Reclaiming the "Native" in Organizational Communication Research.

In this essay, we reconsider the traditionally pejorative notion of "going native" and alternatively define the role of a native engaged scholar as distinctly valuable to the study and practice of organizational communication. We envision this role as constituted in three interconnected qualities that we describe as (a) intimacy with the subject matter, setting, or people that stems from one's insider status or firsthand experience, (b) partnership with natives to craft the nature and aims of the research, and (c) commitment to a contribution that proves meaningful for participants over time. In articulating the researcher role of a native engaged scholar, we seek to coalesce disparate practices embraced within engaged scholarship, participatory action research, autoethnography, feminist inquiry, as well as established field researcher roles. Using case illustrations based on colleagues' and our own research, we illustrate this role in action and its benefits. Notwithstanding its merits, we close by acknowledging the inherent tensions of empathy, commitment, and identity that arise when taking on this role in scholarly research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]