In Search of Evidence

Chapter 7
DISCUSSION
Our findings challenge some previous conclusions that scholars have made
about managers’ attitudes towards evidence use and perceived barriers, although
they also support a number of existing conclusions.
Firstly, several researchers have suggested that when managers are looking for
guidance on decisions, they look first to the experience of their peers (Offermann,
2001; Rynes, Colbert, et al., 2002; Sanders, van Riemsdijk, & Groen, 2008).
However, our findings suggest that personal experience (94%), knowledge
acquired through formal education (71%), and intuition (67%) are used far more
often.
Secondly, our study backs up the substantial evidence suggesting that
managers are largely ignorant regarding relevant findings from research (Dunnette
& Brown, 1968; Gabriel et al., 2006; Howells, 1998; Rynes, Colbert, et al., 2002).
Our study indicates that only a minority of managers (33%) base decisions on
scientific research.
Thirdly, our finding that most managers do not read academic journals (70%) is
in agreement with the conclusions of previous research in various sub-disciplines of
management (Gopinath, 1995; Jordan & Roland, 1999; Trahan & Gitman, 1995).
Multiple studies taken from management samples have confirmed this low rate of
usage amongst managers (Rynes, Colbert, et al., 2002). In addition, we found that
only a small number of managers (37%) were familiar with online research
databases. As far as we are aware, there are no findings on this in similar studies in
management, but a recent systematic review in the field of healthcare suggests
that for doctors and nurses this percentage is at least 88% (Ubbink et al., 2013).
Scholars often assume that managers perceive scientific evidence as lacking in
relevance (e.g. Empson, 2013; Garman, 2011; Hodgkinson, 2006; Lantos, 1994;
McArthur, 1980; Denise M. Rousseau, 2007). However, an extensive search in
relevant research databases yielded only eight empirical studies that actually tested
this assumption. Studies that used a qualitative design (Ankers, 2002) or were
based on a small sample size (Howells, 1998; Offermann, 2001; Wilkerson, 1999)
confirmed this assumption, while studies with a large sample showed mixed results
(Rynes, Colbert, et al., 2002; Sanders et al., 2008; Villanueva, 2011). Our findings
provide a strong indication that the majority of managers who responded perceived
academic research to have value and believe that the topics researchers investigate
are of practical relevance.
Our findings revealed that attitudes towards evidence-based management seem
to be inconsistently associated with educational and research experience. For
instance, there was no relationship between either the extent of someone’s