What’s the best measure of scholarly impact? Number of published papers over time is a good place to start. Papers published in the most prestigious journals is even better.
But the gold standard must be citations, the mechanism by which scholars refer to another’s work as foundational to theirs. And citations are easily quantified.
A new Stanford University study has done just that, comprehensively calculating the total number of citations ascribed to 9,071,122 researchers who have published at least five academic papers between 1960 and 2020—across 20 scientific disciplines and more than 175 sub-disciplines that range from astrophysics to anthropology, econometrics to epidemiology, industrial engineering to international relations.
The result is an index of what could be called the world’s foremost academic influencers.
And the University of Washington Foster School of Business has many of the most influential.
Eighteen Foster faculty members are listed among the top percentile of scientific scholars in the index tracking research citations over the year 2021—the best indicator of both impact and currency.
Foster Faculty Influencers
This roster of uppermost-echelon researchers—or faculty influencers—at the Foster School of Business includes:
Department of Management and Organization
Bruce Avolio – top 0.02%
Terence Mitchell – top 0.18%
Christopher Barnes – top 0.29%
Scott J. Reynolds – top 0.42%
David Sirmon – top 0.43%
Thomas Jones – top 0.50%
Thomas Lee – top 0.53%
Warren Boeker – 0.61%
Xiao-Ping Chen – 0.64%
Charles Hill – 0.66%
Suresh Kotha – 0.83%
Department of Finance and Business Economics
Jarrad Harford – top 0.08%
Jonathan Karpoff – top 0.18%
Department of Marketing and International Business
Robert Palmatier – top 0.10%
Ann Schlosser – top 0.49%
Charles M. C. Lee – top 0.22%
Sarah McVay – top 0.43%
Dawn Matsumoto – top 0.88%
Bruce Avolio – top 0.02%
The highest-rated member of Foster’s contingent is
Bruce Avolio,
a professor of management and the Mark Pigott Chair in Business Strategic Leadership. Avolio, an authority in leadership development, is ranked in the top 0.02% of most-cited scientific researchers overall, and #38 among the 48,100 researchers in the category of business & management.
Avolio is the founding executive director of Foster’s
Center for Leadership and Strategic Thinking,
and the author of more than 150 published papers and 13 books. He is the recipient of the 2013 Eminent Leadership Scholar Award from the Academy of Management’s Network of Leadership Scholars.
A 2019 study in
The Leadership Quarterly
ranked Avolio the #1 scholar in the world at connecting authors in the field of leadership research, and #2 in productivity and influence of his leadership studies. An index published that same year in the journal
Academy of Management Learning and Education
listed Avolio the #3 most-influential author in the field of organizational behavior.
And a 2008 Journal of Management study ranked him the
#133 most-influential management scholar of all time—a position that would surely advance if it were recalculated today.
Jarrad Harford – top 0.08%
Jarrad Harford,
the Paul Pigott-PACCAR Professor of Finance, is in the top 0.08% of most-cited researchers overall, and #32 among the 11,203 finance scholars in the index.
Harford is chair of the
Department of Finance and Business Economics,
and a renowned investigator of corporate finance, business valuation, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, dividend and payout policy/stock splits, and private equity.
He is the author of the textbook “Fundamentals of Corporate Finance,”
managing editor of the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis and past associate editor of the Journal of Financial Economics and the Journal of Corporate Finance.
At Foster, Harford has received the Dean’s Faculty Research Award (2021, 2008), the William A. and Helen I. Fowler Award for Special Achievement in Finance (2013, 2009) and the Dean’s Junior Faculty Research Award (2004). Beyond his extraordinary research acumen, he also has received the Interfraternity/Panhellic Council Teaching Excellence Award (2011, 2013), the ISMBA Excellence in Teaching Award (2006), the Wells Fargo Faculty Award for Undergraduate Teaching (2005), and has been named Undergraduate Professor of the Year in Finance seven times.
Christopher Barnes – top 0.29%
Chris Barnes, the Michael G. Foster Endowed Professor of Management, is ranked in the top 0.29% overall, and #468 in business & management.
A former Air Force officer, Barnes is an expert on human sustainability, especially the effects of sleep deprivation in the workplace. His research has appeared widely in top academic journals and outlets like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, BBC, and Harvard Business Review.
He has received the Cummings Scholarly Achievement Award (2020), the Distinguished Early Career Award (2017), and the Responsible Research in Management Award (2017).
Scott J. Reynolds – top 0.42%
Scott J. Reynolds, professor of business ethics and Michael G. Foster Endowed Professor of Management, is ranked in the top 0.42% overall, and #791 in business & management.
An expert in business ethics, his research explores moral decision making, moral awareness, and moral intuition. He has received the Lex N. Gamble Family Award, Faculty PhD Mentor Award, and Dean’s Junior Faculty Research Award. In 2019 he was named “Master Teacher of Ethics” by BYU’s Wheatley Institution.
Reynolds is associate editor of Business Ethics Quarterly and currently chairs Foster’s Department of Management and Organization.
Sarah McVay – top 0.43%
Sarah McVay, the William A. Fowler Endowed Professor of Accounting, is ranked in the top 0.43% overall, and #62 among accounting scholars.
Her research examines financial accounting, earnings quality, disclosures, and managerial ability. At Foster she has received multiple awards including the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching (2019) and William & Helen Fowler Award (2014).
McVay is VP of research and publications for the AAA, past president of its Financial Accounting and Research Section, and past editor of Contemporary Accounting Research. She is ranked among the most productive accounting researchers worldwide by the BYU Accounting Rankings.
David Sirmon – top 0.43%
David Sirmon, professor of management and Robert Herbold Professor in Strategy, is ranked in the top 0.43% overall, and #824 in business & management.
His research focuses on strategy, entrepreneurship, and family business. He has received the Best Paper Award (2022) and Emerging Scholar Award (2011). Clarivate named him a “Highly Cited Researcher” three times.
At Foster, Sirmon has been named Professor of the Year in the Evening MBA Program six times and received the Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award (2017).
Ann Schlosser – top 0.49%
Ann Schlosser, professor of marketing and Evert McCabe Endowed Fellow, is ranked in the top 0.49% overall, and #247 in marketing.
Her research spans digital marketing, e-commerce, advertising, customer behavior, and social media. She received Foster’s Lex Gamble Family Award for E-Commerce (2006). Studies have ranked her among the most prolific marketing scholars in Journal of Marketing and Journal of Advertising.
Schlosser is associate editor of Journal of Marketing Research and Journal of Consumer Research, and serves on several editorial boards.
Thomas Jones – top 0.50%
Tom Jones, professor emeritus of management, is ranked in the top 0.50% overall, and #965 in business & management.
Jones is a pioneer in corporate ethics. His work on the “ethical continuum” and “stakeholder happiness” has won best paper awards, and his 1991 Academy of Management Review article is one of the most-cited in management.
At Foster, he won the Dean’s Research Award and Dean’s Citizenship Award. He is the founding editor of Business & Society and recipient of the Sumner Marcus Award for lifetime achievement.
Thomas Lee – top 0.53%
Tom Lee, the late Hughes M. Blake Professor of Management, is ranked in the top 0.53% overall, and #1,010 in business & management.
He authored nearly 100 publications on goal-setting, decision-making, and employee voice, and co-created landmark theories on employee retention.
Lee was editor of the Academy of Management Journal, president of the AoM, and recipient of its Career Achievement Awards. He was hailed as an “academic decathlete” and inspiring exemplar for his balance of research, teaching, service, and mentorship.
Warren Boeker – top 0.61%
Warren Boeker, professor of management and Douglas E. Oleson Excellence Chair in Entrepreneurship, is ranked in the top 0.61% overall, and #1,095 in business & management.
Boeker’s research explores entrepreneurship and technology strategy. At Foster, he has received the Dean’s Entrepreneurship Research Award and Global EMBA Excellence in Teaching Award. He has served on editorial boards of top journals including ASQ and Strategic Management Journal.
Beyond academia, Boeker has consulted for organizations including Microsoft, GE, PwC, and IBM.
Xiao-Ping Chen – top 0.64%
Xiao-Ping Chen, professor of management and Philip M. Condit Endowed Chair, is ranked in the top 0.64% overall, and #1,171 in business & management.
She has published extensively on intercultural communication, entrepreneurial passion, leadership, and creativity. She co-created icEdge, an assessment of communication style. Chen has received the Distinguished Scholarly Contribution Award (2016) and Outstanding UW Woman honor (2010).
Chen is a fellow of the AoM, APA, and SIOP, and serves as editor of Management Insights and Management and Organization Review.
Charles Hill – top 0.66%
Charles Hill, emeritus professor of management, is ranked in the top 0.66% overall, and #1,211 in business & management.
Hill is a renowned teacher and textbook author. A 2008 Journal of Management study ranked him among the most influential management scholars of all time. His textbooks Strategic Management, Global Business Today, and International Business have dominated the field for decades.
He has received numerous Foster teaching awards and was named a Favorite MBA Professor by Poets & Quants.
Suresh Kotha – top 0.83%
Suresh Kotha, professor of management and Oleson/Battelle Excellence Chair in Entrepreneurship, is ranked in the top 0.83% overall, and #1,447 in business & management.
Kotha’s research covers competitive strategy, entrepreneurship, and technology. He has received numerous awards including the Lex N. Gamble Award (2014) and TMMBA Excellence in Teaching Awards.
He has served as field editor of the Journal of Business Venturing and on editorial boards of leading journals.
Dawn Matsumoto – top 0.88%
Dawn Matsumoto, the Marion B. Ingersoll Professor of Accounting, is ranked in the top 0.88% overall, and #138 among accounting scholars.
Her research focuses on financial reporting. She has received AAA awards, the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching (2018), and the Robert M. Bowen EMBA Excellence in Teaching Award five times.
According to the BYU Accounting Rankings, Matsumoto is among the most productive accounting researchers in financial accounting.
Learn more about business programs at the University of Washington Foster School of Business here.