The Second Asia-Pacific Responsible Research Summit took place on October 29 at Sasin School of Management under the theme of “Responsible Research for Tomorrow’s Management.” The event was supported by the University of Queensland, Indian School of Business, and Tsinghua University, in collaboration with the Community for Responsible Research in Business & Management (RRBM). The organizers promoted the agenda of responsible research within the business school research ecosystem.
It was an opportunity for deans, researchers, accreditors, publishers, and policymakers to address credible and socially impactful research. The event encouraged participants to learn from each other and share insights to shape the future of responsible business research in the Asia-Pacific region.
Prof. Yuosre Badir, Dean of SOM, participated in the event as a panellist to discuss “The Best Practices of Senior Researchers and Deans.” Prof. Badir shared his research experiences and his definition of “impact.” He said, “Any responsible research should have an impact on people, communities and the environment,” which can be further adjusted in three different levels: national, regional and global.
When viewed through the lens of the national and regional levels, problems and challenges facing society and business are unique to each area within the community, country or region. To achieve a higher level of “impact,” responsible research must be specific and relevant to the place where the research takes place to effectively solve these problems and challenges affecting local businesses and communities. More importantly, responsible research must be communicated clearly and accurately to those affected and the best way to do so is to write the research in the local language of the community for the greatest impact.
However, this is not supported or encouraged by the current Higher Education System due to several factors:
- Top journals have their own criteria for what constitutes “responsible research,” which may not be directly relevant to a country or region
- Research submitted to these top journals must be published and reviewed in the English language
- Business schools are driven by ranking organizations. They are highly incentivized to have their research published in these top journals to fulfill ranking criteria and qualify for the higher university rankings.
- Business schools themselves do not promote a culture of multilingual, responsible research, and are not encouraged to do so.
To conclude, Prof. Badir said that to achieve high impact within the localities where the research is produced, there must be greater support from ranking organizations, top journals and business schools to recognize and support the social impact of responsible research within their networks. Writing research in local languages will lead to more credible solutions and greater social impact for the people and communities around the world.
Photo Credit: Sasin School of Management
