How to assess the level of prestige enjoyed by a professor in the field of strategy?

[Thomas]

What are the factors to be considerd? For example, a professor at my university graduated from a very top management phd program, has around 10000 citations (relatively young), has a dozen of publications in the A-journals in the field, has been as one of the emerging scholars by SMS, and is an associate editor at SMS. I was wondering, what'd be the level of the prestige and reputation enjoyed by this professor?

And how could I these criteria mentioned to judge the reputation and prestige of other professors?

 

Thanks for reading!! I was told to come here to ask this question. Please help me out!!

Edited September 10, 2020 by Thomas

[BrazilianPhD]

Why do you need to judge the reputation? To evaluate a potential advisor? To ask for letters of recommendation? To criticise their work?

 

Reputation is not something precisely measured. Certainly someone with tons of citations and lots of papers published in A-journals has a high reputation that probably would be more than enough for any situation you might get into. But what is exactly the level of prestige, I don't think there a good way to tell.

[Thomas]

Hi! Thx Sir for the reply! I'm actually finding the professors whose work interests and for whom I might be able to work as a RA (and thus ask for letters of reccommendation later).

Thx for the reply!

[CDF]

Thomas - prestige and research interests are not correlated. Well, only in a very distal sense are they related. If you are looking to apply to doctoral programs, worry much less about a faculty member's prestige and much more about your research fit with theirs. You need to find the various faculty who are writing about the things you are interested in researching, or whose research is very near the topic you're interested in. There is much already said in this forum and elsewhere on the internet about research fit, so I won't go into it any further. But a final cautionary note: an advisor's prestige can in some instances work against you, particularly if they are always out of town at speaking events or other things and don't have time to mentor you in the craft of academic scholarship.

[Thomas]

Hi CDF! yes you're right! But sorry that I forgot to mention I was perhaps interested in his research interests as well. But you did make very good points! Especially the last one that he might not have the time to give me some tutoring. Thx CDF!

[BrazilianPhD]

Just to give a different perspective about prestige. Research fit is clearly vital, but prestige still matters in my opinion.

 

Things can be quite different from program to program, of course. But, at least in my department, I really think the best advisors are the ones with the highest levels of prestige.

 

Yeah, they may not have much time. But that doesn't mean the low prestige ones are not very busy, sometimes they are even busier because they still have more to prove.

 

Also, prestige I usually related to productivity. So, the ones with high prestige learned to be efficient. In other words, get more results with less time. They know what they are doing, they know how to get results.

 

I prefer the little time I have with my advisor than much more time with other advisors. My advisor is very efficient, straightforward, practical. Quick to tell me what's right, what's wrong, and to point me in the right direction. His insights are amazing, he can usually go straight to the main issues that can destroy a research when there is a presentation, instead of talking about small stuff that doesn't matter.

 

The professors with high prestige here are also usually very passionate about research (it's also hard to be so productive without a lot of passion). So, they enjoy being advisors, bouncing ideas with each other, sharing what is happening, etc.

 

And prestige can play a big role when PhD students start looking for a job. A strong recommendation and a phone call from a professor who is highly regarded in the field can carry a lot of weight. A recent graduate here got a job at a university that is ranked much higher (and that's rare to see), and I'm sure her advisor played a big role. I saw them rehearsing the job market interview over and over again, for example.

 

Of course, prestige can also backfire. The pressure may be much more intense, the expectations may be much higher, and they will not recommend you strongly if you don't meet those expectations. But, in general, I think prestige is a good thing that is important. I see often the reputation of a researcher being attached to the advisor, even after the researcher becomes famous in the field.

[Thomas]

I see. Thx BrazilianPhD! I'll save this post as well just in case I need to reread your and others' wonderful advice again!

 

Thx!!

[doingfine]

Prestige among academics? Yes. 10000 citations, SMJ AE, SMS ES, not too old is an academic star for sure, and probably someone who is well known and has open access in strategy circles. Prestige among practitioners? Maybe if they have an HBR or two and do consulting/etc. Prestige among lay people? Maybe, but only if we are talking a top school. Prestige among students? Just kidding who cares.

[Thomas]

Hi doingfine. Yeah thx for the reply! You provided a very good perspective XD!