Turning research on the psychosocial working environment into regulatory practice

The psychosocial working environment is an expanding field of research. Within the last decades a lot of knowledge has been developed in the field. The question however remains how this knowledge can be, and is being, utilized in the regulation of the psychosocial working environment. This question is explored on the basis of an extensive review of the results of a number of Danish research projects in the field. We argue that knowledge produced by research does not simply flow unaltered into the field of regulation. Turning research into regulation is a highly complex process. With reference to Latour we understand this process as a translation of knowledge into policies, tools and actors dealing with the psychosocial working environment. Drawing on this understanding we develop a model that illustrates the utility of different types of research on the psychosocial working environment for a network of regulatory actors with different regulatory purposes.