Impactful work as a business academic: Understanding the implications of an institutionalised ideal of impact

Samuel Douglas James Redgrave*, Vadim Grinevich, Dorrie Chao, Mine Karatas-Ozkan

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to elucidate the institutional landscape of business schools in the United Kingdom in order to understand how the impact agenda is perceived and exercised by actors operating in the academic environment. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with fifty-nine academics across ten business schools, we conceptualise impact as a distinct institutional logic, existing within a wider constellation consisting also of the publication and student logics. We find that institutional prescriptions related to publishing academic outputs are dominant, with markedly less emphasis put on being an externally impactful scholar. Furthermore, the impact logic follows a narrative that has manifested from the introduction of impact case studies and reflects a metric-driven environment. Consequently, there is evidence of a lack of institutional drive for what we term organic impact – impact that is not easily measured or evidenced.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationBritish Academy of Management 36th Annual Conference (2022) Proceedings
PublisherBritish Academy of Management
ISBN (Electronic)9780995641358
Publication statusPublished - 2 Sept 2022
EventBritish Academy of Management 36th Annual Conference: Reimagining business and management as a force for good - The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
Duration: 31 Aug 20222 Sept 2022

Conference

ConferenceBritish Academy of Management 36th Annual Conference
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityManchester
Period31/08/222/09/22

Keywords

  • Business schools
  • impact agenda
  • institutional logics
  • academic environment

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