ABSTRACT

Evidence-based management (EBM) has become a particularly high-profi le topic in the early years of the twenty-fi rst century, propounded by people with signifi cant infl uence and standing within the management research community (see for example, Rousseau 2006a; Pfeffer and Sutton 2006; Ashkanasy 2007). So much so that today, the notion that decisions should be based on ‘the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence’ (Sackett et al. 1996: 71) might seem axiomatic for any form of professional practice-including management. Indeed, the calls for EBM are echoed and reinforced by other ideas that are also becoming unquestioned orthodoxies in management studies. Consider, for example, how (particular constructions of) relevance and engagement are now almost mantras among the contemporary management research community, such that relevance to practice is increasingly an explicit criterion for publication in many management journals; a factor that can also strongly infl uence one’s chances of gaining success in research grants as well as other markers of prestige valued by academics.