Does Business School Research Add Economic Value for Students?

The scholarly research conducted by business school faculty has long been the subject of intense criticism for lacking relevance and value to practice. In contrast, we theorize that such research is relevant and valuable in that it contributes to what is arguably the most critical metric of relevance for business school students: the economic value they accrue from their education. We investigate this counterargument on a sample of 658 business schools over an 8-year period. We find that research adds significant value in that it can potentially enhance student salaries by up to $24,000 per year. However, we also observe that “excessive” research activity can lead to diminishing or even negative returns for students, and a research focus solely on elite journals might rob students of the benefits of exposure to a broader array of new ideas.