The genre regime of research evaluation:Contradictory systems of value around academics' writing

This paper addresses how academics navigate different kinds of prestige and different systems of value around what 'counts' in academic writing, focusing particularly on the impact of the genre regime associated with research evaluation in the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF). It draws on data from an ESRC-funded project working with academics across different disciplines and different institutions in England. We interviewed people about their writing practices several times, exploring their practices, life histories, institutional contexts, and the tools and resources they draw on as they write. Academics' research writing is framed within explicit institutional and departmental strategies around the numbers and publication venues of research outputs, driven by institutions’ need to succeed in the national competitive research evaluation system. Such institutional strategies do not always map well onto other values systems in which academics have been trained and within which they locate themselves. The paper analyses the interviews we carried out, exploring how academics negotiate tensions between these systems of value and considering the implications of this for what is considered to be important in academic work and, therefore, what it means to be an academic

What do introduction sections tell us about the intent of scholarly work: A contribution on contributions

This paper presents empirical examination of the semantics of contribution claims in the introduction sections of journal articles, a significantly under-examined area of scholarly activity, which underpins the methodical act of communicating the value of research to an audience. The paper presents a systematic review of 538 papers in three leading industrial marketing journals, Industrial Marketing Management, the Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing and the Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing and uses a phased approach to categorize contribution claims made by authors in their introductions and abstracts. The paper identifies four main categories of contribution, defined as incremental, revelatory, replicatory and consolidatory, with sub-categorizations within them, and reports on the proportionality of these strategies in the sample while capturing the semantic games played by authors in pursuit of these claims. Specific findings are of interest to industrial marketers, but the conceptual framework and systematic methods presented in the paper are transferable to any discipline or body of work, and therefore have broader disciplinary appeal. Findings are also of interest to authors, reviewers and editors for coalescing fragmented understanding of contribution strategies into a coherent framework for action

From the Guest Editors: the legitimacy and impact of business schools—key issues and a research agenda

It is an appropriate moment to review research into the legitimacy and impact of business schools. It is more than a decade now since Pfeffer and Fong's (2002) provocative paper challenging the perceived orthodoxy of business school success in the very first edition of the Academy of Management Learning & Education

The role of women entrepreneurs in UK economic development

This research demonstrates that women entrepreneurs make important contributions to economic development, but are disadvantaged by initial under-capitalisation. Working with UK and devolved governments, leading banks and finance institutions, and regional enterprise support organisations, this research influenced policy debates; shaped women’s enterprise policy; improved understanding of factors underpinning access to finance for diverse enterprises; and influenced the work of business support organisations and commercial banks

Perspectives On: Anonymous Marking: For or Against?

This is the first of a series of brief ‘perspectives’ on challenging learning and teaching issues authored by members of the Association of Business Schools. Whilst evidence-based, they do take up a position on topical, often controversial, issues considered from a business school vantage point. As such we hope you find them both useful and thought provoking. This perspective considers anonymous marking, debating its advantages and disadvantages and drawing some considerations for business school practice. Backgroun