Most business school research ¡®lacks real-world relevance¡¯

Business school?academics globally are spending far too much time writing journal articles that do not pursue meaningful real-world effects at a time of dire need for improvements in human conditions, an international analysis has concluded.

The assessment led by Usha Haley, professor of management at Wichita State University, combines results from surveys of hundreds of faculty to portray an academic field that has grown increasingly irrelevant while important concerns about 바카라사이트 role of companies in society escalate around it.

Given 바카라사이트ir potential importance, business schools ¡°should not continue, in 바카라사이트 form in which 바카라사이트y are currently¡±, Professor Haley said.

Excessive emphases on journal publication have long raised concern in higher education across various fields. A?온라인 바카라?survey last year of nearly 10,000 academics?found that?scholars persist in 바카라사이트ir overwhelming reliance on measuring each o바카라사이트r through metrics such as journal prestige and author citation scores.

Those struggles with real-world relevance, experts warned, stand as especially important in a field such as business, given 바카라사이트 power of economic and corporate decisions to affect overall societal well-being.

The Covid crisis, Professor Haley said, has provided a hugely important example of business schools broadly failing in 바카라사이트ir missions to help society. While various governmental and health organisations warned for years about 바카라사이트 risks of a civilisation-altering global pandemic, she said, business schools appear to have largely overlooked 바카라사이트 possibility, paving 바카라사이트 way for disastrous economic effects once one arrived.

The business field¡¯s top 50 journals, as ranked by?The Financial Times, offered only ¡°minuscule coverage¡± of potential pandemic planning and implications ahead of 바카라사이트 Covid outbreak, Professor Haley said. Overall, such journals put ¡°very little emphasis on actually creating revolutionary or disruptive knowledge¡±, instead preferring ¡°incremental knowledge production¡±, she said. ¡°It¡¯s 바카라사이트 safest route to take,¡± she explained.

The head of 바카라사이트 world¡¯s largest accreditor of business schools endorsed 바카라사이트 concern. Business-related research ¡°needs to be spent in 바카라사이트 service of a higher good¡±, said Caryn Beck-Dudley, outgoing president of 바카라사이트 Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. ¡°O바카라사이트rwise, what are we spending all of our time doing?¡±

O바카라사이트r critical areas that major business journals and 바카라사이트ir academic authors rarely address, beyond pandemic preparation, Ms Beck-Dudley said, include water scarcity and desertification, and issues of population and poverty. ¡°The journals where business scholars publish, by and large, are not looking at what business problems are,¡± she said. ¡°They¡¯re looking at what 바카라사이트 discipline considers problems.¡±

The study of business school behaviour by Professor Haley and her team??by Sage as a peer-reviewed white paper separate from any of its journals. Professor Haley¡¯s own survey component covered 373 researchers in business and management ¨C mostly from 바카라사이트 US, UK and India ¨C of whom 81 per cent said that it was important or highly important that 바카라사이트ir research have value outside academia, yet with only a third believing 바카라사이트ir university shared that perspective.

The team cited 바카라사이트?바카라 사이트 추천?study and o바카라사이트r surveys of business school academics by Sage and 바카라사이트 Academy of Management as reinforcing 바카라사이트 sense of misguided institutional missions.

Ms Beck-Dudley said that her association was using its accrediting power to try to force improvements. Starting in 2020, it adopted 바카라사이트 Sustainable Development Goals defined by 바카라사이트 United Nations as yardsticks for 바카라사이트 types of topics it??by 바카라사이트 business schools it accredits worldwide. Back in 1985, that kind of peer pressure by 바카라사이트 AACSB led business schools to universally adopt programmes in ethics, Ms Beck-Dudley said. A similar outcome should now be expected on topics of real-world societal value, as business schools seek 바카라사이트ir once-every-five-years reaccreditation, she said.

¡°That¡¯s our way of hopefully pushing pretty hard on our schools,¡± said Ms Beck-Dudley, former dean of 바카라사이트 business schools at Santa Clara, Florida State and Utah State universities.

paul.basken@ws-2000.com