Ethnography, Ethnographers and Hospitality Research: Communities, Tensions and Affiliations

Abstract

This paper examines the professional and moral positions of ethnographers located in institutions specializing in hospitality management. The paper considers the notion of ethnographic subjectivity and argues that ethnographers working in various paradigmatic contexts have differing relationships with the principles and practices of social science, organisation studies and commercial activity. It is suggested that they are simultaneously members of disparate communities with conflicting norms and values. The paper identifies the cultural and institutional forces that shape the absence, presence and the potential future of ethnography in hospitality management research.

Critical hospitality management research

“…A more significant presence on editorial boards and reviewer panels of hospitality researchers willing to take a critical approach will help to create a more prominent role for critical hospitality management. As Lugosi (2009) and Morrison and Lynch (2007) argue, it may require the establishment of new journal outlets that can accommodate a broader critical agenda. Thus, within the above context exist many complex audiencing challenges from CHMR, with career progression incentives, illinformed proxies for quality, political and institutional forces, gatekeepers, working counter to the development and dissemination of the field's distinctiveness.…”

“…Tribe (2006) and Lugosi (2009) have criticised the existing gatekeepers and institutional forces for perpetuating particular notions of tourism and hospitality research. A more significant presence on editorial boards and reviewer panels of hospitality researchers willing to take a critical approach will help to create a more prominent role for critical hospitality management.…”

“…It provides a 'window' through which the academic insiders and outsiders can observe the manner in which factions within the community have intellectually challenged received assumptions, beliefs, and engaged in reflection, questioning the prevalent paradigm of the time. Jones (2004) and Lugosi (2009) argue that engaging in a process of critical reflection attests to the advancement that hospitality has made. Morrison and O'Gorman (2005: 455) stress this point in arguing that this process is significant contributing: 'valuable texture and structure to a maturing academic field, and is essential for progress'.…”

“…Ethical decision making is increasingly viewed as an important management skill (Enz, 2002;Kincaid et al, 2008;Reynolds, 2000); student and practitioner engagement with ethics has been examined in a number of studies (Lynn et al, 2007;Stevens, 2001;Upchurch, 1998); and several studies have examined the link between ethical practice and successful business performance (cf., Luria and Yagil, 2008;Rendtorff and Mattsson, 2008;Reynolds, 2000). In developing ethical research the challenge is to examine the researcher's stance and how particular interests of stakeholders are best met (Lugosi, 2009); moreover, how researchers can mediate between different stakeholders (see, for example, Rimmington et al, 2006). Scale, claims of legitimacy and research quality Pizam (2008) and Rivera and Upchurch (2008) claimed that the use of complex statistical techniques was evidence that hospitality management research had reached a level of credibility.…”

“…For example, a decision has been made recently to disband the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management in Strathclyde University with hospitality-related academics being re-located to appropriate cognate groups within the Business School (see Baum, 2008). Commentators have highlighted the challenges faced by social science driven hospitality and leisure researchers in business and management faculties (Lugosi, 2009;Scott and Lugosi, 2005). Researchers' affiliations to different disciplines, communities and institutions can create conflicts of interest and multidisciplinary contribution may be suppressed by the institutional discourses of business schools.…”