A Framework for Research Impact: Insights, Pathways, and Calls to Action

Developed by the Global Research Impact Task Force and aligned with the AACSB Global Standards for Business Education™, this report calls for a broader and more intentional approach to research impact in business education—one that recognizes contributions not only to academic knowledge but also to practice, policy, education, and society.

It presents a framework to help business schools and ecosystem stakeholders better define, support, assess, and communicate research impact through a more integrated view of teaching, scholarship, and societal engagement as interconnected dimensions of a broader impact ecosystem. To support schools in their efforts, the report includes a Research Impact Assessment Tool and a Research Impact Ecosystem Guide.

Key Takeaways

• Research impact needs to be understood more broadly than traditional publication and citation metrics to include demonstrable contributions to business, policy, education, and society.
• Impact is nonlinear and iterative, often emerging through ongoing engagement, collaboration, dissemination, and translational activities throughout the knowledge production process.
• Business schools should adopt institution-level, portfolio-based research impact strategies aligned with their missions, strategic priorities, and stakeholder needs, recognizing that impact is created through three interconnected channels: scholarly discovery, teaching, and external engagement.
• Current incentive and evaluation systems remain overly concentrated on quantitative and journal-based metrics, limiting broader forms of impactful and externally engaged scholarship. Business schools should incorporate a balanced mix of quantitative and qualitative indicators to assess research impact.
• Advancing research impact requires intentional school ecosystems, including alignment across strategy, governance, incentives, infrastructure, dissemination, engagement, and assessment.
• Systemwide progress will require collective action across accrediting bodies, scholarly associations, journals, publishers, ranking organizations, funding agencies, practitioners, policymakers, and business schools themselves.