Social entrepreneurship and non profit management as emerging academic disciplines are generating a rapidly expanding literature on a growing range of topics. While this literature includes themes and research directed towards policy makers, social entrepreneurs, public service managers little of the research output is produced by practitioners themselves and its content tends to reflect the priorities of academics. This paper considers the way the disciplinary system and its reward structure create barriers to academic/practitioner engagement, influencing the questions we ask, and examines how non-profit management and social entrepreneurship are beginning to address this tension.