Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Engaged Management Scholarship Baltimore, Maryland, September 10-13, 2015

Abstract

This Engaged Management Scholarship (EMS) conference is the fifth in a series. It is organized annually by the Executive Doctorate in Business Administration Council (EDBAC), which has broad international representation of executive doctorate programs. The purpose of this council is to promote the value of Engaged Management Scholarship and raise its profile internationally. The EMS 2015 conference was hosted by the Doctor of Management program at the Graduate School in the University of Maryland University College and held in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. The theme of this year’s conference was “The Paradigm Shift in Doctoral Education for Scholar-Practitioners.” Its focus was on evidence-based research and learning that builds scholar-practitioner competence. Papers presented at the EMS 2015 conference were selected through a blind peer review process based on the requirement that papers be scientifically rigorous and timely and possess clear actions for practice. The conference consisted of research paper presentations, poster sessions, panels, keynote presentations, a doctoral consortium, and an alumni consortium. Conference participants included management scholars and management practitioners actively involved in engaged management scholarship. The conference theme elicited broad interest in how executive doctoral programs are employing research methods, pedagogical practices, and program designs for engaged management scholarship. This broad interest was demonstrated by the participation of attendees from nearly 50 universities in Asia, Europe, and North America.The Doctoral Consortium brought together faculty members from a range of EDBAC schools and doctoral students from many of their programs. Participants gained valuable learning experience and further developed their dissertations based on insights and critiques by both faculty and fellow doctoral students. The Alumni Consortium built on its launch at last year’s EMS conference and fostered networking among graduates of EDBAC member schools. This consortium chronicled experiences of graduates’ transition into new career paths through “elevator pitches” that portrayed their journey since graduation. New initiatives for collaboration around research and publication impact were discussed, including how to build a thriving community of scholar-practitioners Charles Onstott of SAIC, Inc., opened the conference with a keynote presentation on how “Deploying Big Data in the Organization Matters for Scholar-Practitioners.” On the second conference day, Dr. Richard Boyatzis of Case Western Reserve University delivered a keynote presentation on “Scholar-Practitioner Competencies for Resonant Leadership.” These presentations served as bookends for the diverse range of interests among conference attendees. Some 30 research papers were presented around a wide range of themes: Behavior in Organizations, Social Entrepreneurship, Change Initiatives, Organizational Strategy, Finance, Trust in Teams, Development Planning, Globalization Impacts, Marketing Analytics, Innovation, Ethics for Managers, and Decision Making. The papers published in these proceedings represent engaged management research in these and other topics.A series of Panels and Professional Development Workshops addressed research methods, literature search skills, practical theorizing, data science in practice, career paths for scholar-practitioners, journal publication, and standards for executive DBA education. Resource materials from these presentations can be accessed through the EDBAC web site.We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the EDBAC Executive Board members and specifically thank Drs. Bryan Booth, Leslie Dinauer and Kuan Collins of University of Maryland University College, Kalle Lyytinen of Case Western Reserve University, Lars Mathiassen of Georgia State University, and Jean-Denis Budin of Paris-Dauphine University for their leadership and assistance in the conference organization efforts. We would also like to thank the Program Directors and staff members of schools that previously hosted this conference. Their insights and guidance were most helpful in planning and carrying out this conference. Also, we acknowledge the paper authors and the assistance of large group of anonymous referees who agreed to review all the paper, panel, and PDW submissions. Finally, but not least, we would like to acknowledge the staff support of Ms. Monica Graham, Ms. Marina Caminis, and Ms. Michelle Howard for their tireless efforts in making this conference a success.EMS 2015 Conference Proceedings EditorTom MierzwaUniversity of Maryland University College