Abstract
As mentioned in the last editorial, the appointment of a new Co-Editor was imminent. I am delighted to share the result of the hard work of the search committee. So, welcome and Bienvenue to Dr. Melanie Robinson, joining JME as our new Co-Editor! Melanie is a faculty member at HEC Montreal and brings a wide array of skills and experiences to the Editorial Team. Her SOTL research focuses on experiential learning and case studies and has been published in various outlets like Organizational Management Journal, Revue Internationale de Cas en Gestion/International Journal of Case Studies in Management, Management Teaching Review, and the Journal of Management Education. Like most of our previous Editors and Co-Editors, Melanie joined the JME community first as an Editorial Board member. More recently, she was promoted to Associate Editor based on her exemplary work in this role. The journal is happy to continue the new tradition of an international Co-Editor team, even if our countries share a border.
The two of us are excited to get on the screen to meet our community of authors and readers during our online Office Hours, at hybrid conferences, and in online paper workshops. In tandem, you will get a chance to meet us at a variety of in-person conferences in 2023, from MOBTS conferences (annual, IMOBTS, and others) to AOM (Boston and regional meetings) to other international convenings (RMLE Unconference and the Association of International Business events).
As we close out this year, we have even more to celebrate. This includes our fantastic Editorial Team from the Associate Editors who have spent many extra hours supporting Jennifer during the Co-Editor transition, the Editorial Board members bringing new ideas and support, the MOBTS society coordinating the Co-Editor search, and the authors continuing to develop and submit their new ideas to the journal amidst so many ongoing constraints.
Another cause for celebration is our annual Fritz Roethlisberger and Lasting Impact Award winners. Those who read JME regularly know that the Roethlisberger Award is granted to the best article in the previous year. No spoilers here—you will need to read the announcement in the editorial by our Associate Editor Beth Polin to find out the winner and do put this article on your reading list. The Lasting Impact Award recognizes an article published in JME at least 10 years prior that continues to have a significant impact on management education or educators, either conceptually or practically, since its publication. The Lasting Impact Award this year goes to Dr. Russ Vince for his 1998 article “Behind and Beyond Kolb’s Learning Cycle.” The merits of this paper are quite long and are summarized by committee members in the following two comments, which reflect the work’s conceptual and practical impact: This is “[a]n article that has stood the test of time and is particularly relevant to the increasing interest in experiential learning in business schools. It also provides a gentle way into more critical approaches to management education via a critical expansion of one of the sacred cows of management education – the Kolb learning cycle” and “It is a paper I recommend a lot.” This year instead of a reprint, readers can access the original article in a hyperlink provided in Vince’s invited editorial discussing his reflections on the article. Additional accolades go out to the committee members of these awards for their hours reflecting, discerning, and deciding the winners among so many qualified nominees.
In This Issue. . .
The present issue includes four empirical research articles. In the first, entitled “Teaching evaluations and student grades: That’s not fair!,” Juliana D. Lilly, Kamphol Wipawayangkool, and Michael Pass explore factors that influence the reactions of faculty members and students to evaluations of their work. Drawing on the self-threat model (citing Campbell & Sedikides, 1999, as well as Lilly & Wipawayangkool, 2018) from the procedural justice literature, the authors examine two mechanisms—namely, self-threat and external self-serving bias—to see if they explain how group identification impacts perceptions of procedural justice in both a faculty (Study 1) and student (Study 2) sample. The paper therefore helps us to better understand some of the factors that may influence both faculty and student perceptions of procedural fairness related to evaluations.
In “Look at our journey: Prompting the marginalism of superior utility with a higher subjective value to motivate management student meta-learning processes,” Paul Cook explores how prompts to emphasize how a course can develop “superior utility,” via the opportunity to acquire skills and experience, can encourage students to engage in deep learning. Using a qualitative approach, Cook presents data collected at the start of the pandemic in the context of an undergraduate Sports Management program with an experiential focus. As such, the paper provides very interesting insights into a method by which educators can foster the desire for deep learning in their courses.
Next, Mara Soncin, Tommaso Agasisti, Federico Frattini, Andrea Patrucco, and Margherita Pero discuss the important topic of blended learning in graduate-level management education. Given that many educators had to incorporate at least some online instruction into their courses as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, their article is both timely and highly relevant. In “The costs, quality, and scalability of blended learning in postgraduate management education,” the authors present a framework that incorporates both costs and measures of effectiveness, which are then combined in order to assess cost effectiveness. Soncin et al. then apply the framework in the context of an MBA program with three formats (that differ with respect to the degree to which they include online vs. in-person components).
In the final article of the issue, entitled “Controversy teaching approaches: Model, measure, and teaching applications,” Stuart Allen first discusses the literature on controversy teaching approaches (CTAs). Building on this, Allen presents an instrument to measure CTAs in the classroom and then assesses its validity across three studies. This new instrument will no doubt be of great use for both educators interested in controversy teaching approaches, as well as for research in the field.
Thank You to Reviewers!
As 2022 draws to a close, we would like to express our deep gratitude to all the Reviewers who gave their time and shared their expertise with the journal over the course of the last year. Thank you so much! A list of all Reviewers who evaluated manuscripts during the year will be included in an upcoming issue.
In this editorial, we would like to acknowledge the 24 Reviewers who were named as Outstanding Reviewers for their exceptional contributions this year (in alphabetical order):
Looking Ahead to 2023
We look forward to four great issues in 2023—starting with a special issue on Privilege in Business Schools and Management Classrooms (edited by Jen Leigh, Marissa Edwards, and Christine Rivers)!
