Beyond Impact Factors: an Academy of Management report on measuring scholarly impact

What constitutes scholarly impact? And which stakeholders have importance for research? Usha Haley shares findings of a recent Academy of Management report that sought answers to these questions by surveying its 20,000 members and conducting a selection of in-depth interviews with prominent figures. A majority of respondents indicated journal rankings did not reflect scholarly impact, yet publications in top-tier journals and citations were nonetheless regarded as the most important indicators of impact. Meanwhile, most academics considered impact on practice to be important, but also felt the greatest influence of management research had been on other management academics. Most scholars felt the present system of faculty evaluation and business school rankings has led to an overreliance on traditional techniques and methodologies, and even “junk science”.