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Examining Practitioner-Academics in Management Academia

Some of you may have left an extensive career in the corporate world to
become academics, and we believe this phenomenon is worth examining in
terms of relevance to the field of management research, practice, and
education.

** Do management researchers with extensive business backgrounds, whom
we've labeled practitioner-academics, bring a different point of view to
their scholarly work?

** To what extent do individuals who get management PhDs after extensive
business success intend to be an integral part of academia?

** Does our field fully embrace and leverage these practitioner-academics
or marginalize and even reject them?

** Are practitioner-academics underrepresented in the institutional roles
that make up management academia?

** Do PhD students with management experience require different
socialization tactics than their less experienced counterparts?



We’re planning an informal get-together at the 2010 AoM Montréal meeting
for those interested in seeking answers to these types of questions. We’ll
discuss future directions, which could include undertaking research
projects and/or setting up a caucus at the 2011 AoM meeting in San
Antonio.

This should be of particular interest to students and faculty who entered
academia after many successful years as practitioners, especially those
that worked in managerial or other high status positions. We’re seeking
practitioner-academics with a broad range of academic experience, from PhD
students and junior faculty to those who make up the leadership of
management academia (e.g., department chairs, journal editors, academy
officers, etc…).

If you’d like to meet other AoM members who have successfully navigated
both corporate and academia worlds, please reply directly to the email
below with your contact information. Apologies as usual for cross-posting,
but we’d like to reach as many people as possible before the meeting. Feel
free to also send us names of others you know who might be interested in
this topic.

We will send an e-mail during the meeting once we have a date, time, and
location to meet. Hope to see you there!



Robert McNamee, Rutgers University, rmcnamee@andromeda.rutgers.edu
Ken Chung, Rutgers University, kenchung@pegasus.rutgers.edu
Eric Benshetler, Temple University, eric77@temple.edu