Special Issue of Academy of Management Perspectives
Turning Implications Into Evidence: Actionable Solutions to Real-World Problems of Practice and Policy Based on Prior Academy of Management Publications
Guest Editors
- Julian Birkinshaw, Western University
- Thomas P. Lyon, University of Michigan
- Denise M. Rousseau, Carnegie Mellon University
- Majken Schultz, Copenhagen Business School
- Mo Wang, University of Florida
Academy of Management Perspectives (AMP) Editor
- Michael L. Barnett, Rutgers University
Amid rising concern about the relevance of their contents, many scholarly journals mandate inclusion of a managerial implications section. This section may be relegated to a few paragraphs at the end of an article and comprised of speculative statements loosely connected to the paper’s empirical or theoretical content. And there these unvalidated implications tend to remain, largely unaddressed in future research studies and having little relevance to practice or policy.
In this special issue, we call for original research that develops actionable solutions from previously published managerial implications. We draw attention to opportunities for useful research on real-world problems of practice and policy overlooked in managerial implications sections and seek to develop novel studies that take the next step of analyzing them in robust ways that directly evidence specific guidance for practitioners and policy makers.
By developing actionable insights from underdeveloped or dormant implications, this special issue of Academy of Management Perspectives furthers the core function outlined in an editorial published across each of the Academy of Management (AOM) journals recently:
A core function of any science is the development of a corpus of valid and reliable knowledge. An applied science has the added demand that knowledge be usable outside of academia. When scholars understand the interdependence among individual papers and among the AOM’s seven journals, then the work that they create should be more integrated, improving our field’s contributions and maintaining the value and relevance of the AOM for the future (Cronin et al, 2025: 364).
The portfolio of AOM journals forms a system of knowledge production in which each journal has a complementary specialization. Within this system, AMP papers provide actionable insights that guide practitioner behavior and influence policy decisions. To do so, AMP papers build on theory developed, tested, and organized in other journals; and in doing so, AMP papers enrich these theories by revealing nuances and boundaries of their usefulness.
To highlight and enhance the process of knowledge production across AOM’s portfolio of interdependent journals and to make its scope more manageable, this special issue is limited to papers that analyze practice and policy implications previously published in any of the seven established AOM journals: Academy of Management Annals (Annals), Academy of Management Collections (Collections), Academy of Management Discoveries (AMD), Academy of Management Journal (AMJ), Academy of Management Learning & Education (AMLE), Academy of Management Review (AMR), and Academy of Management Perspectives (AMP). The article containing the focal implication on which a submission to this special issue is based must have been published in or fully (not conditionally) accepted to any of the journals listed above at any point up to 31 December 2026.
Submissions must conduct novel empirical or conceptual analysis. AMP does not accept managerial “translations” that restate previously published work in more practice-friendly terms. Moreover, we do not accept papers that address managerial implications for which actionable solutions have already been adequately developed through prior publications. Authors submitting to this special issue may be, but are not required to be, an author of the published article containing the managerial implication.
Please note that AMP’s mission and format differ from many other leading academic journals. We strongly encourage potential authors to review AMP’s guidelines before submission, to include reading editorials that outline our approach and provide templates for both empirical and conceptual contributions. Though our format differs, AMP’s analytical standards are the same as at any other AOM journal, demanding robust analysis that fulfills current social science standards.
All submissions must be uploaded to the AMP Manuscript Central website from the 1st until the 31st of January 2027. The final deadline for submissions is 31 January 2027 at 23:59 ET (DST+1,UTC-4). When submitting, include a cover letter that specifies the source of the managerial implication that the submission is based on. Please provide the full citation, the page number(s) on which the managerial implication is published, and paste direct quotes therefrom. If the managerial implication is not directly quotable, then make a strong case in the cover letter to support your inference. Any inference must be conservative, avoiding misrepresenting or stretching the intent of the implication. Submissions that take excessive liberties with interpretation of a managerial implication will be desk rejected. Also in the cover letter, specify how your submission analyzed the focal managerial implication and the actionable insights that were evidenced.
Submissions should be written in AMP style and format, and as stand-alone papers. To stand alone, a paper is motivated by the focal problem of practice or policy, rather than explicitly motivating the paper by this call for papers. Authors may include an endnote in the introduction that cites the study in which the motivating managerial implication was published.
We intend to host a Paper Development Workshop (PDW) at the AOM 2026 Conference in Philadelphia for selected authors to further develop their manuscripts. Participation in this workshop is neither a guarantee nor a prerequisite for publication. Please direct any inquires to Mike Barnett, AMP Editor-in-Chief.
Deadline, Submission, and Review Process
The deadline for submission is 31 January 2027 at 23:59 ET (DST+1,UTC-4). All submissions must be uploaded to the AMP Manuscript Central website between 1 January and 31 January 2027.
All papers will be reviewed according to the current policies of Academy of Management Perspectives. AMP papers should be grounded in evidence or robust conceptual frameworks, address relevant real-world managerial and policy issues, offer actionable insights, avoid theory fetish, and be written in a style accessible to non-specialists and practitioners.
Reference
M. Cronin, B. Galvin, E. George, M. Gruber, D. Lindebaum, G. Markman, C. Chet Miller, E. Rose, S. Thatcher, and G. Wood. 2025. From a portfolio of journals to a system of knowledge production. Academy of Management Perspectives, 39: 357–364.
