Combining research and academic citizenship: Emergent patterns in Italian Business Schools

Research performance has been the driver of recent higher education reforms and the main parameter to evaluate academics for tenure promotion. The growing emphasis placed on scientific productivity has, however, cast a shadow over academics’ commitment to other activities vital to university functioning, such as teaching, impact, and service activities. In this study we explore the relationship between research and academic citizenship, i.e., the service behaviors and roles oriented towards institutional service, public engagement, and the growth of a discipline, in a research-focused higher education system.We looked for academics’ outcomes in terms of scientific productivity and engagement with academic citizenship in a sample of 728 Italian academics in business and management schools, using a two-step clustering approach to unravel patterns of behavior. Our results show a multi-faceted picture of six clusters, ranging from a large group of unengaged academics to a small cohort of academics able to successfully combine research and academic citizenship. Other clusters display an overriding focus on research or on a single type of academic citizenship. We contribute to the understanding of academic citizenship and its complex intertwining with research.