Viewpoint: Bridging the academic-practice gap through big data research

Brian Gillespie, Christian Otto and Charles Young

The proliferation of advances in technology and communication have led to the formation of "big data" research and the argument that big data will be effective in connecting consumer to practitioners.

The divide between academic research and managerial practice is a substantial concern in applied social sciences (Sandberg & Tsoukas, 2011). A considerable amount of evidence demonstrates that academic research produces knowledge that is both distant from managerial practices and fails to advance practitioners' ability to develop appropriate strategies (Ghoshal, 2005). This divide, recognized here as the academic-practice gap, has resulted in questions regarding the purpose and role of academic research (Cohen, 2007; Ghoshal, 2005; Rousseau, 2007; Rynes, 2007; Sandberg & Tsoukas, 2011; Splitter & Seidl, 2011). In response, arguments have been offered as potential methods through which this gap can...

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