Searching for Significance: The Case for Reimagining Management Research

In comparison to other applied fields such as medicine or engineering, the impact of management research is disappointing — most of it is neither practical nor profound. And yet the opportunity for doing ground-breaking research that improves the practice of management is huge. In this paper, we discuss the ways that management research might be reimagined so that it achieves the step-change required. We suggest five approaches — aim higher, challenge orthodoxy, invent, experiment and collaborate — and we draw from leading-edge companies and from our own experiences to illustrate the arguments.