Impact beyond impact factor: The design-science way

Abstract

“Neo, sooner or later you’re going to realize just as I did that there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path” — Morpheu

In 2003, the following questions were exposed to the scientific community of operations management: “Do we contribute so little because we are irrelevant?” or “Are we irrelevant because we contribute so little?” (Ford, Duncan, Bedeian, Ginter, Rousculp & Adams, 2005, p. 36). It is not a new issue for the scientific community, but it remains today. The criticisms focus on rigor in conducting research at the expense of its usefulness. The literature has portrayed this situation as a trade-off between relevance and rigor. Besides, examples of dysfunctionalities of logic ‘publish or perish’ are also abundant.