An Examination of the Relationship between Research Attitudes and Behaviors of Business School Faculty

INTRODUCTION While academic research has historically been an important component of faculty job descriptions at research-focused institutions, accreditation standards for business schools have expanded this focus to include a wider variety of institutions. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB, 2003) has recently enacted more stringent standards in order for business schools worldwide to earn and maintain their accreditation. These standards focus on increasing the number of peer-reviewed journal publications achieved by faculty members during a 5-year window (generally agreed to be two articles at a minimum in that time frame, per Miles, Hazeldine & Munilla, 2004). In its white paper on deploying academically qualified faculty (AACSB 2006, p. 1), AACSB states that faculty should be "active scholars through their research and other development activities that support the maintenance of their intellectual capital in the teaching field. " One of the primary justifications given for this increased emphasis on publications in colleges of business is that research results in more effective teaching, the premise being that faculty members who are actively engaged in research are more likely to remain current in their discipline and that, in turn, results in enhanced teaching effectiveness and student learning (AACSB, 2008). The current research examines the relationship between attitudes toward research, attitudes toward the impact of research on teaching, and research-oriented behaviors among business faculty at AACSB accredited institutions. THE IMPACT OF RESEARCH ON TEACHING The impact of research on teaching has been the focus of a multitude of research studies over the past 30 years. One stream of research in this area purports the notion that research and teaching are complementary and mutually supporting (e.g. Bowen & Schuster, 1986; Shils, 1983; Tang & Chamberlain, 1997; Webster, 1986). Braxton (1996), for example, purported that teaching and research involve common and reciprocal values, while Neumann (1992) found that academic administrators believed in the idea of a teaching-research nexus, or, in other words, the idea that teaching and research are interrelated functions through which the process of teaching is enriched by research and that research can be initiated through ideas generated in the classroom. Many academics support the idea that those who are the most active in research also are the most effective teachers (Hattie & Marsh, 1996). It is often argued that faculty who are research active are more likely to be up-to-date in discipline-specific knowledge and can use their research findings in preparing teaching materials (Marsh & Hattie, 2002). Rowland (2002) claimed that good researchers can make good teachers through their love of the subject area and a passion for contributing to that knowledge. Faculty who are active researchers are perceived to be more passionate about what they teach which translates into a heightened sense of excitement and engagement among students (Coates, Barnett & Williams, 2001). Students also appear to value faculty research. Lindsay, Breen and Jenkins (2002) found that college students' perceptions of a faculty member's knowledge currency, credibility and enthusiasm were enhanced through that faculty member's research activities. Although the idea that research enhances teaching is popular, there is little empirical evidence to support this claim (Gibbs, 1995). The long-held assumption that good researchers are also good teachers has been described as a myth of higher education (Terenzini & Pascarella, 1994). In fact, some research has found the opposite relationship: faculty placing more emphasis on research tend to put less emphasis on teaching (Allman 1988; Marsh & Hattie, 2002). This view espouses the notion that research and teaching are not complementary functions but, rather, at odds with each other as they compete for a faculty member's time, attention and efforts (Ladd, 1979) and create a source of "constant tension" (Light, 1974, p. …