The topics of scientific progress and knowledge accumulation underlying the desirability of responding to research gaps

The topics of scientific progress and knowledge accumulation underlying the desirability of responding to research gaps

The following ideas from: Alexander Bird. n.d. "The epistemic approach: progress as the accumulation of knowledge" alexanderbird.org

"One compelling approach to the nature of scientific progress focuses on truth. The semantic approach says that scientific progress is the accumulation of scientific truth or that it is the increasing proximity of scientific theory to the truth…..

Science progresses when more problems are proposed and solved…

The epistemic view says that scientific progress requires an increase in scientific knowledge. It therefore requires that developments that contribute to progress have the epistemic justification characteristic of knowledge…

 The noetic approach says that scientific progress requires an increase in scientific understanding..”

To consider how to relate the topics to the research gap analysis

I have bolded the key concepts underlying the topics of scientific progress and knowledge accumulation. It is then up to the students (researchers) to think about how research gap analysis (as required by the agile literature review approach (the academic-oriented project type) contributes to the implicit underlying dissertation project goal of contributing to scientific progress.

Learning materials related to "the theoretical framework level-1a" practice of the agile literature review approach

Learning materials related to the theoretical framework level-1a practice of the agile literature review approach (ALRA)

This note offers lists of learning materials to students to study with regard to the theoretical framework level-1a practice of the ALRA(consulting-oriented project type). The generic form of the theoretical framework level-1a is as follows:

The following study materials (videos) are relevant:

1. about theories and theoretical frameworks

2. about literature review

3. about literature synthesis

The following study materials are blog notes:

1. how to assemble theories.

2. the two main directions in literature review.

The generic form of a management-concerns diagram of the agile literature review approach (ALRA)

The generic form of a management-concerns diagram of the agile literature review approach (ALRA) (the consulting-oriented type).

There are three zones in the diagram:

Zone 1: on environmental drivers

Zone 2: on organizational capabilities

Zone 3: on outcomes and solutions

Zone 3a: outcomes-related

Zone 3b: solutions-related

The diagram has a number of items:

i. Management concerns (MC) items

ii. Urgent management concerns (UMC) items

The title of the management-concerns diagram should make clear the organizational unit of analysis.

It is also possible that the researcher has already chosen 1-2 items in the diagram as the core-focus-domain ones. In this case, the diagram looks like the following:

By default, the ALRA (consulting-oriented project type) is employed in a case study research (re: an introductory video on case study research: "a strategy for doing research which involves an empirical investigation of a particular contemporary phenomenon within its real life context using multiple sources of evidence").

Further related readings: contributors to the construction of management-concerns diagram.

Study materials (videos) on research ethics

 Study materials (videos) on research ethics

1a. Qualitative research ethics

1b. Ethics in qualitative research

2. Social Research Ethics - Basic Concepts

3. Ethics in research

4. Understanding Research Ethics: Principles and Practices

5. Why is research ethics so important?

6. How and why ethical principles are changing?

To uncover the academic literature review tree from an academic article: an example on alliance portfolio

This note demonstrates how to uncover the academic literature review tree from the following academic article. It serves as a teaching for my MBA students learning the agile literature review approach (the academic-oriented type).

Shukla, D,M., Mital, A. and Qureshi, I. 2024. “Effects of alliance portfoliobreadth and depth on exploratory and exploitative innovation: Evidence fromIndian high-tech sectors” Journal of Business Research 179, Elseiver, 114686

“Innovation is crucial for firms’ survival and sustained performance, particularly in high-tech sectors (Guan & Liu, 2016; Laursen & Salter, 2006; Teece et al., 1997). A vast and growing body of literature suggests that firms increasingly follow collaborative innovation 1 strategies and engage in multiple simultaneous alliances, which is referred to as an alliance portfolio (AP; e.g. Davis & Eisenhardt, 2011; Faems et al., 2005; Kobarg et al., 2019; Laursen & Salter, 2006; Wassmer, 2010; Xie et al., 2023). Collaborative innovation helps firms to access, acquire and integrate external knowledge and develop innovation capabilities (e.g. Chesbrough, 2003; Guan & Liu, 2016; Hagedoorn et al., 2018; Laursen & Salter, 2006; Wassmer, 2010). AP breadth and depth are two important dimensions of firms’ collaborative innovation, determining the volume and quality of external knowledge that a firm can access or integrate (Hora & Dutta, 2013; Kobarg et al., 2019; Laursen & Salter, 2006; Y. Zhang et al., 2022)….

AP breadth can increase combinatorial opportunities for value creation through a broad knowledge search and help firms to broaden their knowledge base (Davis & Eisenhardt, 2011; de Leeuw et al., 2014; Kobarg et al., 2019; Y. Zhang et al., 2022). AP depth enhances trust and knowledge sharing between partners and can help firms to value and integrate relevant external knowledge elements to refine and deepen their knowledge base (Davis & Eisenhardt, 2011; Hora & Dutta, 2013; Laursen & Salter, 2006; Y. Zhang et al., 2022). However, prior studies have also suggested that AP breadth can lead to a ‘learning trap’ and increase coordination and information-processing challenges (de Leeuw et al., 2014; Hagedoorn et al., 2018). Similarly, AP depth can limit a f irm’s ability to value and process novel knowledge, given that it can lead firms to a ‘familiarity trap’ (Goerzen, 2007; Hagedoorn & Frankort, 2008)…

Although the potential benefits and pitfalls of AP breadth and depth have been highlighted in prior studies (Davis & Eisenhardt, 2011; Hora & Dutta, 2013; Y. Zhang et al., 2022), the mechanisms through which AP breadth and depth affect firm innovation are yet to be understood well. Prior studies have presented mixed findings about the effects of AP breadth and depth on firm innovation”.

The research gap statement: the academic literature on firm innovation is unclear on the effects of alliance portfolio (AP) breadth and depth on firm innovation regarding the Indian high-tech sectors in 2024.

The research objective statement: to find out more on the effects of alliance portfolio (AP) breadth and depth on firm innovation regarding the Indian high-tech sectors in 2024.

 

By studying the article, I uncover the the following academic literature review tree:

Referring to the uncovered academic literature tree (with 1 tree branch), the tree branch type is scientific reasoning (SR). The tree leaves (academic ideas) are the academic ideas employed in the study as reported in the academic article of Shukla, Mital and Qureshi (2024).

By mapping the research method (i.e. a public document study with quantitative data analysis) onto the academic literature review tree, I uncover the academic literature review tree-b, as follows:

Based on an MBA student's intellectual interest, he or she could come up with a academic tree node, such as [note: with some tree leaves not the same as that of Shukla, Mital and Qureshi (2024); not done in this example]:

Since the MBA student will perform his/her own literature review effort, thus, the academic ideas to use should not be 100% the same as the one of Shukla, Mital and Qureshi (2024); the references to use should, again, not be 100% the same as that of Shukla, Mital and Qureshi (2024). It is also useful to include referencing info on the tree leaves, e.g. R&D intensity (surname, year), (Exploitative innovation (surname 1, year; surname 2, year), etc. Finally, the literature review content of the MBA student's dissertation report should reflect his/own own review viewpoints.

Formulating research gap statements via literature review: on entrepreneurship and startup

This note provides a few examples on formulating research gap statements via literature review with regard to the entrepreneurship and startup topic. This study note is written for my MBA students learning the agile literature review approach (the academic-oriented type).

Article 1: Egan-Wyer, C., Muhr, S.L. and Rehn, A. 2018. On startups and doublethink – resistance and conformity in negotiating the meaning of entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 30:1-2, 58-80, DOI: 10.1080/08985626.2017.1384959.

"Within contemporary capitalism, then, to present oneself as an entrepreneur is to occupy a complex space betwixt and between the corporation (a form towards which the entrepreneurial organization is growing) and the ‘rebel’ who challenges the logics of this very same world. Thus, although much of the mainstream discourse on entrepreneurship often involves a normative promotion of taken for-granted entrepreneurial ideals (see Rehn et al. 2013; Farny et al. 2016; Leitch and Harrison 2016 for analyses of such normative idealization), recent literature has begun to emphasize the paradoxical tensions of entrepreneurship discourse (Dodd 2014) and how entrepreneurs make use of these to makes sense of their identity within such paradoxes, choosing both sides of the dilemma rather than normalizing one (Berglund, Gaddefors, and Lindgren 2016)".

The research gap statement 1: The academic literature only recently takes a serious study on the paradoxical tensions of entrepreneurial discourse and how entrepreneurs make use of these to make sense of their identity within such paradoxes.

Article 2: Ghezzi, A., Cavallo, A., Sanasi, S. and Rangone. A. 2022. "Opening up to startup collaborations: open business models and value co-creation in SMEs" Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal Vol. 32 No. 7, Emerald Publishing: 40-61.

"Notwithstanding the promising early efforts, research currently shows a limited understanding of whether and how companies, and specifically SMEs, can structure and implement an open business model configuration by creating successful collaborations with startups. Startups differ from traditional/latent SMEs in terms of ambition, innovation and growth orientation (Carland et al., 1984; Bhide, 2000; Zott and Amit, 2007). Besides, start-ups do not possess a consolidated business model; instead, they usually look for a scalable one (Blank, 2013; Ghezzi and Cavallo, 2020; Ghezzi, 2020)”.

The research gap statement 2: The existing academic literature offers limited knowledge of whether and how SMEs can structure and implement an open business model configuration by creating successful collaboration with startups.

Article 3: Marx, S. and Klotz, M. 2023. "Entrepreneurship during crisis: Innovation practices of micro and small tour operators" The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Vol. 24(3), Sage: 155–166.

"The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has confronted entrepreneurs with the atypical context of crisis. Innovation is one strategic option to react to a crisis (Wenzel et al., 2020), yet its application is discussed controversially. Some research points to fewer innovation activities during a crisis (Am et al., 2020; Gausemeier et al., 2019), but others observed the opposite (Breier et al., 2021; Ebersberger and Kuckertz, 2021; Johnson and Murray,2021; Kraus, Clauss et al., 2020; Manolova et al., 2020). Further research is encouraged on how crisis events relate to innovation by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (Saunders et al., 2014: 136)".

The research gap statement 3: The academic literature points to the need to study more on how crisis events relate to innovation activities of entrepreneurs.

These initial research gap statements are not to be used directly in a student's dissertation project work; they need to be adapted to come up with more localized and personalized research gap statements, which are subsequently converted by the student (i.e., the researcher) into the localized (e.g. Hong Kong in 2024) and personalized (e.g. the retail sector serving mainly the elderly consumers) research objective statements.

A (brief) practice note on the construction of an academic literature review tree-b in the agile literature review approach

A (brief) practice note on the construction of an academic literature review tree-b in the agile literature review approach (the academic-oriented project type):

The discussion should start with an academic literature review tree, such as the following one (the example is from my previous blog note):

This tree has three tree root notes, each of which has a tree branch. Moreover, it can be said that:

Tree branch 1 belongs to SR (scientific reasoning) type and so does tree branch 2. Tree branch 3 is mainly a DT (design thinking) one. Both SR and DT types could involve some evaluation and exploratory investigation effort.

In order to construct an academic literature review tree-b, the researcher is going to map some research methods onto the academic literature review tree. The diagram of the academic literature review tree-b, roughly looks like the following one:

Regarding the academic literature review tree-b above, RM-1, RM-2, etc., are research methods, e.g., research interview, questionnaire survey and focus group, etc., that are mapped onto the academic literature review tree. Both primary and secondary research methods can be considered for research methods mapping.  (note: if you are not sure what research methods to use for which research objective (as represented by the respective tree root node, do some literature review to learn what other researchers used to respond to a research objective similar to that of yours.)

The question now is what research method types are suitable for SR-type of research and what what research methods are suitable for DT-type of research?

I. Research methods to use for SR-type of tree branch:

a. Descriptive research: survey research, observations, case studies, among others.

b. Predictive research: quantitative research methods such as surveys, experiments, and statistical analysis are commonly used in predictive research.

c. Explanatory research (and causal research generally understood as the same explanatory research): in-depth interview, focus group, case studies, experiment, among others.

d. Exploratory research: focus group, survey research, unstructured interview research, among others.

e. Evaluation research: survey research, in-depth interviews, focus group, among others.

II. Research methods to use for DT-type of tree branch:

a. Design research: field observations, stakeholder interviews, feedback surveys, and focus group, among others.

b. Exploratory research: focus group, survey research, unstructured interview research, among others.

c. Evaluation research: survey research, in-depth interviews, focus group, among others.

Both primary and secondary research can be employed for SR-type and DT-type of research investigation.

Additional resource on research methods (videos).

On the literature search task to construct an academic literature review tree: a note

On the literature search task to construct an academic literature review tree: a note on the subject the agile literature review approach (the academic-oriented project type).

An academic literature review tree branch has the following generic structure:

The tree root node is where a pair of lower-level research gap and objective statements is located.

The tree leaves are the academic ideas gathered via the literature search and review effort of the researcher. In this case, leaf 1 is the academic idea 1, leaf 2 is the academic idea 2, and so on and so forth.

The tree branch is where all the tree leaves are anchored on; there are two types of tree branch, i.e. the scientific reasoning (SR) tree branch and the design thinking (DT) tree branch. An academic literature review tree should have more than 1 tree branch and tree root node

A concrete example of a tree branch

This example is taken from my previous blog note on academic literature review tree.

How about the literature search and review exercise to collect academic ideas as the tree leaves for this tree branch? Here, I offer three suggestions to do so:

Suggestion 1: The tree root node was formulated based on the initial literature review. More specifically, it is informed by the following academic article (re: blog note): 

Nguyen, T.H. and Loo, P.T.. 2024. "“Boss, I am gonna to quit!!!” The resignation experiences of hotel employees in Vietnam" International Journal of Hospitality Management 119, Elsevier 103726.

As this academic article from Nguyen and Loo (2024) has a list of references, the research student could take a closer look at this list of references to search for academic ideas to use for his/her own literature search and review exercise. This is one way to collect some tree leaves for this tree branch construction.

Suggestion 2: Make use of the key words in the pair of research gap and objective statements to perform literature search on the university e-library. For this example, the key words are: quit jobs, job turnover, job retention, job turnover + hotel sector, job retention + hotel sector, manager job turnover; manager job retention, middle managers quit job, middle manager job turnover, etc...; the process of literature search and review funnel approach is useful for this exercise.

Suggestion 3: On deciding whether an academic idea is relevant for this academic literature review tree construction, also consider the academic tree branch type. In this example, the tree branch type is SR (scientific reasoning type, with the main research effort being: to describe, to predict and to explain). Thus, if you figure out that a candidate academic idea is useful for this SR research effort, it probably is a useful one for a tree leaf for this academic literature review tree branch.

Research gap statement formulation: an example on corporate merger and acquisition

Research gap statement formulation: an example on corporate merger and acquisition. This note is especially useful to my MBA students using my agile literature review approach (the academic-oriented project type):

Article 1: Kar, R,M., Bhasin, N. and Soni, A. 2021. "Role of mergers and acquisitions on corporate performance: emerging perspectives from Indian IT sector" TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS REVIEW VOL. 13, NO. 3, : Routledge: 307–320.

“Evaluating the performance of enterprises involved in M&As has been the subject of a great deal of research as 47879 mergers and acquisition (M&A) deals totalling over US $5000 billion announced in 2017 from a meagre number of transactions totalling 2675 deals worth of US $347 billion in 1985 (Institute of Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances (IMAA), 2017). This manifold increase in M&As are attributed to multiple reasons, motives, economic forces and institutional factors that can be taken together or in isolation, which influence corporate decisions to engage in M&As (Khemani, 1990). It seems reasonable to assume that, even if this is not always the case, the ultimate concern of corporate managers who make acquisitions, regardless of their motives at the outset, is to increase long-term profit. However, this is affected by so many other factors that it can become very difficult to make isolated statistical measurements of the impact of M&As on profit (Kar, Soni, & Singh, 2014)”.

The research gap statement 1: the academic literature recognizes the difficulty to make isolated statistical measurements of the impact of M&As on profit.

Article 2: Chun, R. and Davies, G. 2010. "The effect of merger on employee views of corporate reputation: Time and space dependent theory" Industrial Marketing Management 39, Elsevier: 721–727.

"While there is considerable research into customer loyalty and retention, insights into the internal causes of customer disaffection, particularly in a B2B context, are rare. One source of employee disaffection and turnover is a major organisational change such as a merger or acquisition.. ". 

The research gap statement 2: the academic literature has neglected to study the internal causes of customer disaffection, such as corporate merger and acquisition, in the B2B context.

Article 3: Tobias Hertel, T., Kaya, D. and Reichmann, D. 2024. "Corporate culture and M&A deals: Using text from crowdsourced employer reviews to measure cultural differences" Journal of Banking and Finance 161, Elsevier 107118.

"Cultural differences between acquirer-target pairs constitute key success factors of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Consider, for instance, when Amazon acquired Whole Foods in 2017, some analysts immediately raised concerns that the firms’ cultures could clash.1 This notion is consistent with the cultural adversity hypothesis, suggesting that cultural differences tend to undermine coordination, and thus pose an obstacle to M&A success (e.g., Buono et al., 1985; Denison and Mishra, 1995). Other scholars, however, suggest that the relationship is more complex, because culturally diverse firms benefit from a broader range of perspectives and enhanced problem solving, consistent with the information processing hypothesis (e.g., Cox, 1991; Reus and Lamont, 2009; Watson et al., 1993). Yet, empirical evidence on the relationship between corporate culture and M&A outcomes is still scarce (Renneboog and Vansteenkiste, 2019)”.

The research gap statement 3: the academic literature has neglected to conduct empirical study on the relationship between corporate culture and M&A outcomes.

Types of tree branch of the academic literature review tree of the ALRA (academic-oriented project type): a note

Types of tree branch of the academic literature review tree in the ALRA (academic-oriented project type): a note

This brief note describes the two types of tree branch of the academic literature review tree. First of, let's take a look of an example of the academic literature review tree, as follows:

This academic literature review tree has three tree branches. They are:

Tree branch 1

Tree branch 2

Tree branch 3

The original nodes of these tree branches represent the three research objectives of a dissertation project. Moreover, by reviewing the original nodes of these tree branches, one can say that:

Tree branches 1 and 2 require investigation effort dominated by (i) scientific reasoning [SR] (notably inductive and deductive reasoning) and (ii) the aspiration to achieve scientific goals. The research objectives are about gathering and analyzing empirical data. Thus, their tree type can be labelled as SR type; they are SR tree branches.

Tree branch 3 is about formulation of strategies. The investigation effort is dominated by (i) design thinking [DT] and (ii) the design thinking process goal of creating a desirable, feasible and viable solution. As such, its tree type is labelled as DT type. It is a DT tree branch.

By heeding the tree type of a tree branch, the researcher is more aware of what kind of research method is favored as well as what kind of academic ideas and theories to employ on this tree branch. 

In summary, there are two types of tree branch:

The SR tree branch and the DT tree branch.

A related reading: on research gap and research objective statement formulation.

An example of a research-gap translation diagram

Under the the topic of the agile literature review approach (academic-oriented project type) for my MBA students, a research-gap translation diagram has three components:

Component A: the real-world domain (perceived).

This component is a phenomenon (main business-related and as perceived by the researcher), hinting at a current business concern (e.g. high barriers to adopt some new technology by small and medium enterprises) that is puzzling and needs to be addressed, for a particular business sector (e.g. the hotel sector) in a specific place (e.g. Hong Kong).

Component C: the academic literature domain

This component is mainly about certain research gaps, research practice gaps as well as the associated academic concepts on a specific business topic, as identified by the researcher, very often via previous study or some preliminary literature review in response to the phenomenon covered in component A.

Component B: a bundle of an overall research gap statement and an overall research objective statement, formulated via a theory-based translation effort on the content of components A and C.

This component consists of an overall research gap statement, as an output of the literature review effort on component C, response to component A. To be clear, such an overall research gap statement should be bundled with an overall research objective statement. The research gap statement and the research objective statement together reveals the triggering point of intellectual curiosity of the researcher. As such, the pair of the overall research gap statement and overall research objective statements represents a more localized and personal curiosity interest of the researcher as compared with the content in component C.

An example of a research-gap translation diagram is as follows:

The process model of launching an academic-oriented dissertation project, shown as follows, further clarify the underlying thinking of the research-gap translation diagram

Referring to the process model, the researcher's informal observation and personal experience on a specific topic (A) stimulates his/her academic literature study on the topic (A), subsequently reaching a triggering point of intellectual curiosity (the output being in the form of a pair of an overall research gap and objective statements). The whole process is, apparently, influenced by the researcher's own intellectual interest. Based on the pair of statements formulated, the researcher can employ the agile literature review approach to further guide his/her dissertation project work on the topic of A (in a more localized and personalized form). 

A localized and personalized translation exercise to arrive at a triggering point of intellectual curiosity: E.g., from A (staff retention in Human Resource Management (A0) --> staff retention in the Hotel sector (A1) --> staff retention of the young middle managers in the Hong Kong luxury hotel sector (A2)

A relevant reading: a note on the formulation of research gap and objective statements

Research gap and objective statement formulation: a practice note for the agile literature review approach

Research gap and objective statement formulation: a practice note for the agile literature review approach (for the academic-oriented type):

Article 1: Manolopoulos, D., Peitzika, E., Mamakou, X.J. and Myloni, B. 2022. "Psychological and formal employment contracts, workplace attitudes and employees’ turnover intentions: Causal and boundary inferences in the hotel industry" Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 51, Elsevier: 289–302

".. existing hospitality research in crisis periods: (i) is mainly centered on tourism demand modelling and forecasting (e.g. Song & Li, 2021; Zhang et al., 2021), and hotel performances (e.g. Shin et al., 2021), leaving employees’ perceptions of and reactions to the employment relationship relatively untouched (Sigala, 2020), (ii) does not differentiate between luxury, mid-ranged, and budget hotels, despite their distinctiveness not only in the quality of services’ provision (Wirtz et al., 2020), but also in their human resource practices (Gannon et al., 2015)….”

The underlying research gap statement 1: The existing academic literature neglects to study employees' perceptions of and reactions to employment relationship for different types of hotels in crisis periods.

Article 2: Nguyen, T.H. and Loo, P.T.. 2024. "“Boss, I am gonna to quit!!!” The resignation experiences of hotel employees in Vietnam" International Journal of Hospitality Management 119, Elsevier 103726.

"Phuong and Vinh’s (2017) study provides some implications for employee turnover issues, investigating factors impacting job satisfaction of employees in the hospitality industry. The factors are pay, promotion potential, relationships with co-workers, relationships with supervisors, fairness and workplace environment. However, they did not investigate reasons why hotel employees left their jobs or the whole resignation process of employees".

The underlying research gap statement 2: The existing academic literature neglects to study why employees leave their jobs and the whole process of employee resignation in the hospitality industry".

Article 3: Yang, J.T., Wan, C.S. and Fu, Y.J. 2012. "Qualitative examination of employee turnover and retention strategies in international tourist hotels in Taiwan" International Journal of Hospitality Management 31, Elsevier:  837– 848.

"An extensive body of literature pertaining to strategies for employee retention shows that motivated compensation policies and well-established training and development programs minimize turnover (e.g., Cho et al., 2006; Davidson et al., 2006). However, many studies indicate that the turnover rate remains a huge operational challenge, with some countries, such as South Korea, increasing in its rates (Kim et al., 2010)"

The underlying research gap statement 3: The existing academic literature do not offer adequate and clear situation-specific guidance to improve employee retention strategies in the hotel industry".

Based on the three research gap statements identified in an interpretive way from the academic literature, I offer the following three research objective statements for the following overall research objective statement:

To evaluate the current employee stay factors and retention practices for the young middle managers of the Hong Kong luxury hotels.

More specifically, three research objective statements are proposed under the overall research objective statement:

Research objective statement 1: to find out how the young middle managers' perceptions of their employment relationship affect their stay intention in the Hong Kong luxury hotel sector, notably in the crisis period.

Research objective statement 2: to find out the reasons why the young middle managers quit their jobs in the Hong Kong luxury hotel sector.

Research objective statement 3: to evaluate and formulate useful employee retention strategies for the the young middle managers of the Hong Kong luxury hotel sector.

By incorporating the statements formulated, I now produce the following agile literature review approach (for the academic-oriented project type) deliverable: 

The research gap-objective table for the overall research objective: To evaluate the current employee stay factors and retention practices for the young middle managers of the Hong Kong luxury hotels.

Research gap statements	The associated research objective statements
Research gap statement 1: the existing academic literature is unclear how the young middle managers' perceptions of their employment relationship affect their stay intention in the Hong Kong luxury hotel sector, notably in the crisis period.	Research objective statement 1 (minor):  to find out how the young middle managers' perceptions of their employment relationship affect their stay intention in the Hong Kong luxury hotel sector, notably in the crisis period.
Research gap statement 2: the existing academic literature is unclear on the reasons why the young middle managers quit their jobs in the Hong Kong luxury hotel sector.	Research objective statement 2 (main): to find out the reasons why the young middle managers quit their jobs in the Hong Kong luxury hotel sector.
Research gap statement 3: the existing academic literature does not offer clear and useful employee retention strategies for the young middle managers of the Hong Kong luxury hotel sector.	Research objective statement 3 (main): to evaluate and formulate useful employee retention strategies for the young middle managers of the Hong Kong luxury hotel sector.

There are 2 main research objective statements and 1 minor research objective statement in the research gap-objective table. Also note that the formulation of the research gap statements and the associated research objective statements involves explicit localization efforts as well as the personal intellectual preference of the researcher (e.g., the MBA student doing his/ her dissertation project).

** One can say that the overall research objective statement is the upper-level research objective while the ingredient research objective statements (as presented in the research gap-objective table) are the lower-level research objectives.

Options of academic-oriented project profile in terms of knowledge type & purpose: a note

Options of academic-oriented project profile in terms of knowledge type & purpose: a note

In order to further clarify the overall research objective of an academic-oriented dissertation project, the researcher (e.g. my MBA students) can describe the dissertation project in terms of knowledge type and purpose. This is depicted in the following table:

The table is based on the video on this topic (goals of science). There are four options identified in the table, as types A, B, C and D. Regarding the dissertation projects done by MBA students, which are mainly applied in knowledge purpose and particularistic in knowledge type, most likely option D is to be chosen. The D type of project profile is more in line with the design spirit of an MBA programme.

Describing the academic-oriented dissertation project profile (using the ALRA) helps in clarifying the overall research objective of the dissertation project.

Additional reading: on research gap and research objective statement formulation.

Zone and item numbering convention in the agile literature review approach diagrams (the consulting-oriented type)

Zone and item numbering convention in the agile literature review approach diagrams (the consulting-oriented type)

MCs are management concern items

UMCs are urgent management concern items

Items are by nature research objectives.

ACs are academic concepts

The chain of evidence practice for the academic-oriented project type of the agile literature review approach: a brief note

The chain of evidence (COE) practice for the academic-oriented project type of the agile literature review approach: a brief note

In order to develop clear line of reasoning in the dissertation report writing for for the academic-oriented project type of the agile literature review approach, it is useful to employ the chain of evidence (COE) practice in the dissertation report writing. The COE practice makes use of the following technique:

Explicit labeling  of the main elements of the ALRA (mainly its diagrams):

1. The research-gap translation diagram: the triggering point of intellectual curiosity: TPOIC

2. The research gap-research objective table: the research-gap statements (RGS1, RGS2..etc) and the research objective statements (ROS1, ROS2... etc)

3. The academic ideas on the academic literature review tree: the academic ideas on tree branch 1 (ai 1.1, ai 1.2..., etc).

4. Research methods on the academic literature review tree-b: research method 1 (RM1), research method 2 (RM2), ... etc.

5. Research findings in dissertation report chapter 4 (Presentation of research findings): research finding 1 (RF1), research finding 2 (RF2),... etc.

6. Discussion findings in dissertation report chapter 5 (Discussion of findings): discussion finding 1 (DF1), discussion finding 2 (DF2),... etc.

7. Recommendations in the report chapter  6 (Conclusions and recommendations): Recommendation 1, recommendation 2, ... etc.

When writing your dissertation report, try to provide explicit labels of the ALRA elements in your line of reasoning so that readers can follow your reasoning with reference to your dissertation report 's "evidence ingredients". 

Relevant reading: the chain of evidence practice note for the consulting-oriented project type of the ALRA.

The life history of an academic literature review tree branch: a visual illustration

The life history of an academic literature review tree branch: a visual illustration:

To illustrate how the various ALRA academic-oriented project type deliverables are related, I depict the following visual illustration on the life history of an academic literature review tree branch in form of a diagram. This is shown as follows:

The life history depicts three main life stages: 

Main life stage 1: the embryonic stage (broken down into life stages 1 and 2)

Main life stage 2: the literature review stage (i.e. life stage 3)

Main life stage 3: the research methodology design stage (i.e. life stage 4)

It is important to note that each individual life stage has specific deliverable to produce:

Life stage 1: the research gap-translation diagram

Life stage 2: the research gap-objective table

Life stage 3: the academic literature review tree

Life stage 4: the academic literature review tree-b.

There are two additional (nice-to-have) activities that are complementary in nature:

Construction of theoretical framework A (complementary to life stage 3)

Construction of theoretical framework B (complementary to life stage 4)

In short, the life history goes through 3 main life stages, broken down into 4 life stages.

The life history diagram indicates the locations of the 6 deliverables of the agile literature review approach (the academic-oriented project type). The 6 deliverables are:

Deliverable 1. The research-gap translation diagram

Deliverable 2. The research gap-objective table

Deliverable 3. The academic literature review tree

Deliverable 4. The theoretical framework A

Deliverable 5. The academic literature review tree-b

Deliverable 6. The theoretical framework B.

Regarding the academic ideas hanging on the branch of the literature review tree (deliverable 3), together, they represent the concrete outcome of the researcher's literature review effort on the relevant academic literature (mainly academic journals, textbooks and other dissertation reports). As such, they comprise:

1. theoretical perspectives, theories, concepts and process models from the academic literature.

2. research methods, research techniques and research instruments

3. empirical findings that have reference value to inform the dissertation project methodology design and/or dissertation project findings and analysis.

Two illustrative examples on the formulation of research gap statements and the derived research objective statements.

Two illustrative examples on the formulation of research gap statements and the derived research objective statements. 

This practice note is for study of the academic-oriented dissertation project type that employs the agile literature review approach (ALRA)

Illustration One:

Huber F., Vollhardt, K., Matthes, I. and Vogel, J.. 2010. “Brand misconduct: Consequences on consumer–brand relationships” Journal of Business Research 63, Elseiver: 1113–1120

“Recent research on the relationship between a company and its customers emphasizes the role of the relationship between the brand and the individual (Aaker, 1996; Aaker et al., 2004; Blackston, 2000). In her seminal work Fournier (1994, 1998) states that such relationships are highly vibrant entities that can emerge in various forms. Long lasting relationships can yield concrete benefits for the relationship partners, in particular financial gain for the firm in question (e.g., Reichheld et al., 2000). Yet, thinking for example of Shell's plan to scuttle the Brent Spar oil platform or Google's censorship of search engine results in China, companies and their brands do not always behave according to consumers' expectations. Klein et al. (2004) refer to a company's perceived misbehavior as an egregious act. Focusing on consumer–brand relationships this study takes an interest in companies as brand owners and thus uses the term brand misconduct”.

Research gap statement 1 (suggested): The existing conceptual proposition on the "relationship between brands and individuals" of Aaker (1996), Aaker et al. (2024) and Blackston (2000) that “long lasting relationships between and individual… can yield benefits for the relationship partners” (Huber et al., 2010) has difficulty to explain brand misconduct of companies.

Derived research objective statement 1 (suggested): To develop new concepts and empirical findings beyond that of Aaker (1996), Aaker et al. (2024) and Blackston (2000), in order to explain and evaluate brand misconduct of companies in the Hong Kong retail sector in 2024.

 

Illustration Two:

Son, M.H. and Han, K. 2011. “Beyond the technology adoption: Technology readiness effects on post-adoption behaviour” Journal of Business Research 64, Elsevier: 1178–1182.

“Much of the existing research on new product diffusion focuses on uncovering the factors influencing technology adoption (Huh and Kim, 2008; Shih and Venkatesh, 2004). But the long-term survival and substantial success of technological firms rely on the continued use of the new technology, rather than the first adoption, especially for subscription-based services”.

Research gap statement 2 (suggested): The existing research on new product diffusion predominantly focuses on studying factors influencing technology adoption (Huh and Kim, 2008; Shih and Venkatesh, 2004), while neglecting factors contributing to “the continued use of the new technology… especially for subscription-based services” (Son and Han, 2011).

Derived research objective statement 2 (suggested): To explore factors that can influence Hong Kong consumers’ continued use of new technology-based financial services in 2024.

Additional comments on the research gap analysis for doing dissertation projects:

1. At the initial stage of formulating your dissertation proposal, try to support your research gap analysis with reference to 3 to 4 academic articles.

2. Your initial research gap analysis should lead you to come up with 3 to 4 associated research gap statements (and the corresponding research objective statements). Preferably, two of your research objectives should be the main research objectives, with the rest being the minor research objectives. You could also state that the main research objective(s) constitute your core-focus-domain of your dissertation project. The way to arrive at a coherent set of research gap statements and research objective statements can take the following three sequential activities:

Related study material: on research gap analysis and on the overall research objective profile.