Reflexivity in research: Three encounters and the ‘I’-index

Abstract

We praise reflexivity in management practice, but how willing are we to apply it to examining the reasons why we study what we study as researchers? The choice of what to study is a privilege but also a responsibility. This personal narrative dives below the usual explanations we give to each other in conferences, in the elevator pitches of academic life, in front of recruitment and selection committees, in our short bios, and in so many other venues of self-presentation and (re)construction. It is a cri de coeur from someone who is not only an immigrant to a dominant culture, but also an immigrant to academia: a Latina who still hesitates to write “I” in an academic article but, at the end of her career, turns back to look at the winding road and identifies three chance encounters that turned out to be signposts at critical crossroads. How about you? Whether you are at the start, middle, or end of your journey as a researcher, how are you deciding what to study? When it is your turn to look back, what will the papers scattered in the trail of your research career say about your “I”? Will you care most about your h-index or your “I”-index?