2012 Awards for Excellence

2012 Awards for Excellence

Article Type: Awards for Excellence From: Career Development International, Volume 18, Issue 1

The following article was selected for this year's Outstanding Paper Award for Career Development International

"Publish or perish: academic life as management faculty live it''

Alan N. Miller Department of Management, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Shannon G. TaylorDepartment of Management, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, USA

Arthur G. BedeianDepartment of Management, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Purpose - Although many in academe have speculated about the effects of pressure to publish on the management discipline -- often referred to as "publish or perish'' - prevailing knowledge has been based on anecdotal rather than empirical evidence. The aim of the present paper is to shed light on the perceptions of management faculty regarding the pressure to publish imperative.

Design/methodology/approach - The authors surveyed faculty in 104 management departments of AACSB accredited, research-oriented US business schools to explore the prevalence, sources, and effects of pressure to publish.

Findings - Results indicate that pressure to publish affects both tenured and tenure-track management faculty, although the latter, as a group, feel significantly more pressure than those who are tenured. The primary source of this pressure is faculty themselves who are motivated by the prospects of enhancing their professional reputation, leaving a permanent mark on their profession, and increasing their salary and job mobility. The effects of pressure to publish include heightened stress levels; the marginalization of teaching; and research that may lack relevance, creativity, and innovation.

Research limitations/implications - The sample was intentionally restricted to faculty from management departments affiliated with research-oriented US business schools and does not include faculty from departments that are less research-oriented and, therefore, would be expected to put less pressure on their faculty to publish.

Practical implications - Although the effects of pressure to publish are not necessarily always negative, the paper offers some fundamental suggestions to management (and other) faculty who wish to mitigate the deleterious effects of pressure to publish.

Originality/value - Although the findings may not be surprising to more seasoned faculty, to the authors' knowledge this is the first time they have been documented in the published literature. As such, they advance discussions of ``publish or perish'' beyond mere conjecture and "shared myths'' allowing management faculty to more rationally debate its consequences and their implications for academic life.

Keywords: Academic life, Business schools, Management research, Pressure to publish, Publish or perish, Publishing, Research work, Tenure and promotion

www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/13620431111167751

This article originally appeared in Volume 16 Number 5, 2011, pp. 422-45, Career Development International

The following articles were selected for this year's Highly Commended Award

"Networking: a valuable career intervention for women expatriates?''

Susan Shortland

This article originally appeared in Volume 16 Number 3, 2011, Career Development International

"Research vitality as sustained excellence: what keeps the plates spinning?''

J. Bruce Gilstrap, Jaron Harvey, Milorad M. Novicevic, M. Ronald Buckley

This article originally appeared in Volume 16 Number 6, 2011, Career Development International

Outstanding Reviewers

Dr Bert H.J. SchreursMaastricht University, Belgium

Professor Matthew ValleElon University, USA