ASB/ABJ 4115: Management Research: Assignment Brief SPRING 2022-23

Individual Assignment (100%): 3000 words +/- 10%

Deadline Friday 28th April 2023 (Week 11) 23:59 hrs

There will be an assignment workshop during the normal Thursday lecture in week 5 (23^rd February 2023) and a shorter follow-up session in week 10 and (20^th April, 2023)

This individual assignment requires the written submission of a critical methodological review of management research papers. The review involves the critical discussion of Business Management Research Methods, including strategy, design, sampling and data collection and analysis procedures.

You are required to search for and select a set of 10 journal articles that detail empirical research conducted on a very specific business management topic. Students should select ONLY ONE of the following topics (constructs), and articles should be published 2000 – 2023.

1. Servant Leadership
2. Circular Economy
3. Female entrepreneurship
4. Employee Attrition
5. SMEs in Developing Countries
6. Knowledge Sharing
7. Virtual/ Remote Working
8. Diversity in the workplace
9. Student Engagement in Higher Education
10. Supply Chain Management

Recommended Process

1. Select ONE construct from the above (1-10)

1. Using Google Scholar, and Bangor University library electronic catalogue https://www.bangor.ac.uk/library/ search for empirical papers in journal articles based on your studies. Ensure you only look for articles from the year 2000.

1. Examine the Methodology and Methods & Analysis (but NOT results) section for each article.

1. Write a critical methodological review of the articles across key themes and differences Ensure you:
   1. Critically define the construct under review
   2. Identify i) themes (similarities), ii) differences and iii) gaps in research methodology & methods including (but not limited to):

• research strategy
• design
• sampling
• data collection
• and analysis method

1. Critically evaluate the quality of the above across all 10 papers offering recommendations for improvements in quality

Suggested Structure

Your critical methodological review must include:

1. A meaningful introduction and conclusion.
2. A paragraph critically describing your process of searching, filtering, comparing & contrasting the papers.

Substantial sections addressing [4] as per above (parts a, b & c)

1. Citations throughout your work and a set of final references to at least the ten articles and your research methods textbook.
2. A final list of references that includes
   1. i) DOI hyperlinks to the 10 articles – all should be available through Bangor Library

ii) Additional references that link to citations that are used as part of the critical writing in the main essay (so more than a list of 10 references)

Please Note

1. Please ensure you include your name and banner ID and that all pages are numbered.
2. You should include citations throughout your work and have a references section (not included in the word count).
3. For higher marks there should be evidence of critical writing
4. Include figures (not cut and pasted from lecture slides) that are labelled correctly
5. References should link to citations, should be in alphabetical order and be Harvard Style as per Bangor Business School regulations
6. End references are NOT included in the word count. Any figures must be drawn yourself and not cut and pasted from the internet.
7. You can include a short appendices section for additional information – although this is optional. Appendices are not included in the word count
8. Plagiarism checks will be made through turn-it-in, however, you can submit a draft version of your case-study online through turn-it-in up until the DAY BEFORE the deadline to see what percentage of your work is ‘matched’ to other sources.
9. Any student suspected in plagiarising work will be referred to the academic integrity committee, this includes purchasing essays or asking friends to write your assignment for you.
10. The general rule is a match is under 25% for this module. You can submit a draft as many times as you require up until the day before the deadline, although sometimes you may need to wait 24-hours if you do this many times in one day.
11. Please email me if you have an extension as you will not be able to submit drafts if you do, so we need to provide an alternative DRAFT link for practice submissions
12. Using an external company (known as ‘essay mills’) to write your essay for you is strictly forbidden. This IS a criminal offence in England & Wales (Skills and Post-16 Education Bill amendment, 2021).
13. You are reminded not to copy material from any sources without properly referencing it, as this constitutes plagiarism: cases of plagiarism will be referred to the Business School Academic Integrity Officer and will be subject to a deduction of marks, which can result in an overall mark of 0%.