In Search of Evidence

Managers’ Attitudes and Perceived Barriers
Table 2: Managers’ use of evidence sources (n = 1,566)
On what do you base the decisions you make as a manager or consultant? %
Personal experience 94
Knowledge acquired through formal education 71
Intuition 67
Advice from a colleague 64
Insights provided by experts 63
Management literature 41
Results from scientific research 33
Other 9
With which of the following management journals are you familiar? %
AMR, AMJ, SMJ, Journal of Management, ASQ, Org. Science, LSQ, or any other peer-reviewed
academic journal relevant to management
Not familiar with any academic journals 34
Familiar with one or more academic journals, but never read one 36
Occasionally/frequently read one academic journal 14
Occasionally/frequently read more than one academic journal 16
With which of the following research databases are you familiar? %
ABI/INFORM, Business Source Premier, Science Direct from Elsevier, PsycINFO, ISI Web of
Knowledge, or any other online research database relevant to management.
Not familiar with any research database 63
Familiar with one or more research databases 37
Searched one or more times in one of these databases over the last year 29
Google Scholar
Not Familiar 41
Familiar 59
RQ 3:
What are managers’ attitudes towards EBM?
Table 4 summarizes respondents’ attitudes towards evidence-based
management. Most respondents (70%) claimed familiarity with the term, although
when those who indicated that they were familiar with it were asked to describe
evidence-based management, most were either unable to do so or else provided a
limited answer (e.g. ‘Management based on research’). Using on the definition
provided, most respondents (66%) had positive attitudes towards evidence-based