Professor Zhou’s research recognized as most highly cited paper in top management journal; finalists include Rice professors Sanders and Schuler

Houston Endowment Professor of Management Jing Zhou of Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business along with her coauthors recently received the Journal of Management (JOM) Best Paper award, which recognizes the most highly cited JOM papers published in 2004. Additionally, two Jones School faculty members, Professor of Strategic Management Gerard Sanders and Associate Professor of Business and Public Policy Doug Schuler, appeared among the top five finalists for the distinguished award.

The award committee chose the most highly cited papers in 2004 to allow time for the top papers to emerge. Dr. Zhou and her coauthors were announced as the 2004 Best Paper winner during an award ceremony at the Academy of Management Conference on August 9, 2009.

Overall Best Paper Award

"The effects of personal and contextual characteristics on creativity: Where should we go from here?”
Christina Shalley, Jing Zhou, and Greg Oldham

Houston Endowment Professor of Management Jing Zhou is a top researcher in the area of organizational creativity and innovation, organizational behavior, and international management. She is currently director for Asian Management Research and Education and an associate editor of Journal of Applied Psychology, another top scholarly journal in the field of management. Additionally, she has served on the editorial review boards of leading journals in management and entrepreneurship such as the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Management, Journal of Business Venturing, and Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. She is a senior vice president and president elect of the International Association for Chinese Management Research.

In the winning paper, authors provide systematic review, integration, and critique of research on employee creativity, which is an essential ingredient for achieving success by both organizations and entrepreneurs in the 21^st century. Exciting new directions for theory building, for empirical research, and for methodological improvements in the creativity research area are revealed and discussed.

Best Paper Finalist

“The upper echelons revisited: Antecedents, elements, and consequences of top management team composition”
Mason A. Carpenter, Marta A. Geletkanycz, and Wm. Gerard Sanders

Wm. Gerard (Gerry) Sanders Professor of Strategic Management Wm. Gerard (Gerry) Sanders’ research, which has been published in leading academic journals and major news outlets, focuses primarily on the intersections of corporate governance and executive leadership and their effects on firm strategy and performance. He currently serves as an associate editor of the Academy of Management journal.

The study reviewed the contributions of the upper echelons theory to field in management, synthesized empirical research in the area, and identified promising opportunities for future research necessary to move the theory forward.

Best Paper Finalist - Amy Hillman, Gerry Keim, and Doug Schuler
“Corporate Political Strategies: A Review and Research Agenda”

Associate Professor of Business and Public Policy Doug Schuler conducts research on corporate political strategy and social responsibility and social entrepreneurship. He currently teaches classes on business and government relations, business globalization, and social enterprise.

The paper reviews the academic literature on corporate political activity from 1995 through 2004, and encourages researchers to study more about the effects of organizational features and strategies on corporate political activity as well as how the mix of political activities may result in the best political outcomes for the firm.