DME Seminar - "‘Blowing hot and cold: A behavioural strategy perspective on the past, present, and future of research in Business Schools

Presenter: Professor Gerard Hodgkinson

Title: "‘Blowing hot and cold: A behavioural strategy perspective on the past, present, and future of research in Business Schools

Abstract: In this seminar, Professor Gerard P Hodgkinson will offer his scholarly and personal reflections on past and present research conducted within business schools in the UK context (and beyond). Drawing on a career spanning more than four decades, as a researcher, editor, academic leader, and practitioner, he will engage colleagues at all career stages in a lively and thought-provoking conversation about the challenges confronting contemporary business-school research. Building on themes developed in his recent commentary on the future of occupational and organizational psychology, he will argue that addressing issues of research credibility, openness, relevance, and societal impact requires more than methodological reform. It also demands the personal and collective cognitive and emotional work needed to question established assumptions, embrace change, and adapt our goals, expectations, and professional identities in pursuit of a more sustainable future for business-school research in its broadest sense. Prior to the seminar, participants will be invited to reflect on a series of questions concerning research credibility, openness, relevance, and scholarly impact, informed by initiatives such as RRBM, DORA, and the wider open research movement. These reflections will provide a basis for the collective discussion.

Biography: Gerard P. Hodgkinson is Professor of Strategic Management and Behavioural Science at Alliance Manchester Business School. Trained as an occupational psychologist, he has spent his career building the psychology of strategic management as a field, examining how managers perceive competitive environments, how intuition, emotion and personality shape strategic decisions, and how cognitive bias and inertia can be overcome. His recent work draws on social cognitive neuroscience and addresses the behavioural foundations of dynamic capabilities. The author or co-author of more than 150 publications, he previously held posts at Sheffield, Leeds and Warwick, where he headed the Behavioural Science Group, and has served as Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Management and Vice-Dean for Research in Manchester's Faculty of Humanities. He is a Fellow of the British Academy of Management, the British Psychological Society and the Academy of Social Sciences. His honours include the British Academy of Management Research Medal (2021), the Academy of Management's Managerial and Organizational Cognition Distinguished Scholar Award (2024), and the BAM Richard Whipp Lifetime Achievement Award (2025).