Nicolas Bastardoz, a post-doctoral student and part-time lecturer in the Faculty of Business and Economics at UNIL, has won the Best Student Conference Paper Award 2017, awarded by the RMD (Research Methods Division) of Sage Publications. He will be awarded the prize at the Academy of Management (AoM) conference, which will take place in Atlanta (United States) from 4 to 8 August.
A paper on methodology...
Nicolas Bastardoz, currently Junior Associate Editor of the journal The Leadership Quarterly, was awarded the prize for his article which was part of his doctoral dissertation, “When ANOVA gets it wrong: A reintroduction to the regression discontinuity design”, co-authored with Prof. Philippe Jacquart (EM Lyon) and Prof. John Antonakis (HEC Lausanne). The article offers management researchers a design that can be used for quasi-experimental type of data.
The article demonstrates that in certain circumstances, the use of an inappropriate statistical method can lead to problems of endogeneity. An incorrect specification is still frequently used in management research, presenting serious threats to unbiased, accurate results. The award-winning manuscript shows that design has previously been neglected by researchers, although the situation is now changing. Moreover, the article is part of a broader trend, initiated by various editorial teams (including that of the journal The Leadership Quarterly at the instigation of Prof. Antonakis), with a view to improving the methodological standards of management research.
... which will have an international impact in the discipline
The Research Methods division is a prestigious part of the Academy of Management and a partner of the journal Organizational Research Methods (an authoritative voice in the field of methodological publications). “The Academy of Management is the best conference for management researchers,” explains Nicolas Bastardoz, who comments that the award will “help establish his reputation for the quality of his work. It is the best prize a paper of this kind, written by a doctoral student, can be given.” Although his article has not yet been published in an academic journal, it should benefit from increased visibility and have a significant impact on management research. A positive step for the young researcher, who has already published in some of the leading journals in his discipline, including The Leadership Quarterly, Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior and Current Opinion in Psychology.