Having Nothing to Say But Saying It Anyway: Language and Practical Relevance in Management Research

This article investigates why management research, which ostensibly embraces scientific protocols and is reported to be practically relevant, is often not so. The “implications for practice” sections of elite management journals were reviewed and analyzed as the basis for the present study. The analytic–synthetic distinction—central to logical positivism and crucial to the reporting of the findings of science, but rarely applied within management academia—reveals that management researchers who commit to science, as logical positivists conceive of it, typically use language in a way that is not especially helpful for managers. Reasons explaining this state of affairs are explored and corrective measures proposed.