Abstract
A significant gap exists between applied and academic research in marketing, marketing research, and consumer behavior. In reality, both basic and applied research have theoretical and empirical dimensions, and both contribute significantly to the accumulation of the growing body of scientific knowledge. Historical amnesia about the fruitful collaborations across academic, policy, and business sectors results today in assumptions - or, even worse, organizational and personal actions - that widen the gulf between applied marketing research and academic social science. This gulf is detrimental to both sides. The lack of regular contact and exchange of experiences between applied researchers and academics promotes, on the academic side, ignorance of phenomena that will render current theories inadequate in the long run. For practitioners, separation of academic science and market research contributes to loss of intellectual and methodological rigor over time, as their experiences with commercial exigencies undermine their professionalism.