Charted Courses and Meandering Trails: Crafting Success and Impact as Business School Academics

Abstract

Academics are increasingly expected to both do well and do good (i.e., achieve success in research and teaching, as well as have impact on stakeholders within and outside academia). Yet, pathways to achieve success and impact remain nebulous. We employ a comparative case study approach to examine in detail the careers of five highly successful and impactful business school academics. We uncovered two different career pathways in academia: structured and organic. The academics taking a structured pathway impact the field by creating and shaping institutions. Those taking an organic approach impact by nurturing and cultivating people. Specifically, we found that three metacompetencies and three relational dimensions support success and impact in academia. Our findings can help doctoral students and early-career academics craft their success and impact journeys based on their career contexts and individual circumstances