The Science-Practice Gap Among Recreation Managers With HR Responsibilities

Researchers across management fields continue to recognize the importance of conducting research that matters to practitioners (e.g., Nowicki & Rosse, 2001; Ford, Duncan, Bedeian, Ginter, Rousculp, & Adams, 2003) yet continue to point out the schism that exists between needs of practitioners and research interests of academics.  This paper presents the results of a research study conducted to explore the use and knowledge of sound HR hiring practices among leisure service professionals in NY State.  Findings indicate that leisure service managers lack a sufficient amount of HR-specific knowledge to do their jobs soundly from a legal perspective.