The Past Speaks

I recently returned from the Academy of Management conference in Boston. I left Boston in a really good mood—the conference went well for me (I got to meet co-authors, get feedback from journal editors, and hear really interesting research being presented. I also participated in a fantastic all-day PDW workshop that took place the day before the main conference started. So you can see why I left down in an upbeat mood. Another reason I was very encouraged by my experience at the AoM was that I witnessed some very position changes in the Management History division, which has expanded in terms of the number of participants and which has also experienced a qualitative change as well. This year, the MH division includes some panels that featured some top-notch presentations by great scholars. (My personal favourite was probably Lamar Pierce’s presentation of his research on the long-term effects on African countries of the slave trade).

The MH division sessions are also now attracting scholars who don’t primarily identify as historical researchers but who have concluded that it would be prudent to learn more about historical research methods and data since such approaches to theory development are increasingly regarded as legitimate by journal editors, reviewers, and hiring committees in North America. When I first started going to the AoM a decade ago, the MH division was tiny. It is now expanding and thriving. I was struck by the change from just 2019, the last time AoM was held in Boston. In that year, as in 2023, the MH sessions were mostly put in the Marriott Copley Place Hotel. In 2019, the division used the smallest meeting rooms, up on the fifth floor. This year, many of the meetings with in the more capacious ballrooms. That’s a small but telling indicator of a division on the move.