Developing a Research Stream

1. Developing a Research Stream R. Lynn Hannan Robinson College of Business Georgia State University PhD Project ADSA Conference August 6, 2011

2. Why Research is Important • Public Good • Institutional Good • Individual Good

3. Key Insight Our job is to build our own reputation!

4. How to build a reputation via your research stream • Focus your research • Emphasize quality over quantity

5. Focus your research stream Define your research specialty • Productivity benefits • Being known as the specialist in an area builds your reputation • Be broad enough to pursue truly interesting questions and avoid mere tweaks

6. Tenure decision Evaluates whether you are on a trajectory to make full professor Full professor expectation is to be known as a “thought leader” in some specialty Your specialty should be narrow enough that your letter writers have read most of your work but broad enough to make an impact

7. Approaches to a research stream • Within an area and method • Most common and least risky • Two related areas using the same method • Within a method across areas • Within an area using various methods All approaches require a unifying theme

8. Within an area and method example My research draws on economic and behavioral theories to investigate factors that affect honesty in managerial reporting and the effort and performance of employees. (Lynn Hannan)

9. Two related areas, within a method example Kathryn’s research considers judgment and decision-making issues in accounting. Her current research is focused in three areas: improving audit quality, identifying determinants of litigation against auditors, and identifying how investors’ motivations influence their decision making. (Kathryn Kadous)

10. Closing remarks • Research is important for all types of schools • A focused research stream improves productivity and enhances your reputation