking as a research method helps to explicate the basis of benchmarking processes and at the same time offers tools for scientific research in this field. Adopting an interpretative, comparative concept analysis the study approaches benchmarking as an action research. The results indicate that benchmarking might be regarded as a special kind of action research; however, in that case, more attention would need to be addressed to the preliminary planning, observation, reflection and the use of theoretical frames, all of which are essential for distinguishing a scientifically-conducted action research process from practical work. Thus, adopting an action research approach might improve the implementation as well as the theoretical foundation of the benchmarking process.