Communities for impact: Empowering early-career researchers in the pursuit of impact

Abstract

Impact-driven early-career researchers are conducting research that matters and generating insights that help tackle grand challenges. While this group is passionate about transforming organizations and society, these researchers tend to be held back by institutional barriers and to be marginalized in academia. We propose the concept communities for impact as spaces to help researchers (especially early-career researchers) cope with the challenges of impact-driven research. These communities can give their members a voice, legitimate their actions, and provide resources for unleashing the impact potential of their research. Communities for impact may be able to mitigate the uncertainties and challenges experienced by early-career researchers, but they cannot eliminate persistent institutional barriers. Therefore, we invite scholars at all career stages to join a community for impact to help change the narrative and empower early-career researchers to meaningfully address grand challenges.

It is the summer of 2023. We, the two leaders of the Impact Scholar Community, are in New York City, invited to speak at one of the leading management education conferences in our field. Several hundred attendees rustle in their seats and then hush. The cameras focus on us for the Zoom audience of several hundred more as we step up to the mics on stage. Squinting into the spotlights, we know from the program and the attendance list that the audience is packed with deans, high-level administrators, senior academics, corporate executives, and leaders of global NGOs. In this moment, we are standing on one of the largest global stages for those seeking to change the world through responsible management education, for those seeking that elusive “impact.” In that half-second before we begin to speak, it is hard not to take a second to mentally pinch ourselves. Two thoughts cross our minds. First, how has the Impact Scholar Community landed on this global stage in just a few short years? An idea floated during discussions among colleagues of the Academy of Management ONE division has quickly become a growing and vibrant community in the wake of the pandemic. We seem to have “arrived.” We are honored.

Yet, as we survey the room, a small doubt surfaces: Where are the other early-career researchers? Why are we the only early-career speakers at this conference? Why are there no other assistant professors, postdocs, and PhD students speaking about impact? In short, where are the people whose lives and careers will be most deeply and profoundly affected by the intersecting environmental and social crises of our time—the very crises that this conference and its attendees are here to address?

As the opening vignette shows, impact-driven early-career researchers are marginalized in conversations around impactful and relevant research and teaching practices (Wickert et al., 2021), and often are not even in the room. Indeed, most early-career researchers feel excluded from academic conversations about research impact (Baudoin et al., 2022). Institutional constraints such as rigid academic structures, expectations, and criteria for tenure and promotion may inadvertently stifle creativity and limit the scope of research, thereby curtailing early-career researchers’ ability to help address grand challenges (Baudoin et al., 2022). However, early-career researchers who pursue impactful research are driven by a passion which is amplified by grand challenges and the urgency to tackle them (Ferraro et al., 2015).

Drawing on insights from the Impact Scholar Community to which we all belong, we present two key arguments. First, we describe how communities for impact play a vital role in academia and propose that they should be encouraged and supported. We define communities for impact as grassroots initiatives that provide safe spaces to cultivate early-career researchers’ passion for impact-driven research (particularly research related to grand challenges) while facilitating inclusion in academic discourse and collectively challenging institutional constraints. Belonging to supportive communities for impact can help early-career researchers brave the uncertainties of being impact-driven scholars and cope collectively with the tensions of traditional academic work. While arguing for their necessity, however, we acknowledge that communities for impact only reach a small proportion of those who actually lead discussions and are in positions of authority within key academic institutions. Most early-career researchers who have the courage and vision to pursue impact remain on the periphery and their participation is limited.

Second, and relatedly, we argue for a change in narrative. In prior literature and discussions on impact (Baudoin et al., 2022; Friesike et al., 2022; Trinh et al., 2022), impact-driven researchers, particularly early-career scholars, have been framed as needing to be included in some broader impact discourse, or in the hallowed and traditional halls of the academy more broadly. However, after 4 years of running a thriving community for impact, and in writing this essay, our perspective has changed. In contrast to prior work, we argue that early-career researchers may in fact be a progressive and strong force for impact in academia. Rather than being excluded from important discussions and waiting to be asked to contribute, impact-driven early-career researchers are uniquely passionate about grand challenges, and can therefore serve as thought leaders on the role of impact in academia. Deviating from prior literature that calls for impact-driven early-career researchers to be helped and mentored, we argue that we are strong, and that other impact-oriented scholars, as well as academics more broadly, can learn from and potentially benefit by joining our efforts.

We build our arguments by focusing on how and why early-career impact researchers are generally seen as marginalized before describing why they are uniquely passionate about grand challenges, as well as the strength of community-building, its role, and current challenges in making broader institutional change. We conclude by inviting all researchers to join communities for impact and offering specific and actionable steps to leverage our collective strengths.

Introducing the impact scholar community

The Impact Scholar Community was founded by three early-career sustainability management scholars in April 2020, with support from the Academy of Management’s Strategic Project Fund. The Impact Scholar Community is a volunteer-led online community intended to support impact-driven early-career researchers. Over the past 4 years, membership has steadily grown to over 950 members. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this growth, driven by the increased acceptance of online meetings (Amankwah-Amoah Khan et al., 2021) as well as heightened awareness of impactful research (Howard-Grenville, 2021). Members are primarily early-career researchers—assistant professors, postdocs, and PhD students—from around the world, but also senior scholars who support this initiative.

The aim of the Impact Scholar Community is to provide a scholarly network for support and mentorship where early-career researchers can build connections with like-minded scholars who share the same worldview and value system. The Impact Scholar Community intends to strengthen early-career researchers’ personal agency and “ability to reimagine and enact alternative possibilities in the face of existing contingencies” (Trinh et al., 2022: 16).

Initially, the Impact Scholar Community program focused on exploring the concepts of research impact and building the capacity of early-career researchers in this domain. Activities included quarterly online events featuring guest speakers, such as senior scholars and practitioners. In addition, we developed information materials, such as the Impact Stories blog, which showcases the careers of community members who embarked on impactful work early in their careers, prior to achieving tenure. Given the increasing focus on research impact at academic conferences and in editorial notes, the Impact Scholar Community continued to evolve its program to focus more on how to pursue research with impact while building a successful academic career. Topics of the sessions included, for example, engaging in research–practice partnerships, rethinking publication strategies, navigating the tenure and promotion process, and becoming institutional change agents. To this end, the Impact Scholar Community has introduced a year-long mentorship program, co-organized impact awards, and launched a social event series at the Academy of Management Meeting together with the Organization and Natural Environment Division to showcase impact work in action.

All authors of this essay actively participate in the Impact Scholar Community, either as leaders or as long-term volunteers. Throughout this essay, we draw on the insights gained from our involvement in the Impact Scholar Community since its initiation. In addition, in alignment with the spirit of the community, we strive to amplify the voices of early-career researchers who are pursuing impact through their research by including quotes from a variety of community members. We collected these quotes over the past 4 years through interviews conducted for the Impact Stories series. These are supported with personal anecdotes from the author team.

Marginalization of impact-driven early-career researchers

While we acknowledge that all early-career researchers face challenges, we specifically focus on challenges experienced by impact-driven early-career researchers. This group of early-career researchers “feel[s] punished and excluded” due to “significant obstacles to [their] desired work and career paths” (Baudoin et al., 2022: 4–5). One significant challenge lies in the lack of institutional support for engaging in impact-oriented endeavors. While traditional doctoral programs often focus on theoretical and methodological rigor, impact receives less attention; as a result, impact-driven early-career researchers typically lack formal training in how to conduct impactful research, partner with practitioners, and engage in knowledge translation (Friesike et al., 2022; Williams and Whiteman, 2021). Traditional performance evaluation criteria in academia often prioritize the quantity of publications, teaching evaluations, and service contributions (Aguinis et al., 2014; Williams and Whiteman, 2021).

However, impactful research, which often involves extensive fieldwork and engagement with practitioners, takes more time and hence does not always result in a high number of publications early in one’s academic career, making this a unique challenge for untenured researchers who are striving for impact (Friesike et al., 2022; Trinh et al., 2022). While all early-career researchers face such uncertainties, those pursuing impactful research often grapple with additional uncertainties about engaging with practitioners, translating their research into real-world impact, and acquiring financial resources for extensive fieldwork. Limited access to resources, opportunities, or research sites contributes to a sense of exclusion and marginalization.

Grappling with institutional disadvantages, impact-driven early-career researchers often find themselves inadequately represented in academic discourse typically steered by a select group of senior scholars. While it is often the senior scholars who emphasize the need for impactful scholarship, a notable gap exists in discussions regarding the practical methodologies for doing so. Impact-driven early-career researchers are eager to surface actionable insights by exploring innovative and nontraditional avenues that may lead to meaningful impact (Bansal et al., 2012; Baudoin et al., 2022). This shift in perspective underscores the need for more inclusive and hands-on guidance to empower early-career researchers to navigate unconventional research paths and contribute meaningfully to the broader academic landscape. The prevailing unequal power dynamics often limit early-career researchers’ capacity to pursue impactful research.

While we propose developing communities for impact as a way to tackle the marginalization of early-career researchers and realize impact potential, we also want to acknowledge other approaches. For example, team members can play an instrumental role by helping scholars learn how to develop high quality research outputs aligned with their interests and translate them for impact (Bednarek et al., 2024). In addition to mentoring, senior scholars can try to make their institutions and journals more receptive toward research aimed at tackling grand challenges to support impact-driven early-career researchers (Williams and Whiteman, 2021). Yet, none of these approaches are peer-based or seek to offer a sense of community to build the agency and passion of impact-driven early-career researchers.

The passionate pursuit

The prevalence and urgency of grand challenges (Ferraro et al., 2015) such as climate change, social inequality, and global health crises, motivate impact-driven researchers to strive to produce research with actionable insights to address these pressing real-world problems (Chen et al., 2022). In early work on grand challenges, senior impact scholars defined the terminology (Ferraro et al., 2015) and the research field (George et al., 2016). Increasingly, early-career researchers feel passionate about dedicating their PhD projects and academic careers to addressing grand challenges in more concrete ways (Claus et al., 2021; Couture et al., 2023; Hein and Ansari, 2022). Impact-driven early-career researchers want to conduct rigorous research, but also believe that academia’s primary purpose transcends traditional scholarly achievements, aiming to make a tangible difference in the world (Reinecke et al., 2022). A member of our community explained that the purpose is “not to do research to have an extra bunch of papers in the library or online” but to “transform lives and influence people and our society” (ISC member 1). Another member said, “Impact is at the core of our job and why we exist as academics. It is not an external force we have to chase; it’s the inner compass guiding every aspect of our academic pursuits” (ISC member 2).

Passion for social impact thus is a central guiding principle for impact-driven early-career researchers in academic work. Passion can be a source of resilience in the face of adversity and foster a creative approach to problem-solving (Lauriano et al., 2023). It can lead to significant breakthroughs, contributing to the collective advancement of human understanding and the betterment of society (Sellars et al., 2018). Yet, passion is not without its downsides. It can lead to burnout, a condition where the constant pressure to achieve and the relentless pace of work erode mental and physical well-being (Birkeland et al., 2018). In addition, the competitive nature of academia can sometimes transform passion into an obsession, where the desire for recognition and advancement overshadows the intrinsic joy of learning and discovery for early-career researchers (Lauriano et al., 2023). This obsession can lead to an unhealthy work–life balance, strain personal relationships, and foster an environment where the fear of failure stifles creativity and innovation (Lauriano et al., 2023). Vallerand et al. (2003) contrasted this type of obsessive passion, which involves suppressing other identities and aspects of life, with harmonious passion, which involves synthesizing multiple identities. Harmonious passion drives impact-driven research, which is not merely about personal gratification, but about aligning one’s academic pursuits with a larger purpose (Vallerand et al., 2003). It is about finding joy in contributing to something that extends beyond the individual, marrying personal and professional aspirations with the needs of society.

To navigate the dark side of passion and ensure harmonious rather than obsessive passion, especially given the magnitude and overwhelming effects of grand challenges, we propose to approach this collectively in communities offering resources, mentorship, and collaboration. Community support is vital to nurturing and sustaining the passion of impact-driven early-career researchers, enabling them to remain focused and effective in their pursuit of solutions to grand challenges. An Impact Scholar Community member reflected, “one of the main challenges for me coming with a PhD from North America [to Europe] is that the organizational culture was different . . . [I] missed the engagement with other scholars.” To help overcome this challenge, he established a local community to “bring sustainability scholars from all over [his institute and nearby region] under the same roof” and to “support one another through online platforms” while “creating a collaborative and dynamic working group” (ISC member 3). By connecting researchers with stakeholders and like-minded peers, communities help maintain focus and effectiveness in addressing grand challenges, contributing to researchers’ long-term well-being.

Channeling passion through communities for impact

Communities for impact like the Impact Scholar Community are helping passionate, impact-driven early-career researchers navigate the unique challenges they face. We propose the concept communities for impact to refer to a group of people at any career stage in a specific geographic area or cyberspace with the shared goal of contributing to the common good. These are spaces to help researchers cope with the challenges of impact-driven research. Previous research in sociology has shown that being part of a community creates positive feelings and results in mutual commitments and a sense of responsibility to each other (Bell and Newby, 2012; Bruhn, 2011; Hillery, 1955). Connections among group members go beyond casual relationships and acknowledgments (Bruhn, 2011); being part of a community implies a degree of constancy in fellowship and belonging among members who choose to connect with each other. Lowey (1993: 234) defined community as a group of individuals “where suffering is held to a minimum, solidarity is firm, and purpose is strong.” A sense of community brings positive feelings and a degree of comfort to people who work toward a common goal that depends on everyone’s cooperation (McMillan and Chavis, 1986; Sarason, 1974).

Impact-driven early-career researchers often grapple with the tension between impactful work and career advancement (Trinh et al., 2022). Impact-driven early-career researchers may fear that their impact work is perceived as a distraction from scholarly pursuits, but recognition within the community can counteract this self-doubt. Being active in a community for impact and celebrating contributions beyond traditional research such as public engagement, policy advocacy, or community outreach, can boost confidence and validate one’s impact-driven approach. As one member said,

Being part of the Impact Scholar Community . . . has allowed me to find my voice on impact in my institution. Being able to say that I discuss my impact-approach with this community in regular meetings . . . has reduced the pushback I receive. (ISC member 4)

Communities for impact empower early-career researchers by providing not only peer support, but also tools and strategies for practitioner engagement typically not provided by traditional academic institutions. For example, in 2020 the Impact Scholar Community partnered with the Network for Business Sustainability (NBS) to develop a practical guide for translating research to practitioners. The guide was presented and tested during a virtual event on research translation which attracted 80 participants. This event included a live workshop featuring a senior editor from The Conversation and the Knowledge Manager from NBS. In response to extensive interest in this event, the guide was made available on the NBS and Impact Scholar Community websites (Network for Business Sustainability, 2020).

Communities for impact can also enable and strengthen relationships between early-career researchers and more senior colleagues. These intergenerational connections are essential to facilitate mentorship, knowledge exchange, and collaboration (Lauriano et al., 2023). In our experience, communities for impact can temporarily dismantle traditional hierarchical barriers, leading to open dialogue and perspective-sharing. Providing forums where early-career researchers are actively listened to and empowered mitigates the silencing effect of systemic biases, thereby avoiding marginalization. For example, to establish a collaborative setting for dialogue, the Impact Scholar Community organized at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting in Seattle the Impact Scholar Community organized a panel discussion on publishing impactful research that included not only editors, but also early-career researchers who had published in those journals.

Legitimacy research has shown that failing to comply with expected standards and norms leads to condemnation and a withdrawal of support (Haack et al., 2021). Community-building and collective mobilization can help legitimize and justify the time spent on nontraditional activities. In other words, communities for impact play a crucial role in helping scholars find strength among their peers, establish a critical mass to collectively advocate for change, and increase the visibility of early-career researchers’ impact activities. Recently, senior scholars have identified the Impact Scholar Community as a change-maker (Gümüşay, 2023; Williams and Whiteman, 2021), supporting and legitimizing members’ impact activities. Nevertheless, communities for impact are limited in their ability to address structural institutional barriers, which we address next.

Limitations of communities for impact

While communities for impact are valuable spaces that foster the passion of impact-driven early-career researchers to address grand challenges, their potential is often constrained when it comes to moving these researchers from the periphery to a more central position in the broader impact discourse. This limitation is particularly pronounced due to entrenched academic norms that prioritize rigorous research over activities directly associated with impact (Aguinis et al., 2014; Tsui, 2022). These prevailing traditional academic norms tend to overshadow significant contributions that can be made through communities for impact, hindering the full realization of their endeavors in promoting impact-driven early-career researchers.

Communities for impact may be able to mitigate the effects of some structural problems, but face limitations related to challenges such as the exclusion of impact-related criteria from tenure and promotion decisions (Friesike et al., 2022; Trinh et al., 2022). Indeed, many impact-driven early-career researchers experience frustration and anxiety about their capacity to secure tenured academic positions (Williams and Whiteman, 2021). One Impact Scholar Community member said, “I cannot wait until I’m done with being an untenured scholar and move on to the ranks where we have the decision-making power, to change how things go” (ISC member 5). Even though communities for impact can provide support to help early-career scholars cope with feelings of frustration, they may not be able to change universities’ tenure and promotion criteria due to differences in institutional policies, cultures, and academic traditions.

Institutional barriers, like those mentioned above, have persisted for decades. Back in 2012, Stephanie Bertels, who is now a successful senior impact scholar (Feront and Bertels, 2021), reflected on the uncertainties associated with impact-related projects for untenured early-career researchers based on her work with NBS:

I worried that my actions will be viewed as self-serving, attention seeking, or just “not serious.” Some of my senior colleagues are saying that engaged scholarship is high-risk and best left for after tenure. Others are supportive because I’m having impact. . . . Ultimately, I believe I will be doing better research and can’t imagine doing it any other way. (Bansal et al., 2012: 82)

Communities for impact cannot always address the underlying structural problems leading to the marginalization of impact-driven early-career researchers in the broader impact discourse, but they may be able to change the narrative about the role of these researchers by offering a platform to acknowledge their contributions. Consequently, we encourage all scholars to actively participate in communities for impact, especially mid-career and senior scholars who can partner with early-career researchers to advance the impact discourse. Impact-driven early-career researchers are uniquely positioned to be deeply passionate about addressing grand challenges. As such, there is need for additional support to position early-career researchers as leaders in shaping the role of impact within academia, rather than as outsiders.

Connecting with communities for impact: a call to action

After the presentation in New York last summer, friends and strangers alike thanked us for our short session, using terms like “energy,” “excitement,” and “engagement.” While we were flattered and appreciated the kind feedback, writing this essay has offered us an important opportunity for self-reflection that surfaced an important insight: perhaps no one invited other early-career researchers to the metaphorical “impact party” in New York because no such “party” is being hosted by elite schools, top journals, and senior scholars. Rather, we are starting to realize that we—early-career researchers in a community for impact who are passionate about changing the world and academia for the better—are the ones who must host the party and bring people together around topics related to research impact. We feel the intense motivation of other early-career researchers to pursue meaningful careers. The research of impact-driven early-career researchers is being published in leading academic journals and beginning to attract media attention. Indeed, evidence seems to indicate that the party is in full swing at the bottom of the academic hierarchy and that it is time for us to invite others to join.

Reflecting on our success in establishing the Impact Scholar Community and its rapid growth, the narrative of one of our proudest moments at the beginning of this essay should be told differently. We are realizing although we had “arrived” at a major milestone, our journey continues. While we feel honored when deans, high-level administrators, and senior scholars listen to us, we are pursuing a much bigger goal. We want to make it more acceptable to do grand challenges research and to pursue impact outside of academia, and we want impact-driven early-career researchers to be more active in the impact discourse. Therefore, our call to action is not the all too familiar refrain for senior scholars and gatekeepers to include us, open doors, mentor us, and welcome new voices (Baudoin et al., 2022). Instead, our call to action is to join us—to join a community for impact aimed at increasing the legitimacy of impact research and those who choose this as their career path.

Join a community for impact

To achieve the aims of communities for impact to recognize, empower, and legitimize the work of impact-driven early-career researchers, it is important to connect scholars across career levels. While the Impact Scholar Community is primarily composed of early-career researchers, we intentionally invite impact scholars from different backgrounds and career stages to join a community as members, event participants, and/or guest speakers. Experiencing communities for impact in action can be a revelatory experience, showcasing the profound and tangible benefits of collective efforts and innovative approaches. One recent guest speaker at the Impact Scholar Community told us “how good it was to meet the inspiring group of members and discuss their work . . . I really loved e-meeting you [fellow panelist] and finding out more about your impact journey.” Another scholar said, “The discussions were stimulating and also quite different to those I often have at conferences, so thanks very much indeed.” If we have learned one thing during our 4 years in the Impact Scholar Community, it is that impact-driven researchers across career levels crave a sense of community in this challenging work. Some specific actions to take when joining a community for impact might include the following:

• 1. Be an active participant. Share your ideas and voice while remaining open and listening to the unique perspectives, suggestions, and passions of researchers at all career stages.

• 2. Be a resource. Support communities for impact in conversations with scholars and on social media, by funding grant requests and extending invitations to give talks, and when voting for academic and impact prizes. Any contributions are highly valued.

Engage in changing the narrative

By joining a community for impact, one can observe that impact-driven early-career researchers are not passively waiting for gatekeepers to grant them opportunities. Instead, these communities are grassroots organizations, established and driven by their own members, showcasing a collective determination to influence and contribute meaningfully to their research fields. They are characterized by their bottom-up approach, where initiatives and actions come from the communities themselves rather than being imposed or directed from higher levels of authority. For instance, not being dependent on funding can provide these communities with the freedom necessary to attempt to change prevailing narratives and structures through community-driven efforts. Senior scholars have endorsed the significance of these nontraditional community-building efforts and emphasized the potential to “elate, encourage, and empower” (Gümüşay, 2023: 1378) researchers to have long-term impacts on the broader academic landscape. Through the work of the Impact Scholar Community, we are starting to see such changes, for instance, in the form of recognition from senior scholars. A senior scholar once wrote to us: “I really appreciate that you’re doing this and creating so many relationships that will help bolster this field in the future.” Another stated, “What a terrific initiative! Building community in this way and thinking about the impact of the impact community is very cool.” Some specific actions to support narrative and structural changes might include the following:

• 1. Be bold and courageous. Make bold choices in your own work, in the contexts you study, in the questions you ask, and in the voices you center. Nothing speaks louder than actions. Communities for impact will be cheering for you and amplifying your voice and work.

• 2. Be a champion for impact. Promote, acknowledge, and champion the impact activities of early-career researchers who are “being bold” (Hahn et al., 2021: 13) by mentoring and guiding them through the publication, tenure, and promotion process.

Conclusion

In conclusion, early-career, mid-career, and senior scholars, especially those at the top of the hierarchy, are hereby invited to our impact party. Everyone is on our guest list and our door is wide open; we promise there will never, ever, be a VIP section. Communities for impact need scholars who share their passion to help empower the community, unleash the potential impacts of the work of early-career researchers, and support the drive for narrative change (Roberts, 2006). If we have learned one thing about impact through our work in the Impact Scholar Community, it is that it is important to be inclusive and that it truly takes a village. Together, we can change the world for the better and have a bit of fun at the same time.