Metamorphoses and performativity. Transformative R&I policies and their norm(alis)ing effect of societal impact

Abstract

In 2014, UK higher education institutions implemented a new system for assessing the quality of research, the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and took the opportunity to introduce "impact beyond academia" as a 'new' assessment criterion. Transformation and innovation-oriented R&I policy are roughly similar in Norway and the Netherlands regarding underlying ideas as well as timing. In occasion of this convergence this article tackles the discursive and performative construction of “societal impact” as a metamorphic constantly changing, transforming, and evolving criterion. Using data from policy documents from the UK, the Netherlands, and Norway from 2014 until now, the comparative semantic analysis draws on theories of speech acts and performativity to reveal the dual effect (normalising and norming) of the discursive device by R&I policymakers. The resulting typology, based on four criteria (terminology, positive and negative valences, oikonomia of knowledge and policy slogan), sets the ground for the exploration of further dimensions of societal impact evaluation challenges.