Facilitators and Barriers to Research Utilization in Public Policy Organisations: A Systematic Literature Review

Background: Across nations and communities there is increasing recognition that governments has to smarter to shape up the demands of the twenty-first century. This means, at least in part, taking greater account of past successes and ensuring that policy decisions are supported by evidence (Sharpe, 2004). Evidence-based policy is a popular idea and goal amongst politicians and policymakers. The approach origins from the scientific community, specifically medicine, but has over time adopted into a whole range of policy domains. And whatever field the assumptions remains the same: the best possible outcomes are achieved when decisions are based on the rational analysis of research evidence. However, Sharpe (2004) describes that despite expanding research budgets, relatively little of the knowledge arising from research studies is fed back into the policy process. Even where research is taken into account, it can be difficult to translate research into policy action. Objective: Through a systematic literature review, I am seeking to examine and summarize the findings in the literature related to determinants of research utilization from the users’ (the policymakers’) perspective. The article aims to answer the following questions: a) How does existing literature define and operationalize “research utilization”, b) what are the facilitators and barriers to research utilization, and c) how do the facilitators and barriers influence each other? Methods: I performed multiple literature searches in Scopus and included in the corpus only empirical studies that targeted policymakers and their perceived use of research in policy processes. I identified 28 articles that met the strict inclusion criteria. Results: Within this group of studies, there are four main approaches to operationalization of research utilization. These may be defined by the following questions asked to respondents: Have you used research? And if so, how often, when and why? Most studies use a combination of two or more approaches, but the one most common is “when” – referring to a processual approach targeting utilization in subsequent stages of the policymaking process. The studies also have different objectives, but together they tell a comprehensive story of interrelated factors that affect the use of research among policymakers. These factors may be categorized in the following groups: policymaker characteristics, organisational characteristics, perception of research and policy characteristics, as well as mechanisms linking policymakers to researchers. Conclusions: The overall conclusion is that for research being used in policymaking, it needs to be perceived relevant and timely, it must be accessible and the policymaker needs sufficient time and competence to access, assess and understand the results. To facilitate this process of utilization, the culture in the organisation needs to value scientific knowledge, and contact and collaboration between policymakers and researchers seem to be highly beneficial. How these independent variables relate to each other, not just to the dependent variable utilization, is inadequately examined. I present a model of thought interrelationships and suggest this as a starting point for future research on the matter.