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When truth is power: Institutional ethnography of a think tank
Author(s) -
Xiao Honggen,
Dai Bin
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
international journal of tourism research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.155
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1522-1970
pISSN - 1099-2340
DOI - 10.1002/jtr.2347
Subject(s) - ethnography , tourism , power (physics) , government (linguistics) , context (archaeology) , state (computer science) , china , sociology , public relations , political science , media studies , law , anthropology , paleontology , linguistics , algorithm , computer science , biology , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics
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.