On academic branding: A review of the factors influencing research agenda choice and prioritization in management

In this paper, we provide an exploratory account of the experience of renouncing at work—giving up a work‐related aspiration. Despite the importance of the phenomenon, the conceptualization of renouncing has been overlooked by the literature. Taking a narrative sensemaking approach to renouncing, we document variance in individual experiences to renouncing, that is, how they subjectively understand what, why, and how they renounce at work. Through a qualitative approach, we investigate the case of 30 academics working in three French business schools characterized by an increasingly influential managerialist “publish or perish” regime, a context conducive to renouncing. Based on our findings identifying various experiences of renouncing, we inductively build a matrix and a model connecting six experiences of renouncing based on the type of renouncing (renouncing in order to succeed vs. renouncing success itself) and how people approach renouncing (suffered, accepted, or chosen renouncing).

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making sense of renouncing: A typology of types, motives, and approaches to renouncing at work

Bardon

Frémeaux

Letierce

et al. 2023

“…This has made the ability to communicate in the local and common languages an important issue in the daily management of many academics in large parts of the world (cf. Lauring & Kubovcikova, forthcoming; Lauring & Selmer, 2015; Selmer et al, 2017; Wazir et al, forthcoming). As high English proficiency among non‐native speaking early‐stage scholars is becoming increasingly common and expected, language skills could also play a role in the competitive environments of university departments, especially for nontenured scholars.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linguistic capital and status: The interaction between language skills, personal reputation, and perceived collaboration performance

Lauring

Vulchanov

Stoermer

2022

Although language has become a central theme in international business and management research, this stream still holds many unexplored research avenues.One area that has attracted some attention, but lacks extensive systematic assessment, is the connection between language and personal reputation. Qualitative research has offered tentative insights suggesting that proficiency in key organizational languages increases the status of individuals over and above their functional abilities. In this study, we use data from 171 pairs of expatriate academics and their local academic collaboration partners. We asked the local academic peers to rate expatriate academics' reputation, their local and English language skills, and collaboration performance. As expected, we found a positive association between academic reputation and collaboration performance. In line with analyses from qualitative research, we show a moderation effect of language skills, where high common organizational language (English) proficiency compensates for a weaker perceived reputation in predicting collaboration performance. Surprisingly, however, there was no moderating effect of local language skills.

“…A series of recent articles have provided a thoughtprovoking discussion of the "an A is an A" mentality and the increasing primacy of journal publications taking hold at business schools (Aguinis et al, 2020a(Aguinis et al, , 2020bAguinis, Archibold, & Rice, 2022;Balkin & Bresser, 2021;Bartunek, 2020;Harley & Fleming, 2021;Rasheed & Priem, 2020;Tourish, 2020aTourish, , 2020bWazir, El-Bassiouny, & Schmidpeter, 2022). According to Aguinis et al (2020a, p. 135), this mentality has emerged as the new bottom line for valuing academic research conducted in business schools and can be summarized as follows:…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A series of recent articles have provided a thought‐provoking discussion of the “an A is an A” mentality and the increasing primacy of journal publications taking hold at business schools (Aguinis et al, 2020a, 2020b; Aguinis, Archibold, & Rice, 2022; Balkin & Bresser, 2021; Bartunek, 2020; Harley & Fleming, 2021; Rasheed & Priem, 2020; Tourish, 2020a, 2020b; Wazir, El‐Bassiouny, & Schmidpeter, 2022). According to Aguinis et al (2020a, p. 135), this mentality has emerged as the new bottom line for valuing academic research conducted in business schools and can be summarized as follows:

Faculty recruiting committees and promotion and tenure panels readily discuss how many A's a candidate has published and how many A's are needed for a favorable decision, while conversations about the distinctive intellectual value of a publication are often secondary to its categorical membership in journals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“An A is an A?” Maybe in North America, but less so elsewhere

Hiebl

2023

With reference to recent debate about the increasing "an A is an A" mentality at business schools, I provide evidence on the prevalence of this mentality in North America versus other regions of the world (RoW). The evidence presented is derived from the data selection procedures employed in conducting systematic reviews of management research because a focus on specific journals in this selection can be seen as an artifact of the "an A is an A" mentality. My findings suggest that this mindset is more widespread in North American business schools and less so elsewhere. This implies that in order to find remedies against the detrimental effects of the "an A is an A" mentality, North American business school leaders and academics might find inspiration in other countries. In addition, I suggest that a part of the solution could also be directing PhD students toward a more inclusive selection of journals and articles in reviews of management research.