Tyrone,
I think you are asking very important questions. My perspective is that "impact" is a multi-dimensional construct and it means different things for different stakeholders. For example, impact in the Academy (i.e., internal stakeholders) is usually operationalized as number of citations. However, this type of impact has a very small relationship with measures of impact outside of the Academy (e.g., number of Google pages residing on non-.edu sites). This issue is described in more detail in the following articles:
Aguinis, H., Suarez-González, I., Lannelongue, G., & Joo, H. 2012. Scholarly impact revisited. Academy of Management Perspectives, 26(2): 105-132. [available at http://mypage.iu.edu/~haguinis/pubs.html]
DeTienne, D. R. 2013. From the Editors: Assessing scholarly impact in the world of Google. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 12: 1-3.
I look forward to learning about the views of other members on the list.
All the best,
--Herman.
Herman Aguinis, Ph.D.
Dean's Research Professor and
Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources
Director, Institute for Global Organizational Effectiveness
Department of Management and Entrepreneurship
http://mypage.iu.edu/~haguinis/
From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv [mailto:OB@aomlists.pace.edu] On Behalf Of Tyrone Pitsis
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2013 5:15 AM
To: OB@aomlists.pace.edu
Subject: Re: [OB-LIST] What kind of impact are we talking about?
Thank you Herman, this looks excellent and with Elena you are in safe hands! Going by all the sessions I have seen so far, it is wonderful to see the AOM providing so many opportunities to explore such critical issues. It is also really interesting to see the divided opinions and nuances surrounding impact. It would be great to get keep these discussion going and to see some 'real' impact from these sessions on impact.
Those in the UK will know that impact will be a large part of how our research is judged, but it is also how Universities are judged. There is no problem in this per se. However, we are seeing a growth in this related idea of "engagement" which is a pseudo form of impact. I know there are many exception to this rule, but governments have increasingly reduced funding to universities and business schools have in one way or another become a source of funding; as such the response is to take in more full fee paying students, get more research grants or have a strong alumnus of elites who bequeath millions to our university or school. To this end engagement tends to mean 'engaging' business rather than engaging the poor. While I find myself somewhat ambivalent about this, because it is important that we do engage and have an impact; I also ask is it not more important that our peers with years of experience in theory building, theory testing, expertise in methodology believe our work has impact more than say a manager in an organization that may or may not go bust one day? So some really uncomfortable but important questions come up.
Hope my rambling makes sense. What do others think?
Tyrone,
Thank you for letting us know about this session! Below is information on another session addressing the same issue:
Welcome to the 2013 Academy of Management Conference Program
| Submission: 11902 | Sponsor(s): (OB / OMT / BPS)
Scheduled: Sunday, Aug 11 2013 4:30PM - 6:00PM at WDW Dolphin Resort in Asia 3 | What is Impact in Management Scholarship? | | | | | |
| Showcase Symposium
Organizer: Elena P. Antonacopoulou; U. of Liverpool;
Chair: Debra L. Shapiro; U. of Maryland;
Presenter: Herman Aguinis; Indiana U., Bloomington;
Presenter: Elena P. Antonacopoulou; U. of Liverpool;
Presenter: Andrew M Pettigrew; U. of Oxford;
Discussant: Thomas G. Cummings; U. of Southern California;
Discussant: Donald C. Hambrick; Pennsylvania State U.;
Discussant: James P. Walsh; U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor; The theme of the Academy of Management Orlando 2013 Conference on "Capitalism in Question" provides a unique opportunity to critically reflect on the ways in which we both define and account for impact. Capitalism as an idea, as much as an economic system, has emerged over time in ways that its effects could not have been predicted and its consequences would have been hard to avoid. As the community of management scholars takes stock of the way ideas, like capitalism, take shape and impact everyday action, it is just as important that the same approach be adopted in critically reflecting on the impacts that management scholarship creates. In this proposed symposium, senior scholars who have been concerned with impact and past and future AoM presidents join forces to account for the impact of management scholarship. By focusing on ways of articulating and accounting for what impact means and how it may be demonstrated, this symposium adopts the critical orientation that the conference theme invites. The purpose of this symposium is to engage management scholars in a joint reflective exercise that explores the multiplicity of meanings as to what is impact, how it can be demonstrated, and how impact may be fostered in future management scholarship. The symposium is mindful that in the context of complex social problems, impact crucially depends on effective interaction between research, business practice, and public policy. | | | | Also, for those interested, related to both of these AoM sessions, see the following article just published in Academy of Management Learning and Education: DeTienne, D. R. (2013). From the Editors: Assessing scholarly impact in the world of Google. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 12, 1-3. | | |
All the best,
--Herman.
Herman Aguinis, Ph.D.
Dean's Research Professor and
Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources
Director, Institute for Global Organizational Effectiveness
Department of Management and Entrepreneurship
http://mypage.iu.edu/~haguinis/
Dear OBers,
A comment that stuck in my mind in the recent discussions was the view that publishing in journals is all about promotion rather than the dissemination and sharing of research and ideas. In light of the recent fascinating and obviously contentious discussions concerning impact, publications and engagement can I please (with some obvious self-interest being declared), invite you to be part of the following workshop.
Please note you must register for this event, please do so online once the registration link is live.
Tyrone S. Pitsis
Chair: Practice Theme Committee of the Academy of Management
Director of Strategy, Organizations and Society Group
Newcastle University, UK
+44 (0)191 208 1710
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/nubs/staff/profile/tyrone.pitsis
Be ahead of the open access journal game, publish in M@n@gement - http://www.management-aims.com/about_en.html
My latest publication: http://www.e-elgar.co.uk/bookentry_main.lasso?id=14009
Welcome to the 2013 Academy of Management Conference Program
| Submission: 16771 | Sponsor(s): (BPS) | PDW Cosponsor(s): OMT / OB / RM / INDAM / PTC
Scheduled: Friday, Aug 9 2013 3:30PM - 5:30PM at WDW Swan Resort in Swan 1 | The Practice of Scholarly Impact and the Scholarly Impact of Practice
The Practice of Impact | | |
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The idea of impact has wide ranging and important implications for the academic community, and especially to the members of the Academy. Increasingly beyond our academic community, and even within our own community, publications in journals are said to matter very little. Universities especially are under increasing pressure to show impact; yet there is a total lack of clarity, shared sense making and understanding of what impact is, how it should or can be understood, measured and applied in practice. Many business schools occupy a peculiar position in Universities and society, and so their design, functions and relevance is under constant debate and contestation. An important question is can and should business schools be both 'scholarly like' and 'business like'? This PDW will bring together university administrators, researchers and people from industry to debate and discuss the idea of impact. The aim will be to initiate a range of strategic projects to help define, make sense of and measure impact that can be applied in decision making and policy making concerning the impact of scholarly practice.
Organizer: Tyrone S. Pitsis; Newcastle U.;
Participant: William D Guth; New York U.;
Participant: Usha C. V. Haley; West Virginia U.;
Participant: Charles Harvey; Newcastle U.;
Participant: Norris F. Krueger; Entrepreneurship Northwest;
Participant: Fedor Ovchinnikov; The CIC Consulting Network;
Participant: Sandip Ghose; Reserve Bank of India and Riskraft Consulting Limited;