Exploring preferences for impact versus publications among UK business and management academics

Ammon Salter, Rossella Salandra, James Walker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

39 Citations (SciVal)
124 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Academics are under increasing pressure to demonstrate the impact of their research with external actors. Some national research assessment systems have mandated academics to document their impact on non-academic actors, and linked research funding to assessments of these impacts. Although there has been considerable debate around the design of these systems, little is known about how academics perceive the value of impact against more conventional academic outputs, such as publications. Using multisource data, including a large-scale survey of UK business and management academics, this paper explores the individual and institutional factors that explain an individual’s preference for impact versus publication. The results show that academics display a preference for impact over publications, even when that impact is not associated with requirements of the assessment system in terms of rigour of the underpinning research. The preference for impact over publications is heightened by organization tenure, non-academic work experience, intrinsic career motivations and research-intensive contexts, while it is weakened by academic influence, extrinsic career motives and academic rank. We explore the implications of these findings for the design of research assessment systems and academics’ reactions to them.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1769-1782
Number of pages14
JournalResearch Policy
Volume46
Issue number10
Early online date29 Sept 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2017

Funding

We are grateful for the valuable comments and suggestions made by the editor, Ben Martin, and three anonymous reviewers for this journal. We are also grateful for advice and support from Relinde Colen, Paola Criscuolo, Keld Laursen, Cornelia Lawson, Christos Kolympiris, Michelle Osmond, Cleo Silvestri, Ian Tonks, Anne ter Wal, and Geoffrey Wood. To complete this project, we have benefitted from financial support by the University of Bath and the Henley Business School at the University of Reading . Rossella Salandra is grateful for support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) [grant number EP/K502856/1]. We would also like to give our thanks to faculty at UK business and management schools for their support for the project.

Keywords

  • Academic engagement
  • Impact
  • Publications
  • Research assessment systems
  • Research excellence framework

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Strategy and Management
  • Management Science and Operations Research
  • Management of Technology and Innovation

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