When truth is power: Institutional ethnography of a think tank

This study offers an institutional ethnography of a tourism think tank in a large origin/destination economy. The roles of China Tourism Academy as advisors, academics, advocates, and brokers are discussed in the context of theory and practice, where government think tank researchers are found to be...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe international journal of tourism research Vol. 22; no. 4; pp. 438 - 450
Main Authors Xiao, Honggen, Dai, Bin
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.07.2020
Wiley Periodicals Inc
Subjects
China Tourism Academy
Ethnography
institutional ethnography
theory and practice
think tank
Think tanks
Tourism
tourism policy
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Summary:This study offers an institutional ethnography of a tourism think tank in a large origin/destination economy. The roles of China Tourism Academy as advisors, academics, advocates, and brokers are discussed in the context of theory and practice, where government think tank researchers are found to be speaking truth both to and for power as they develop an ambition or sense of loftiness of serving and contributing to the state through doing research and mobilizing knowledge (zhishi baoguo). Although the inquirers' positions or perspectives should be acknowledged, this ethnography contributes to future research into think tanks or other knowledge agencies in different origin/destination societies.
Bibliography:Funding information
Research Grants Council of Hong Kong SAR, Grant/Award Number: PolyU156211/16H
Correction added on 13 January 2020 after first online publication: The second author's name was inadvertently published incorrectly and has been corrected in this version.
ISSN:1099-2340
1522-1970
DOI:10.1002/jtr.2347