Abstract Research institutions face increasing pressure to meet research funders’ expectations that the research they support creates desired societal changes. Consequently, there is an increasing demand for validated methods to measure and document societal impact at all research levels. While various frameworks and approaches exist, most rely on qualitative data or tangible outcomes like patents. However, there is a lack of reliable quantitative methods to assess societal impact at the institutional and program levels. To address this gap, we developed the Societal Impact Instrument: Occupational Health and Safety Research (SII: OHSR) in 2020. This instrument generates an impact index for societal impact at the programme and institutional level, with subscales measuring reach, usability, and use of research knowledge based on input from key stakeholders. After initial refinement, the instrument has been applied annually for four years. This article validates the revised instrument, documenting that it enables research institutions to evaluate and monitor societal impact over time. Analyses offer insights into how stakeholders use research knowledge. The instrument supports impact development by identifying patterns in knowledge uptake and use. To our knowledge, this is the first instrument to quantitatively measure societal impact at the institutional and programme level based on data gathered from users. Using context-independent questions, it is designed to be easily adaptable to other comparable research institutions. With this article, we hope to encourage other research institutions to adopt the instrument as a complementary tool for evaluating and documenting societal impact, alongside existing approaches.
Sørensen et al. (Thu,) studied this question.