Challenges and perspectives for the development of the management sciences subdisciplinarity

Characteristics of respondents to the survey

Gender	n	%	Period of work at university	n	%
Female	12	39%	Up to 5 years	2	6%
Male	19	61%	6–10 years	7	23%
Academic position	n	%	11–15 years	7	23%
Professor	7	23%	16–20 years	5	16%
Associate professor	14	45%	Above 20 years	10	32%
Assistant professor	7	23%	Type of research activity	n	%
Lecturer/University Lecturer	2	6%	Theoretical considerations	3	10%
Assistant lecturer/Associate lecturer	1	3%	Basic research	8	26%
Age	n	%	Applied research	20	64%
31–40 years	9	29%	Preferred research methods	n	%
41–50 years	11	36%	Quantitative research	14	45%
51–60 years	6	19%	Qualitative research	15	48%
Above 60 years	5	16%	No empirical research	2	7%

Opinions of the surveyed scientists about the development prospects of selected emerging subdisciplines in the management sciences

Emerging management sub-disciplines	Total in the sample		China		Poland		Student’s t-test
	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	t	p
Informatics in management	4.42	0.72	4.55	0.69	4.35	0.75	0.717	0.48
Technology management	4.16	0.73	4.09	0.54	4.20	0.83	–0.441	0.66
Tourism management	3.61	1.17	4.00	0.77	3.40	1.31	1.382	0.18
Visual management studies	3.58	0.96	4.00	0.77	3.35	0.99	1.882	0.07
Sports management	3.26	1.21	3.36	0.81	3.20	1.40	0.412	0.68
Military management/national defense management	3.16	1.29	3.82	0.87	2.80	1.36	2.232	0.03*
Arts management	2.71	1.16	2.55	0.69	2.80	1.36	–0.691	0.50

Functions and examples of classification of subdisciplines of the management sciences

Classification function	Classification example	Characteristics of classification
Building identity and integrating the scientific community	Second version of classification from the Polish Academy of Science: Committee of Organization and Management. It includes 18 subdisciplines that form a hierarchical system of 4 levels: (1) empirical character, (2) subjective criterion, (3) management level and (4) specific research specialties level (Bełz et al., 2019).	Range: Poland Scope: specific Levels: 4 NoSs: 18 Boundaries: closed
Identification of scientists’ research interests	EIASM classification created by the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (n.d.). This is wider classification of economic sciences, including management science subdisciplines. It is divided into 112 specializations at 2 levels: 18 at the first level and 94 at the second level. It has an open nature and additional proposals may be included.	Range: Europe Scope: specific Levels: 2 NoSs: 112** Boundaries: open
Distribution of funds for scientific research	Classification of the Narodowe Centrum Nauki panels (n.d.), developed for qualification and assessment of research projects in Poland. It includes the HS panel: humanities, social sciences, and art, which includes the HS4 subpanel: individual, institutions, markets. It contains a classification of 15 subdisciplines characteristic of management. These include: resources and sustainable development; corporate finance, accounting; marketing; strategic management, concepts and methods of management; and human resources management, along with the possibility of taking into account other related issues.	Range: Poland Scope: general Levels: 3 NoSs: 15* Boundaries: open
Awarding specialties as part of scientific degrees	The Chinese classification of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council (Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 2018). This classification includes five management science specializations: (1) management science and engineering, (2) business management, (3) agriculture and forestry management, (4) public management, (5) library intelligence and archives management.	Range: China Scope: general Levels: 2 NoSs: 5 Boundaries: closed
Development of research teams	European Group for Organizational Studies (n.d.) compilation, which operates in dynamic Standing Working Groups (SWGs). Currently, 15 SWGs have been created, including, among others: organization and time; organizing in and through civil society; social movements and organizations; routines and routine dynamic; organizational networks; organizational paradox; digital technology, media and organization; organizing in and for extreme contexts or organization studies in the Anthropocene.	Range: Europe Scope: specific Levels: 1 NoSs: 15 Boundaries: open
Classification of scientific journals	The Scopus-Elsevier classification (Scopus Sources, n.d.) created for classification of scientific journals. It contains 27 subject areas divided into detailed research subdisciplines. From the point of view of the management sciences, a set of 11 sub-disciplines in business, management, and accounting are of relevance, which include, e.g., business and international management; industrial relations; management of technology and innovation; marketing or strategy and management.	Range: international Scope: general Levels: 2 NoSs: 11 Boundaries: closed
Classification of scientific publications	Journal of Economic Literature codes classification system developed by the American Economic Association (2022) as a standard of classifying literature in economics. The current version includes 3 levels of classification with 20 categories at first 1evel, 122 two-digit codes at second level and 857 three-digit codes at the third level (Heikkilä, 2022). The high complexity of the classification results in management science subdisciplines being located in many different categories.	Range: international Scope: specific Levels: 3 NoSs: 857* Boundaries: open
Support in the selection of scientific journals	The Chartered Association of Business Schools classification of the Academic Journal Guide 2021 methodology (2021) from the United Kingdom. Its aim is to support academics in making appropriate decisions about the selection of academic journals in the management sciences. The compilation includes 22 subject areas, which are dominated by management science specializations.	Range: The United Kingdom Scope: specific Levels: 1 NoSs: 22 Boundaries: closed
Organization of scientific conferences	The thematic scope created for the National Scientific Conference within “Summer School of Management” cycle entitled “Challenges and Perspectives for the Development of Management Sciences”. It was organized in 2010 by the Technical University of Łódź, Poland. The deliberations focused on 14 management sciences subdisciplines (Lachiewicz & Nogalski, 2010).	Range: Poland Scope: specific Levels: 1 NoS: 14 Boundaries: closed
Evaluation of university performance	ANVUR classification (2015) from Italy created by the National Agency for Evaluation of the University System and Research. It identifies six subdisciplines of the management sciences; however, including “commodity sciences” is debatable from a substantive point of view.	Range: Italy Scope: general Levels: 3 NoSs: 6* Boundaries: closed
Implementation of official statistics obligations	The Fields of Research (FoR) classification from Australia and New Zealand (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2020). It is developed for R&D statistics and includes 23 science divisions. One of them is commerce, management, tourism, and services, including 75 management sciences specializations with the possibility of adding additional proposals.	Range: Australia and New Zealand Scope: general Levels: 3 NoSs: 75 Boundaries: open

The opinions of the surveyed scientists about the impact of management science characteristics on the diversity of subdiscipline classifications

Characteristics of management sciences	Total in the sample		China		Poland		Student’s t-test
	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	t	p
Methodological pluralism and polymethodology of management sciences	3.65	0.84	3.45	0.52	3.75	0.97	–0.937	0.36
The current, dynamic/turbulent stage in the development of management sciences	3.48	0.96	3.64	0.92	3.40	0.99	0.648	0.52
Searching for merit and methodological identity of management sciences in the social sciences	3.38	1.21	3.27	1.01	3.44	1.34	–0.366	0.72
Focus on analysis of dynamic processes	3.23	1.28	3.36	1.43	3.15	1.23	0.437	0.66
A relatively low level of accuracy, universality, objectivity, and sustainability of scientific laws	3.10	0.84	3.18	0.75	3.05	0.91	0.398	0.69
Relative “youthfulness” of management sciences	3.07	1.00	3.00	0.89	3.11	1.08	-0.286	0.78
Importance of research self-reflection in management sciences	3.06	1.12	3.36	1.03	2.90	1.17	1.103	0.28
Belonging of management sciences to a group of highly practical applied sciences	3.00	1.21	3.27	0.90	2.85	1.35	0.928	0.36
The importance of methodological triangulation in management sciences	2.90	1.01	2.91	1.04	2.9	1.02	0.024	0.98
The wide range of applications of qualitative methods	2.87	1.28	3.09	1.58	2.75	1.12	0.701	0.49
Domination of medium range theory and microtheories	2.77	0.77	2.82	0.87	2.74	0.73	0.273	0.79

Hierarchization of the diversity factors of management science subdisciplines on the basis of the opinions of the surveyed scientists

Component No.	Proposed label	Total in the sample		Hierarchy	China		Poland
		M	SD		M	SD	M	SD
1	Methodological specificity of management sciences	3.03	0.94	4	3.09	1.12	3.00	0.86
2	Interpretative specificity of the management sciences	3.12	0.84	2	3.30	0.82	3.02	0.85
3	Dynamics and methodological diversity of the management sciences	3.56	0.54	1	3.55	0.47	3.58	0.59
4	Pragmatic nature of the management sciences	3.06	0.95	3	3.14	0.81	3.03	1.03
5	Theoretical specificity of the management sciences	2.68	0.91	5	2.82	0.87	2.60	0.94

Classification of the determinants of diversity of management science subdisciplines using factor analysis on the basis of the opinions of the surveyed scientists

Characteristics of management sciences	Component					Consistency assessment
	1	2	3	4	5
The importance of methodological triangulation in management sciences	0.86					CR=0.87
The wide range of applications of qualitative methods	0.82					AVE=0.69
Searching for merit and methodological identity of management sciences in the social sciences	0.81					αCr=0.74
Focus on analysis of dynamic processes		0.87				CR=0.78
Importance of research self-reflection in management sciences		0.74				AVE=0.54
A relatively low level of accuracy, universality, objectivity, and sustainability of scientific laws		0.58				αCr=0.61
Methodological pluralism and polymethodology of management			0.85			CR=0.79
sciences						AVE=0.66
The current, dynamic/turbulent stage in the development of management sciences			0.76			αCr=0.75
Belonging of management sciences to a group of highly practical applied sciences				0.87		CR=0.78
						AVE=0.64
Relative youthfulness of management sciences				0.72		αCr=0.53
Domination of medium range theory and microtheories					0.83	n/a
Cumulative % of explained variance	22.43	39.90	54.83	67.75	78.81

Opinions of the surveyed scientists about the role of determinants from the socioeconomic and scientific environment in shaping the development of subdisciplinarity in management science

Determinants	Total in the sample		China		Poland		Student’s t-test
	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	t	p
(1) The needs and development prospects of the economic/social sphere vs. (2) scientific sphere	2.68	1.08	2.64	1.12	2.70	1.08	-0.155	0.88
(1) Political preferences and regulatory requirements vs. (2) scientists/researchers’ preferences and scientific requirements	3.81	1.17	4.18	0.40	3.60	1.39	1.741	0.09
(1) Development of management sciences so far vs. (2) prospects for the future development of management sciences	3.94	0.77	4.09	0.54	3.85	0.88	0.827	0.42
(1) National vs. (2) international/global trends in management sciences development	4.29	0.82	4.27	0.65	4.30	0.92	–0.087	0.93