{"id":48759,"date":"2026-06-09T10:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/badania.uew.pl\/?p=48759"},"modified":"2026-06-09T13:13:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T11:13:57","slug":"research-impact-as-a-design-principle-what-the-aacsb-research-impact-conference-in-dublin-teaches-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/badania.uew.pl\/en\/research-impact-as-a-design-principle-what-the-aacsb-research-impact-conference-in-dublin-teaches-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Research impact as a design principle. What the AACSB Research Impact Conference in Dublin teaches us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In late May 2026, in Dublin, AACSB, together with the Academy of Management, launched the report “A Framework for Research Impact: Insights, Pathways, and Calls to Action”, shifting the conversation about research impact from the level of declarations to concrete mechanisms of assessment, funding and accreditation (conference materials, opening session). The most important conclusion for business and economics schools is an uncomfortable one. The field largely agrees that the dominant metrics do not measure impact, and yet it continues to treat publication in a prestigious journal as an end in itself. This is not a debate about whether quality matters. It is a question of whether we are able to measure it in a way that reflects the genuine value of research for the economy and for society.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Spotkanie
Meeting Professor Andrew J. Hoffman (University of Michigan), who delivered the opening keynote at the Research Impact Conference (AACSB + Academy of Management) in Dublin. Representatives of Wroc\u0142aw University of Economics and Business, Justyna Morawska-P\u0142oskonka and Agnieszka Drami\u0144ska, with a copy of his book “The Engaged Scholar: Expanding the Impact of Academic Research in Today’s World”.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A diagnosis the field agrees on<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The scale of the problem is well documented. In his opening keynote, Andrew Hoffman of the University of Michigan recalled that around five million academic articles are published each year, and a significant share of them are never cited (keynote by A. Hoffman, AACSB Research Impact Conference 2026). At the same time, fewer than 10 per cent of business school studies are cited outside academia, and business leaders consistently point out that universities’ work does not address their problems (conference materials, session on building a research culture).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The source of the tension is the instrument we use to measure success. The journal impact factor was created to help librarians make subscription decisions, and over time it became a criterion for assessing individual scholars in hiring and promotion (conference materials, session on measuring impact). The consequence is a classic management error: rewarding one behaviour in the hope of an entirely different result. Importantly, the appetite for change is already clear. According to figures presented at the conference, 87 per cent of deans and 82 per cent of faculty consider that the quality of research is also determined by its relevance and impact, not by methodological rigour alone (conference materials, opening session).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the AACSB framework proposes<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The report does not stop at criticism. At its core is a shift from a linear model, in which impact is an activity that follows publication, to a model of knowledge co-creation, in which researchers and stakeholders work together from the outset. In this logic, research, teaching and societal engagement are three connected channels of influence rather than competing obligations (conference materials, opening session). This is reflected in the AACSB 2026 accreditation standards, which integrate impact within the “Pathways to Impact” section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From this follows a practical recommendation, repeated in Dublin in various forms. Instead of a single number, what is needed is a portfolio of impact that combines publications, grants, doctoral training and engagement, while distinguishing influence on business practice from influence on public policy and rewarding both separately. This is accompanied by a sober observation about the mechanism of change. Reform of assessment criteria will only work if it is accompanied by reform of workload, because it is researchers’ time, and not their declarations, that is the genuine resource (conference materials, session on measuring impact). For teams that do not want to build a system from scratch, a ready starting point is the societal impact framework developed by the Australian Business Deans Council, which organises outputs and engagement by stakeholder group and by stage of the impact pathway.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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