Boundaries, breaches, and bridges: The case of Climategate

Raghu Garud, Joel Gehman, Arvind Karunakaran

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

We examine the incident known as "Climategate" in which emails and other documents relating to climate scientists and their work were illegitimately accessed and posted to the Internet. The contents of the files prompted questions about the credibility of climate science and the legitimacy of some of the climate scientists' practices. Multiple investigations unfolded to repair the boundary that had been breached. While exonerating the scientists of wrongdoing and endorsing the legitimacy of the consensus opinion, the investigating committees suggested revisions to some scientific practices. Despite this boundary repair work, the credibility and legitimacy of the scientific enterprise were not fully restored in the eyes of several stakeholders. We explore why this is the case, identify boundary bridging approaches to address these issues, and highlight policy implications.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)60-73
Number of pages14
JournalResearch Policy
Volume43
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2014

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Strategy and Management
  • Management Science and Operations Research
  • Management of Technology and Innovation

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