Parent to a College Student | Tandean Rustandy Esteemed Endowed Chair, University of Colorado-Boulder | TUM Ambassador | Professor, Alliance Manchester Business School
On gaps and research. I am not a fan of gap spotting to motivate research - but I do think you should understand the gap that you are addressing in your work - I find this table helpful for doing so. If you understand the gap, it is easier to identify the kind of work that you need to do, to address. You can find more at: https://lnkd.in/eYrNfW84 Best of luck! #academicresearch
I would add an "Ethics Gap", see also the recent article in the Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/01/business-school-fraud-research/680669/ I am horrified that I repeated research that now has been revealed as being manipulated, falsified, and just plain fabricated, why are those people still teaching? why are those people still getting book deals, and why are their research papers not getting pulled?
Missing from this table may well be the most important: the impact gap. Far too many research articles fall into the “Who gives a ____?" category while ignoring many of the major ills facing societies and organizations. The pathway to tenure should be about overall impact of an applicant’s work (teaching, mentorship, # times authored articles are cited by others, broader impact of published articles and books).
Jason Thatcher maybe we should also add Theory-Practice Gap?
Is this aimed at social sciences research? In applied maths and engineering it does nog seem helpful to me.
This is a wonderfully simple and clear table of research gaps that is so applicable to researchers
Great visual very clear and helpful and thanks for creating/sharing it. I am curious about your statement regarding not being a fan of gap spotting as a motivation for research. Could you elaborate on your reasoning behind this? I agree that identifying gaps should not be the sole motivation, I believe it does serve as a valuable addition to the rationale for research. For instance, discovering a gap might stem from addressing a practical issue where no supporting research currently exists, allowing us to determine whether something in practice is truly effective or to better understand the underlying reasons. Similarly, encountering unanswered questions or concepts that are widely queried but not yet explored could naturally lead to identifying and addressing a research gap. I see this approach as more of a supporting justification rather than the primary driver. I would be interested to hear your perspective on how this fits into your view of research motivation. Or is it from the statement of ‘gap’ being overused in literature to justify or the lack of clarity of what kind of gap they are addressing? Sorry long response there but caught my eye
Denise Wiseman I fully agree with your views..Academics in management field feel troubled when faced with the question...What real world social or business problem have you solved with your research ? Frankly, how many C suite executives actually refer to academic journals for crucial operational or strategic decision making ? Most have not even heard of the high impact journals ! At most, they read HBR or SMR... Most academics feel comfortable treading the beaten path..teasing out publishable papers by latching on to practically inconsequential, old, irrelevant and myopic theories that are far removed from real world social and political dynamics...
This chart is very useful as I am trying to define the gap I want to fill with my dissertation. But I also wonder about "data gaps"—expanding the applicability of a dataset. 311 has been used in natural hazards research, but more research can be done with it.
Making a Ruckus That Makes a Difference in Healthcare
1wIt’s interesting how certain posts find their way into your LinkedIn feed. I’m not sure how this one appeared, but it sparked a lot of thoughts for me. In particular, I resonated with Corrado Pinzana’s point about the missing "social gap." So much time and money are spent on research, yet the divide between academia and practice often excludes practitioners from conversations where research might have real-world impact. Far too often, research feels disconnected from the realities of practice—useful insights are locked behind paywalls or written in ways that don’t translate into actionable efforts. As Gordon (Gordy) Curphy, PhD aptly put it, “Far too many research articles fall into the ‘who gives a ____?’ category.” What we need more of are efforts that bridge the gap—research that is accessible, directly applicable, and designed to solve problems in practice, not just add to the pile of academic publications. Let’s prioritize work that creates meaningful change over work that simply adds to a CV. Healthcare Reinvention Collaborative