Changing the scholarly conversation: What it means, why it matters, and how to approach it in micro research

Academics often assess contributions to management research in terms of their influence on the scholarly conversation. At JMS, we aspire to publish papers that significantly change scholarly conversations in productive ways. However, precisely what it means and what it takes to change a scholarly conversation is not entirely clear, especially in micro research in the management field where contributions are often framed in incremental terms. Accordingly, in this editorial we examine what distinguishes papers that significantly change the scholarly conversation on a topic and analyse the functions of such conversation-changing papers, focussing on research in the micro domain. Based on an inductive analysis of exemplar conversation-changing micro papers, we propose a typology that identifies how scholars substantially alter an existing conversation or stimulate a new conversation. For each type of conversation-changing contribution, we identify its attributes and functions and discuss exemplars. We conclude with guidance and tips for authors, reviewers, and editors seeking to develop papers that reshape scholarly conversations. With this editorial, we hope to inspire more conversation changing papers, especially among micro scholars, and position JMS as a natural home for such papers.