How do you secure organizational access and build a partnership that can support impactful field research? What do you do when data collection goes awry? How do you publish field research when reviewers and practitioners care about different things?
Session Title: Lessons from the Trenches: Managing Relationships to Conduct Rigorous and Impactful Field Research (Session ID: 14111)
· When: 8:00 am – 9:30 am EDT on Sunday, August 2, 2026
· Where: Room #106A @ Pennsylvania Convention Center Philadelphia (Map)
Panelists:
· John Hollenbeck (Michigan State University)
· Elizabeth McClean (Cornell University)
· Yifan Song (Texas A&M University)
· Greg Stewart (Wake Forest University)
Organizers:
· Susan Zhu (University of Kentucky)
· Sijun Kim (Texas A&M University)
Field research is essential for advancing organizational science, but it has become increasingly difficult to execute as organizational access becomes more restricted and scholarly expectations for rigor and transparency continue to rise. Navigating these challenges requires researchers to manage relationships effectively with organizational partners, co-authors, editorial teams, and more. However, it often remains part of unwritten and tacit knowledge, if not a "black box," how to manage these relationships successfully. This panel symposium brings together four prolific scholars who have extensive experience and will share thoughtful lessons from their field research experiences and offer practical strategies for all stages of the process.
The symposium is open to everyone, and it does not require pre-registration. Please feel free to contact Susan (susan.zhu@uky.edu) and Sijun (s-kim@mays.tamu.edu) if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you at the panel symposium and learning together with the panelists during the session.
All the best,
Susan & Sijun
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Susan Zhu
Assistant Professor of Management
Gatton College of Business and Economics
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40506-0034
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