{"id":5211,"date":"2025-06-02T17:49:45","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T17:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=5211"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:48:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:48:24","slug":"research-findings-are-not-reaching-business-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/research-findings-are-not-reaching-business-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Findings Are Not Reaching Business Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Nick Keppler<\/a><\/p>\n

There are now about 400 journals for management as an academic field, producing about 12,000 published articles a year in total. However, top decision-makers rarely learn anything from them, said Academy of Management Scholar Herman Aguinis<\/a> of the George Washington University School of Business.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of us are concerned that the research we do is not being used to the extent that we would like, and it’s called a research-practice gap,\u201d Aguinis said. \u201cAlso, there’s a research-policy gap,\u201d stemming from political leaders\u2019 lack of familiarity with research produced in the field of management.<\/p>\n

This gap is particularly frustrating, said Aguinis, because scholars on management and organizations have produced a wealth of scientifically sound research<\/a> on issues that have dominated the news in 2025, including the downsizing of the federal government, the measurement of job performance, discrimination and diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, and the implementation of AI in workplaces.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to build a bridge, you will talk to the top engineers, but management scholars are not consulted with the same regularity,\u201d said Aguinis.<\/p>\n

This is not entirely the fault of those who could potentially benefit from our research, Aguinis added. Academic journals are often insular and publish articles that only make small contributions to our understanding of critical organizational phenomena. Also, the compensation and reward systems motivate academics to write mainly for other academics, not managers, business leaders, and decision-makers.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor several reasons, much of our research is not aimed at affecting practice,\u201d Aguinis said. \u201cIf you read the typical article of, let\u2019s say, 20 pages, you may find one or two paragraphs at the end saying \u2018implications for practice.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The research is not lost on everyone. A small number of elite companies look to academia to improve performance. Google is well-known for hiring Ph.D. holders<\/a>, not just for computer-science roles but also for management and creative jobs. Marriott is a sponsor of doctoral development programs. <\/a><\/p>\n

These companies reap the benefit in reputation, said Aguinis, often appearing in lists such as Fortune Magazine<\/em>\u2019s \u201cBest Companies to Work For\u201d series.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these companies, all of them, employ Ph.D.s who actually read the research, and they try to implement leadership strategies and management practices that are consistent with what research says aligns with best-practice evidence as published in scholarly journals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Nick Keppler There are now about 400 journals for management as an academic field, producing about 12,000 published articles a year in total. However, top decision-makers rarely learn anything from them, said Academy of Management Scholar Herman Aguinis of the George Washington University School of Business. \u201cMany of us are concerned that the research […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":5440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,71,21,19],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[840],"class_list":["post-5211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c-suite","category-communicating","category-innovation","category-leadership"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nResearch Findings Are Not Reaching Business Leaders - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/research-findings-are-not-reaching-business-leaders\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nick Keppler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/research-findings-are-not-reaching-business-leaders\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/research-findings-are-not-reaching-business-leaders\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nick Keppler\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8aff6a6e3f22d0d813c97e6aab7149\"},\"headline\":\"Research Findings Are Not Reaching Business Leaders\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-02T17:49:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-09T15:48:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/research-findings-are-not-reaching-business-leaders\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":396,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/research-findings-are-not-reaching-business-leaders\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/professor-uses-laptop.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"C-SUITE\",\"COMMUNICATING\",\"INNOVATION\",\"LEADERSHIP\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/research-findings-are-not-reaching-business-leaders\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/research-findings-are-not-reaching-business-leaders\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/research-findings-are-not-reaching-business-leaders\\\/\",\"name\":\"Research Findings Are Not Reaching Business Leaders - 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