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19 BizEd May/June 2014 BY ROBERT S. SULLIVAN T hese are exciting times for busi- ness school researchers. Changes within management education and the entire higher education system are opening up new fields of schol- arship, outlets for publication, and ways to create impact. For members of AACSB Interna- tional, one driver of these changes will be the new accreditation stan- dards, which AACSB approved in 2013 and will begin implementing this year. With the emphasis on mis- sion and impact—and the new clas- sifications of faculty—these stan- dards will redefine what constitutes research, how it will be valued, and how schools will incentivize faculty. But other changes are coming to university campuses, and they will bring with them their own effects on business research. We don't know yet how far these effects will reach, but they could be dramatic. Standard Operating Procedure AACSB's new standards could change business research several ways. First, faculty categories have been expanded from two—aca- demically qualified and pro- fessionally qualified—to four. Scholarly academics will still be expected to conduct discipline- based research that's published in academic journals. Conversely, practice academics are likely to work with industry on practical research. Scholarly practitioners are likely to pub- The Future of Scholarship Updated standards and shifting realities in higher education are leading business faculty to alternative avenues of research. lish intellectual contributions about new teaching methods and insights, whereas instructional practitioners will focus on bringing real-world experience to the classroom and will rarely publish. At the same time, the new stan- dards encourage schools to better define their missions, and that will clarify the type of research they consider important. If a school considers itself a research insti- tution, its faculty will probably continue to publish in top-tier peer- reviewed discipline-based journals. But if a school is more focused on teaching, its professors might research teaching methodology; they might publish cases and text- books instead of scholarly articles. Therefore, the new standards will encourage faculty to conduct expanded types of research and publish it in broader outlets. In some cases, faculty who weren't considered researchers before will—under the new standards— receive credit for conducting research. There's a third piece to the new standards that might be even more important in determining what kind of research is conducted and how it is recognized, and that's impact. We must now question how we mea- sure the impact of research. Does it motivate executives? Does it open the door for new types of research conducted by other scholars? That is, does it have practical or theoreti- cal value? In the past we've relied mostly on citations and counts to docu- ment impact, but it's always been difficult to measure. But because the new standards are so focused on defining missions and recognizing impact, I think deans and faculty are going to give a lot of thought to who benefits from what we do. The new standards also present fresh opportunities for defining impact, because they recognize changes that are reshaping both the business school and the university. The New Now Higher education is going through a tumultuous time. Online technol- ogy is enabling new kinds of course delivery, such as MOOCs. Alter- nate models such as the Minerva Project—in which students take classes online but travel the globe for experiential learning—are chal- lenging our notion of the class- room. At the same time, the public sector and our own stakeholders are demanding both relevance and accountability from universi- ties. Business schools have been among the first to grapple with these changes and demands, be expected to conduct discipline- in academic journals. Conversely, Project—in which students take classes online but travel the globe for experiential learning—are chal lenging our notion of the class room. At the same time, the public sector and our own stakeholders are demanding both relevance and accountability from universi ties. Business schools have been among the first to grapple with these changes and demands,