New Report Offers Roadmap for Impactful Business School Research

AACSB International (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, or AACSB) has released, “Research That Matters: An Action Plan for Creating Business School Research That Positively Impacts Society.” Sponsored by SAGE Publishing, the thought paper includes three common components of impactful research and a five-part plan that business schools can use to produce research that leads to a positive societal impact. 

The report includes: 

• An examination of the increasing importance of societal impact as a research priority across business and management and AACSB’s role in guiding societal impact in research. 
• The three common components of research that creates societal impact: research that is cross-disciplinary, at the intersection of academia and practice, and that creates real change useful to stakeholders. 
• A five-step roadmap business schools can use to develop and refine plans that cultivate research with positive societal impact. 

SAGE and AACSB also held a joint webinar, “Enriching the B-School Classroom by Partnering with Socially Innovative Enterprises,” on October 13. The session focused on the growing importance of social enterprises of all sizes—from certified B Corps to socially responsible investing and more—and how educators can build connections with these companies to enrich the business curriculum for their students. 

A panel of academics and editors from SAGE discussed approaches to both building bridges from the classroom to the enterprises, and how to leverage these relationships to help create impactful curriculum, such as case studies. 

SAGE, the parent of Social Science Space and Business & Management INK, is a Business Education Alliance Member of AACSB International, the world’s most prestigious accreditation body for business schools. As an active part of the AACSB community, SAGE works to provide educational resources such as this thought paper and webinar that align with accreditation standards and known needs. You can read more about these efforts here.