The History of the AIB Research Methods Shared Interest Group (RM-SIG)

Aggie Chidlow, Stewart R. Miller, Bo B. Nielsen & Catherine Welch

RM SIG Co-founding members

The genesis of the idea is attributed to Luciara Nardon (Carleton University), who was visiting the University of Sydney. She met with Catherine Welch over coffee and floated the idea of a research methods group.  So, all of a sudden the idea was planted.  Catherine Welch and her colleague Bo Nielsen started thinking about the development of this idea for the whole AIB community. Other people also contributed in the early stages.  In particular, an impromptu meeting of methods enthusiasts at ANZIBA in February 2015 provided encouragement.  A founding committee was established.  It included Aggie Chidlow, Liena Kano, Peter Liesch, Stewart Miller, Bo Nielsen, David Reeb, Tian Wei and Catherine Welch.

Bo and Catherine crafted a ‘Special Interest Group’ proposal and submitted it to the AIB Board (the name was later changed to ‘Shared Interest Group’, in recognition that the group needs to appeal to the entire AIB community). The popularity of the proposal was demonstrated by the strong showing of participants at a special meeting convened at the AIB annual conference in Bengaluru in 2015. Rosalie Tung, then AIB President, played a key role in shepherding the proposal through the AIB board. Several other people deserve some credit.  Jeremy Clegg, then a member of the AIB Board, was a very strong proponent of an RM SIG. Alain Verbeke was a very strong supporter of research methods as JIBS Editor-in-Chief. Last, but not least, Tunga Kiyak of the AIB Secretariat was also a strong supporter of the RM-SIG and instrumental in its implementation.

Soon after, four people emerged as co-founding members of the RM-SIG — Aggie Chidlow, Stewart Miller, Bo Nielsen and Catherine Welch. These RM-SIG ‘co-founding members’ focused on delivering content for AIB’s annual meeting in New Orleans in 2016. Offerings included research methods workshops, a special panel session and methods clinics. The co-founders are very grateful to the AIB Secretariat and to the Program Chair in 2016, Charles Dhanaraj, for facilitating these activities despite the many demands they faced for space in the conference program. In the lead-up to the 2016 annual meeting, the first RM-SIG Newsletter was produced, and it continues to this day, published twice a year.

The entire founding team used their networks to make sure highly skilled people led the RM workshops and clinics.  Bo and Catherine leveraged their connections with methods experts from CARMA: Larry Williams and Bob Vandenberg. Larry and Bob were both pioneers in establishing research methods groups and had a long record of offering RM activities at a host of different conferences. Bob and Larry led the inaugural RM workshops on multi-level modeling and structural equation modeling.  They also helped with some of the clinics. The co-founders are very indebted to Larry and Bob for their extraordinary support and advice and have been working to strengthen the relationship between the RM-SIG and CARMA.

As the workload increased, the co-founders started to grow the leadership team by including a number of RM officers.  Specifically, they recruited Diletta Pegoraro, Roberta Aguzzoli, Emma Gardner, and Maria Karafyllia. At the 2018 AIB annual meeting, with the encouragement of Lorraine Eden during her term as AIB President, the co-founders started to formalize the structure by forming an executive board.  Each person was given a very specific role. Bo Nielsen became VP – External Relations; Catherine Welch became VP – Technology and Communications; Aggie Chidlow became VP – Program. Stewart Miller assumed the role of President.  The newly-formed executive team created a finance position, and then promoted Roberta Aguzzoli to Vice President and Treasurer. The RM-SIG executive team members focused on their roles and helped each other in order to assemble the best methodologists for the RM Workshops and Clinics. In an attempt to create more structure, Stewart Miller crafted the RM-SIG bylaws. The executive team also established an advisory board.

The executive team focused on building a culture of serving others. And so over time, Stewart once commented that: “I was pleased to see a change — from respectfully requesting workshops and clinics from the Conference and PDW chairs to having them asking us how many workshops and clinics do you need?”  Stewart further commented, “We created a culture of service…of helping others.  It is something we believe in.”

Then the RM-SIG started its growth strategy by expanding its AIB conference offerings.  In 2020, the executive team decided to offer master classes led by prominent methodology scholars.  The first Master classes were led by William Greene and John van Maanen.

In 2020, the executive team sought to serve the AIB community beyond the annual conference by providing offerings throughout the year. So, the executive team began to offer RM webinars during the rest of the year. Hence, the executive team recruited Ursula Ott to be Vice President – Webinars. In the first year, webinar registrations ranged from about 150 to over 550.

The executive team also considered other forms of engagement such as the responsible research in business and management. So, the executive team made some changes to its board.  Aggie Chidlow shifted from VP – Program to VP – Responsible Research. With this change, the executive team promoted Emma Gardner to VP – Program.  More recently, webinar registrations continued to exceed expectations. For a recent webinar in 2023, over 600 people registered.

As the RM SIG continued its growth, it brought in some talented new RM officers: Arpit Raswant, Duc Nguyen and Amir Qamir. Stewart commented, “A lot of time and effort goes into RM SIG activities especially when we start ramping up for a webinar and approach the annual conference.” Jeremy Clegg, who was instrumental in the beginning and now became AIB President, pushed for the RM-SIG to forge better links with the chapters. But then COVID-19 hit. Jeremy’s initiative was placed on hold. But during the pandemic, the AIB board introduced some Zoom social meetings led by Dana Minbaeva. Dana led Zoom sessions that brought together chapter leaders and SIG leaders.  These sessions created another opportunity for the RM-SIG.  The RM SIG executive team has had some very productive discussions with other SIG leaders, as well as chapters, about offering research methods and content — whether it’s through a Zoom meeting or having people in a face-to-face session. At that point, the executive team recognized that it needed a very highly skilled person to lead the internal initiatives.  So the executive team recruited Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki to be VP – Internal relations.

RM-SIG executive team members recognize that “it’s not about us…and there comes a time to let go.” With the new bylaws stipulating a three-year cycle of leadership in order to ensure both continuity and renewal, Stewart Miller stepped down at the end of the 2022 AIB annual conference.  Bo Nielsen took over as RM-SIG President.  Stewart Miller assumed the role of Immediate Past President of the RM-SIG.  Since that time, the RM-SIG has made leadership changes in order to give others an opportunity to lead. Marianna Marra replaced Emma Gardner as VP – Program. Stav Fainshmidt replaced Bo Nielsen as VP – External Relations. After Catherine was elected to serve on the AIB Board, Jelana Cerar became the VP – Communications and Social Media. In addition, Roberta Aguzzoli and Ursula Ott switched positions – Roberta now serves as VP – Webinars and Ursula takes over as VP – Treasurer.  In 2023, the RM-SIG appointed Eriikka Paavilainen-Mäntymäki and Evelyn Reithofer as RM Officers.  The RM-SIG executive team thanks Emma, Amir and Maria for their dedication and service to the RM-SIG and AIB community at large.