Are marketing practice and academia in sync? A look at the MSI priorities and marketing journal articles

Accrediting agencies and industry are calling for more relevant, impactful research. Biennially, the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) releases research priorities representing important problems in marketing from a practitioner perspective. This study identifies the topics most emphasized by MSI and major marketing journals, assessing synergy of focus. Employing text analytics, MSI's relative interest in various marketing topics is compared to the topical focus found in journals.While covering the same topics, findings suggest a difference in the allocation of focus on each topic between industry and prominent marketing journals. The ramifications of this disconnect include reduced relevance of academic research.