Evaluation of Appreciative Inquiry Interventions: Longer-term impact, critique and reflection across case studies

As a relatively new tool for undertaking organization development, action research, training and team building, Appreciative Inquiry (AI) has gained broad popularity worldwide. Whilst much research has addressed the approach and its philosophy, AI still remains an approach with limited self-reflection or critique. It has been suggested that the evaluation of past AI interventions is needed to inform managerial action in conducting future interventions and to contribute to the literature on AI. In this study, three AI interventions conducted at different organizations, involving between 130 and 320 participants in the AI summit, were evaluated. Across these organizations, data were collected through 23 semi-structured interviews of summit participants. Evaluation of the interventions was carried out by comparing the findings of the interviews against the intended goals and outcomes of each organization. In addition, the findings were contrasted with the existing literature on AI and recommendations for future implementations are made.