Abstract

Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.AACSB (2025 ) Global Research Impact Framework: Exposure Draft . October 19 . Available at: https://www.aacsb.edu/insights/reports/2025/research-impact-framework-exposure-draft
2.
Adler
NJ
Harzing
AW
(2009 ) When knowledge wins: Transcending the sense and nonsense of academic rankings . Academy of Management Learning & Education 8 (1 ): 72 –95 .
3.
Alajoutsijärvi
K
Kettunen
K
Sohlo
S
(2018 ) Shaking the status quo: Business accreditation and positional competition . Academy of Management Learning & Education 17 (2 ): 203 –225 .
4.
Arredondo
H
(2026 ) Two weeks ago, the Financial Times updated its #FT50 list . LinkedIn , 15 May . Available at: https://www-linkedin-com-s.web.bisu.edu.cn/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7460974570154618885/
5.
Bitektine
A
Haack
P
(2015 ) The “macro” and the “micro” of legitimacy: Toward a multilevel theory of the legitimacy process . Academy of Management Review 40 (1 ): 49 –75 .
6.
Butler
N
Spoelstra
S
(2020 ) Academics at play: Why the “publication game” is more than a metaphor . Management Learning 51 (4 ): 414 –430 .
7.Chartered Association of Business Schools (2024 ) Academic journal guide 2024: Methodology [PDF] . Available at: https://d2wh7r8sprmdcr.cloudfront.net/ajg-2024-methodology.pdf
8.
Espeland
WN
Sauder
M
(2007 ) Rankings and reactivity: How public measures recreate social worlds . American Journal of Sociology 113 (1 ): 1 –40 .
9.
Ethier
M
(2025 ) Financial Times launches review of research measure in MBA & EMBA rankings . Poets & Quants , 23 October . Available at: https://poetsandquants.com/2025/10/23/financial-times-launches-review-of-research-measure-in-mba-emba-rankings/
10.Financial Times (2026 a) FT Global MBA ranking 2026: Methodology and key . Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/86a2bdbb-0945-42a9-aff4-0ba74476e135
11.Financial Times (2026 b) The 50 Journals Used in FT Rankings , 29 April . Available at: https://www.ft.com/ft50-journals
12.
Foss
N
Mol
M
(2026 ) Journal lists advance both rigour and relevance . Times Higher Education , 14 May . Available at: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/journal-lists-advance-both-rigour-and-relevance
13.
Hammett
E
(2024 ) Financial Times taps into audience ‘superpower’ with new campaign . Marketing Week , 7 June . Available at: https://www.marketingweek.com/financial-times-new-campaign/
14.
Jack
A
(2026 ) Business School Insider . Financial Times , 4 May . Available at: http://bit.ly/4wJNmsJhttp://bit.ly/4wJNmsJ
15.
Kerr
S
(1975 ) On the folly of rewarding A, while hoping for B . Academy of Management Journal 18 (4 ): 769 –783 .
16.
Mingers
J
Willmott
H
(2013 ) Taylorizing business school research: On the ‘one best way’ performative effects of journal ranking lists . Human Relations 66 (8 ): 1051 –1073 .
17.
Prasad
A
(2023 ) The model minority and the limits of workplace inclusion . Academy of Management Review 48 (2 ): 336 –356 .
18.
Rhodes
C
(2026 ) Last week’s changes to the Financial Times business journal rankings – the FT50 – take a broken system and make it more worse . LinkedIn , 8 May . Available at: https://www-linkedin-com-s.web.bisu.edu.cn/posts/profcarlrhodes_elitist-journal-lists-undermine-the-social-activity-7457932821014274048-oCz2/
19.
Rhodes
C
Pullen
A
(2026 ) Elitist journal lists undermine the social purpose of business schools . Times Higher Education , 7 May . Available at: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/elitist-journal-lists-undermine-social-purpose-business-schools
20.
Sauder
M
Espeland
WN
(2009 ) The discipline of rankings: Tight coupling and organizational change . American Sociological Review 74 (1 ): 63 –82 .
21.
Tourish
D
(2020 ) The triumph of nonsense in management studies . Academy of Management Learning & Education 19 (1 ): 99 –109 .
22.
Vijay
D
Nair
VG
Gupta
P
(2025 ) Irreverent and indisciplined: Outranking management learning amid planetary ruination . Management Learning 56 (1 ): 32 –43 .
23.
Wedlin
L
(2011 ) Going global: Rankings as rhetorical devices to construct an international field of management education . Management Learning 42 (2 ): 199 –218 .
24.
Willmott
H
(2011 ) Journal list fetishism and the perversion of scholarship: reactivity and the ABS list . Organization 18 (4 ): 429 –442 .
