Advances in Tourism Research: Theoretical Paradigms and Accountability (p. 9-10)
Gayle R. Jennings
Grifith University, Grifith Business School, Department of Tourism, Leisure, Hotel and Sport Management, Gold Coast Campus, Queensland, Australia g.jennings@griffith.edu.au
1 Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to reflect on advances in tourism research and related accountability issues for tourism economics and management. In particular, the paper focuses on a range of theoretical paradigms that may inform research in the areas of tourism economics and management in a twenty first century environment. The thesis of this paper, is that research in tourism economics and management has been predicated to western-based epistemologies as well as a positivistic and postpositivistic hegemony and that such epistemologies and hegemony no longer represent an accountable tourism research agenda in a twenty-first century world of .ux and unpredictability.
In pursuing this thesis, the paper is divided into seven sections: an overview of tourism economics and management regarding paradigmatic and methodological research, re.ections on the status of paradigmatic and epistemological research, consideration of theoretical paradigms that may inform research in tourism economics and management, a discussion of the action research and heuristic methods used to prepare this paper, an example of an accountable research agenda which promotes advances in research in tourism economics and management, the proposal of a generic research strategy to advance tourism economics and management in an accountable manner, as well as concluding remarks.
2 Overview of Tourism Economics and Management Regarding Paradigmatic and Methodological Research
Traditionally, tourism economics and management research has applied western based epistemologies to examine the various patterns, components, sectors, activities, experiences, and peoples involved in the phenomenon of tourism from a positivistic or postpositivistic theoretical paradigm, particularly, the tradition of critical realism. Riley and Love (2000) report that quantitative based research (rooted in positivistic and postpositivistic paradigms) is the dominant form of research published in travel and tourism journals, a view also purported earlier by Cohen (1988) and Walle (1997). Such publications then serve as models and demonstrations of‘acceptable’ (accountable) research and the paradigms are rei.ed as orthodoxy for the travel and tourism industry, tourism academia, as well as related industries, associations and bodies. Subsequently, this orthodoxy makes them the hegemonic (dominant) paradigms against which all other travel and tourism research is benchmarked. To exemplify this statement, most travel and tourism journals and conference calls reinforce the positivistic and postpositivistic hegemony by nature of the headings researchers must address in reporting of research: introduction, background, literature review, methods, .ndings, results and recommendations.
These headings are predicated on the‘hard’ sciences report writing genre emanating from positivistic and postpositivistic theoretical paradigms. A genre also associated with the related business journals in which tourism researchers may publish (see Sheldon (1990), and re.ective of the disciplines in which a number of tourism researchers were initially grounded (see Dann, Nash, Pearce, 1988, e.g. of these). Other theoretical paradigms utilise di.erent genres such as the narrative for reporting research. However, researchers utilising paradigms drawn from outside the hegemonic ones are generally required to comply with the orthodox genre. |
