Evaluating Faculty Research Impact in Higher Education: Integrating Social Media Influence with Traditional Metrics

Abstract

In higher education, faculty research impact is often measured using traditional metrics such as citation counts, h-indexes, and journal rankings. However, as social media becomes an increasingly important platform for disseminating research, these traditional metrics fail to capture the broader societal influence that faculty can have through platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. This paper explores the application of the Kardashian Index (K-Index)—introduced by Neil Hall in 2014—as a tool for measuring the social media influence of business and management faculty relative to their academic citation counts. By calculating the K-Index for 50 prominent business and management scholars, the study reveals significant discrepancies between social media engagement and traditional academic impact, along with shortcomings in the K-Index as a tool to measure research impact. The paper proposes a new framework, the Research Impact Index (RI-Index), which integrates multiple social media platforms and considers other academic contributions such as preprint downloads and conference presentations. This new index offers a more comprehensive method for evaluating the overall impact of faculty research. The study encourages higher education institutions to adopt a multi-dimensional approach to measuring research influence, incorporating both traditional academic metrics and social media engagement to more accurately reflect the societal contributions of faculty.