The Practice Theme Committee (PTC) proposed an AOM Strategic Doing project to achieve the following outcomes under the strategic intent of Professional Impact:

1) Engaging our colleagues and relevant stakeholders in reflexive consideration and conversation about the meaning and sensemaking of scholarly impact and for whom, followed by conversation that broadens current measurements of impact beyond articles, citations, or media mentions;

2) Drawing on the findings of an all-Academy survey and knowledge-dissemination workshops to identify resources in which the AOM may invest to address members’ research, teaching, and training needs to achieve scholarly impact.

Simply stated, this project aims to provide the AOM’s leadership and members with both a mirror and window to comprehend better the complex, pluralistic nature of scholarly impact, including how the AOM’s direct stakeholders (members) and indirect stakeholders (e.g., governments, university administrators, managers, and policymakers) value and comprehend this impact.

The project consisted of two interrelated parts: a qualitative study and quantitative survey on scholarly impact, and their meaning to the AOM’s various constituencies.

To summarize some of the major results, the AOM’s members perceived:

• The top five audiences for scholarly research as other academics in Management; top managers and decision makers in companies; governments and policymakers; other academics in the Social Sciences; and, students
• The top five indicators of scholarly impact as scholarly articles in top-tier journals; scholarly citations to research; scholarly books; competitive research grants, such as NSF; and, articles in practitioner-oriented/industry publications
• Scholars’ impact on practice and on government policy as intensely or strongly important indicators of scholarly impact, yet often receiving inadequate, institutional support
• Inter-disciplinary research as definitely or probably more impactful than single-discipline research, yet more difficult to publish in top-tier journals
• Academic institutions as strongly considering for merit, more than any other indicator, publications in top-tier journals, and as sometimes supporting their pursuit of scholarly impact
• Journal lists, journal rankings, and impact factors as definitely not, probably not, or perhaps not reflecting journal quality and scholarly impact, despite their widespread use as indicators of research merit
• Management research as somewhat influential, with the greatest influence on other Management academics, including what they currently research, will research, and teach.

Management scholars made several actionable recommendations on moving the field forward from its position of academic legitimacy for wider social influence, which the report also includes.

Media Coverage

Scholarly Impact Study Report media coverage to-date:

• March/April BizEd, a publication of AACSB International: The Essence of Scholarly Impact
• March op-ed featured in both LSE’s Impact Blog and on a Social Science Space blog