Academic Reach and Practice Relevance: Unlocking Academic Influence through Managerial and Media Channels
(A2025-126347)

AUTHORS

Michael Haenlein, ESCP Business School; Philip Pollmann-Fervers, University of Cologne; Samuel Stäbler, Tilburg University; Stefan Stremersch, Chaired Professor of Marketing, Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam

ABSTRACT

This session explores how business and marketing research can transcend academic boundaries to achieve broader impact. It examines the role of practitioner-oriented publications, media coverage, and cross-disciplinary citations in amplifying the visibility and influence of scholarly work. Featuring studies on the stock market implications of medical communication, the external academic influence of marketing journals, and the visibility boost from managerial outlets like Harvard Business Review, this session highlights strategies to bridge the research-practice gap and foster real-world relevance. In the first presentation (The Echo of Medical Communication: Drivers and Stock Market Implications of Coverage of Scientific Articles in Social and News Media), Philip Pollmann-Fervers, Alexander Edeling, and Marc Fischer examine how pharmaceutical firms’ medical communication, disseminated via social and news media, impacts engagement and stock prices. Through an analysis of 9,500 articles, the authors show that collaborations with top universities and diverse author teams boost media coverage and firm value, emphasizing the importance of public dissemination for maximizing economic returns. In the second presentation (The External Influence of the Marketing Discipline and Scholarly Journals), Ivan Korsak, Kenneth H. Wathne, Auke Hunneman, and Stefan Stremersch evaluate the influence of marketing research on other disciplines using citation data from 1,676 journals. Their results show marketing as a top knowledge-exporting field, with leading journals driving cross-disciplinary impact. The authors offer valuable insights for enhancing academic influence beyond traditional metrics. In the last presentation (The HBR-Effect: How Publication in Managerial Transmission Journals Increase Research Visibility), Xiaoning Liang, Samuel Staebler, and Michael Haenlein explore how practitioner-oriented publications like Harvard Business Review and Sloan Management Review amplify research visibility. By analyzing 16,000 articles, the authors show substantial gains in media attention for adapted papers, highlighting the central role of managerial journals in bridging the research-practice gap and enhancing academic impact.