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The hospitality industry could benefit from more theoretical research-because theoretical principles can guide practitioners' decisions.
Three years ago Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly commemorated 40 years of publishing lodging-industry research1 and simultaneously published the last few papers in a series describing the best practices in the industry.2 The articles were aimed at providing managers with information on how the most-effective operators achieved results in a variety of areas, including marketing,3 information technology,4 service quality,5 and human resources.6 Studies like the best-practices series are typical of applied research, inasmuch as their goal is to help managers make better decisions. The fact that the hospitality industry has sought out and supported applied research for more than 40 years suggests that such research must have considerable value. Yet, some observers have complained that there is too much emphasis on applied research that aims at short-term fixes, and not enough emphasis on theoretical research that could lead to long-term improvements.7
While there may be some merit to these concerns, research of both types can improve business practices, solve problems, and develop new knowledge.8 Both theoretical research and applied research play a role in the industry's progress, but they contribute in different ways. Applied research uses information about relationships between variables to address current problems in specific situations, with a goal of achieving the desired results. Improving understanding of the relationships among the variables is of less importance in applied research than is solving a problem. In contrast, the primary goal of theoretical research is to improve understanding, while achieving immediate results is of less importance. The purpose of this paper is to describe the ways in which applied research and theoretical research contribute to better management in the hospitality industry and to suggest a balanced approach that combines both types of research to maximize short-term responsiveness, but also recognizes that increased understanding may be a prerequisite for long-term improvements in performance.
Managerial Decision Making
Managers make decisions to solve problems everyday. They gather the facts, weigh them, decide on a course of action, and then implement it. Their decision-making process parallels the research process in some ways. Both managers and researchers use information to make better decisions, but the nature of the decisions depends on the...