Ancell School of Business : Ancell Bylaws, Policies and Procedures

Policy on the Impact of Scholarship

Faculty approved: November 21, 2014

In April 2013, the Membership of AACSB International voted to revise its accreditation standards. As part of the revisions, AACSB International’s Standard 2 now requires accredited institutions to discuss the impact of its scholarly activity as demonstrated below:

Standard 2 (2013)

  • The school produces high-quality intellectual contributions that are consistent with its mission, expected outcomes, and strategies and that impact the theory, practice, and teaching of business and management.

 

To provide guidance to institutions in achieving compliance with the standards, AACSB International has provided a “Basis for Judgment.” It is recognized that Standard 2 applies to the portfolio of intellectual contributions rather than measuring individual faculty. However, in a small school, it is critical that individual faculty understand their role in allowing the School of Business to achieve a portfolio of intellectual contributions consistent with its mission.

Basis for Judgment for Standard 2 (2013)

  • The school has produced intellectual contributions that have had an impact on the theory, practice, and/or teaching of business and management consistent with the mission, expected outcomes, and strategies of the school.
  • The school expresses expectations regarding the impact of intellectual contributions in the mission in ways that are transparent to the public.
  • The school applies relevant metrics to assess the extent to which expected impacts from intellectual contributions have been achieved and are aligned with mission.
  • The school maintains a current portfolio of high quality intellectual contributions that could impact theory, practice, and/or teaching in the future. The portfolio of intellectual contributions includes contributions from a substantial cross-section of the faculty in each discipline. Normally, a significant level of the contributions in the portfolio must be in the form of peer-reviewed journal articles or the equivalent. The portfolio of intellectual contributions must include some representation of discipline-based scholarship (such as basic/discovery, integration/application) and teaching and learning scholarship outcomes regardless of mission; however, the priorities of the school reflected in the mission, expected outcomes, and strategies must be evident in the overall portfolio of intellectual contribution outcomes.
  • The school supports the depth and breadth of faculty participation in scholarship leading to high-quality intellectual contributions that could impact theory, practice, and/or teaching in the future. If outcomes rely heavily on the intellectual contributions of faculty members who have primary faculty appointments with other institutions, the school must provide documentation regarding how its relationship with the individual faculty members and other institutions supports the success, mission, and intellectual contributions of the school.
  • The school documents intellectual contributions that demonstrate high quality and impact, as well as alignment with mission, expected outcomes, and strategies. In documenting quality, the school produces evidence of high-quality intellectual contributions within the most recent five-year AACSB accreditation review period. In documenting impact, however, the school may produce evidence from intellectual contributions produced prior to the most recent five-year AACSB accreditation review period. The review process recognizes that impact often occurs over time. During the initial three-year implementation period (2013-2016), schools are expected to make progress toward fully reporting the impact of research and providing the documentation described in this section. At the end of the implementation period, schools should fully satisfy the standard.

 

In order to be consistent in the application of terms, we rely on definitions provided by AACSB:

Key Definitions

  • Intellectual contributions are original works intended to advance the theory, practice, and/or teaching of business and management. They are scholarly in the sense that they are based on generally accepted research principles, are validated by peers and disseminated to appropriate audiences. Intellectual contributions are a foundation for innovation. Validation of the quality of intellectual contributions includes the traditional academic or professional pre-publication peer review, but may encompass other forms of validation, such as online post-publication peer reviews, ratings, surveys of users, etc. Intellectual contributions may fall into any of the following categories:
    • Basic or discovery scholarship that generates and communicates new knowledge and understanding and/or development of new methods. Intellectual contributions in this category are normally intended to impact the theory, knowledge, and/or practice of business and management.
    • Applied or integration/application scholarship that synthesizes new understandings or interpretations of knowledge or technology; develops new technologies, processes, tools, or uses; and/or refines, develops, or advances new methods based on existing knowledge. Intellectual contributions in this category are normally intended to impact the practice of business and management.
    • Teaching and learning scholarship that develops and advances new understandings, insights, and teaching content and methods that impact learning behavior. Intellectual contributions in this category are normally intended to impact the teaching of business and management.
  • Impact of intellectual contributions is the advancement of theory, practice, and/or teaching of business and management through intellectual contributions. Impact is concerned with the difference made or innovations fostered by intellectual contributions—e.g., what has been changed, accomplished, or improved.

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Validation of the impact of intellectual contribution outcomes:

  • Peer recognition of the originality, scope, and/or significance of new knowledge.
  • The applicability and benefits of the new knowledge to the theory, practice, and/or teaching of business and management.
  • The usefulness and/or originality of new or different understandings, applications, and insights resulting from the creative work.
  • The breadth, value, and persistence of the use and impact of the creative work.
  • The originality and significance of the creative work to learning, including the depth and duration of usefulness.
  • Research awards and recognition (e.g., selection as a fellow of an academic society).
  • Adoptions and citations of the creative work, including its impact on the creative work of others.
  • Evidence in the work of leadership and team-based contributions to the advancement of knowledge.
  • Alignment of the work with mission, expected outcomes, and strategies.

 

To assist the Ancell School of Business in determining the impact of its intellectual contributions portfolio, we adopt metrics, which are primarily those listed in the Appendix to the 2014 standards. As the Ancell School of Business gains experience with impact determination, these metrics will be augmented and revised.

Impact Metrics:

  • Mission Alignment Impact:
    • Percentage of intellectual contribution outcomes that align with one or more “mission-related” focus areas for research
    • Percentage of faculty with one or more intellectual contribution outcomes that align with one or more mission-related focus areas
    • Research awards and recognition that document alignment with one or more “mission-related” focus areas for research
  • Academic Impact
    • Publications in highly recognized, leading peer-review journals (journals in a designated journal list, Top 3, Top 10, etc.)
    • Citation counts
    • Journal circulation
    • Download counts for electronic journals
    • Editorships, associate editorships, editorial board memberships, and/or invitations to act as journal reviewers for recognized, leading peer-review journals
    • Elections or appointments to leadership positions in academic and/or professional associations and societies
    • Recognitions for research (e.g., Best Paper Award), Fellow Status in an academic society, and other recognition by professional and/or academic societies for intellectual contribution outcomes
    • Invitations to participate in research conferences, scholarly programs, and/or international, national, or regional research forums
    • Inclusion of academic work in the syllabi of other professors’ courses
    • Competitive grants awarded by major national and international agencies (e.g., NSF and NIH) or third-party funding for research projects
    • Patents awarded
      Appointments as visiting professors or scholars in other schools or a set of schools
  • Teaching/Instructional Impact
    • Grants for research that influence teaching/pedagogical practices, materials, etc.
    • Case studies of research leading to the adoption of new teaching/learning practices
    • Textbooks, teaching manuals, etc., that are widely adopted (by number of editions, number of downloads, number of views, use in teaching, sales volume, etc.)
    • Publications that focus on research methods and teaching
    • Research-based learning projects with companies, institutions, and/or non-profit organizations
    • Instructional software (by number of programs developed, number of users, etc.)
    • Case study development (by number of studies developed, number of users, etc.)
    • Teaching Awards
  • Practice/Community Impact
    • Media citations (e.g., number, distribution, and effect)
    • Requests from the practice community to utilize faculty expertise for consulting projects, broadcast forums, researcher-practitioner meetings, faculty/student consulting projects, etc.
    • Publications in practitioner journals or other venues aimed directly at improving management expertise and practice
    • Consulting reports
    • Research income from various external sources such as industry and community/governmental agencies to support individual and collaborative research activities
    • Case studies based on research that has led to solutions to business problems
    • Adoption of new practices or operational approaches as a result of faculty scholarship
    • Presentations and workshops for business and management professionals
    • Invitations for faculty to serve as experts on policy formulation, witnesses at legislative hearings, members of special interest groups/roundtables, etc.
    • Tools/methods developed for companies
    • Memberships on boards of directors of corporate and non-profit organizations

 

Responsibility of Faculty

It is the responsibility of faculty to produce information for Part D of Table 2-1 (see below) for any and all intellectual activities. The annual request will be forthcoming from the Dean of the Ancell School of Business through the Department Chairs.

Ancell School Impact Template

In response to changes in AACSB standards, the Ancell Faculty Qualification Committee must collect information from faculty about the impact of their scholarly contributions and activities. Impact is defined as evidence that your contribution has had a positive effect on other scholars, teachers, the community, businesses and our students. Data collected from faculty will be used primarily in aggregate as a portfolio to support the overall impact of the Ancell School.  Not all faculty will contribute to all areas but documenting any evidence you have about the impact of your contributions is critical to our AACSB accreditation process.  The window for impact is five years, however contributions made prior to five years might still have an impact (e.g., recent citations of an article) and should be documented.

Please enter your comments about your contributions in the categories below.  Note that some of the categories may overlap and evidence other than the examples listed may be used to substantiate impact.

Contribution Category Narrative about the Impact of Your Contribution
Evidence of impact on academic discipline includes:

  • Citations in Google Scholar or other databases.
  • Best paper awards
  • Invited presentations
  • Best article awards
Evidence of impact on teaching includes:

  • Adoption of textbook(s) or course materials that you wrote
  • Implementation of recommendations in your scholarly articles into your courses
  • Teaching awards
Evidence of impact on the community includes:

  • Service on not-for-profit boards
  • Consulting projects implemented by not-for-profit organizations
  • Your students’ project recommendations that were implemented by not-for-profit organizations
Evidence of impact on the business community includes:

  • Service on boards
  • Consulting recommendations implemented.
  • Your students’ project recommendations that were implemented by businesses
  • Expert testimony
Evidence of impact on student success outside of the classroom includes:

  • Internship placement assistance and mentoring
  • Assistance with job placement
  • Advisor to student organizations
  • Assistance to student tutoring, mentoring, etc.

 
Other evidence of impact not categorized above that is consistent with the Ancell School’s mission and values

 

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Table 2-1 Intellectual Contributions
Part A: Five-Year Summary of Intellectual Contributions 
Faculty

Aggregate and summarize data to reflect the organizational structure of the school’s faculty (e.g., departments, research groups). Do not list by individual faculty member.

 Portfolio of Intellectual Contributions Types of Intellectual Contributions
Basic or Discovery Scholarship Applied or
Integration/
Application
Scholarship		 Teaching and Learning Scholarship Peer
Reviewed Journals		 Research Monographs Academic/
Professional
Meeting
Proceedings		 Competitive
Research
Awards
Received		 Text
books		 Cases Other
Teaching
Materials		 Other
IC
Type
Selected
by the
School		 Percent
of
Faculty
Producing
ICs*
                         
                         
                         
                         
*After each grouping of faculty by organizational structure, please indicate the percentage of faculty producing ICs in the column on the far right.                        
Part B: Alignment with Mission, Expected Outcomes, and Strategy          
Provide a qualitative description of how the portfolio of intellectual contributions is aligned with the mission, expected outcomes, and strategy of the school.
 
Part C: Quality of Five-Year Portfolio of Intellectual Contributions
Provide evidence demonstrating the quality of the above five-year portfolio of intellectual contributions. Schools are encouraged to include qualitative descriptions and quantitative metrics and to summarize information in tabular format whenever possible.
Part D: Impact of Intellectual Contributions 
Provide evidence demonstrating that the school’s intellectual contributions have had an impact on the theory, practice, and/or teaching of business and management. The school is encouraged to include qualitative descriptions and quantitative metrics and to summarize the information in tabular format whenever possible to demonstrate impact. Evidence of impact may stem from intellectual contributions produced beyond the five-year AACSB accreditation review period.

 

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