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Webinar: Impactful Theory - An Oxymoron?

  • 1.  Webinar: Impactful Theory - An Oxymoron?

    Posted 12-02-2021 23:53

    Impactful Theory: An Oxymoron?

    Speakers: Professor Juliane Reinecke (King's College London); Professor Eva Boxenbaum (Copenhagen Business School); Professor Joel Gehman (George Washington University)


    Time: Thursday, 9th of December at 10am (Eastern) / 3pm (London) / 8.30pm (Delhi). This webinar is scheduled for 90 minutes (including Q&A).

    Registration: Please register here to receive a personalized Zoom link and a reminder for this event.


    In this seminar, we want to question the implicit dichotomy between theory and impact, and instead, critically explore the notion of impactful theory. As Associate Editors of a new journal - Organization Theory - that is dedicated to the production of novel theory, we confront the question of whether and why we need more theory in the face of societal grand challenges such as a pandemic, a climate emergency, and an AI revolution, to name just a few. An increasing chorus of organization scholars advocate for "impact," broadly defined as producing societal benefits beyond academia. This raises the question of theory's relevance to this new impact agenda. At first glance, these calls may appear to rest upon an implicit assumption that theory is inherently opposed to impact, and vice versa. This dichotomy, we contend, is problematic. Organization theory can be (and often has been) highly impactful-beyond the realm of the academic community. Our aim in this seminar is to celebrate and elucidate theory as a path to impact, rather than seeing theory and impact as antagonistic. Hence, we want to unpack the apparent oxymoron of impactful theory and illuminate six discrete pathways through which theory can have an impact.

    Recommended reading:

    • Aguinis, H. and Gabriel, K. P. (2021) 'If You are Serious About Impact, Create a Personal Impact Development Plan', Business & Society. doi:1177/00076503211014482

    About the speakers


    • Juliane Reinecke is Professor of International Management and Sustainability at King's Business School, King's College London
    • Eva Boxenbaum is Professor of Organization and Management Theory at the Department of Organization at Copenhagen Business School
    • Joel Gehman is Professor of Strategic Management and Public Policy and the Lindner-Gambal Chair of Business Ethics at the George Washington University School of Business.

    This webinar is supported by the Organization Theory journal and Organization and Management Theory (OMT) Division of AOM.

    For queries, please contact Ibrat Djabbarov i.djabbarov@cranfield.ac.uk.

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    Ibrat Djabbarov
    Cranfield School of Management
    BEDFORD
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