Language Skills and Affective Barriers as Factors Influencing Research Productivity of Scholars in Business Discipline in Poland

Changing institutional regulations and increased competitiveness in academia impose strong pressure on scholars specialized in business to improve research productivity by publishing in international impact factor journals. Our knowledge about factors that leverage success of business scholars is very limited as prior research in this area was US-specific and limited in terms of scope (mostly based on publicly available secondary sources). We lack a comprehensive view of factors contributing to scientific success, e.g. from the perspective of management scholars themselves. This paper presents the results of explorative interviews conducted with management scholars based in Poland. The qualitative study suggests that both: English language skills (English language knowledge and English language communication skills) and affective predispositions (levels of inhibition, self-esteem, anxiety) strongly influence international research productivity. These all factors are also found as interrelated. The focus of this research was on Polish scholars, so results are not fully universal, however they are rather relevant for all post-communist European countries. To increase research productivity of scholars in business discipline, government and school authorities are recommended to pay more attention to language trainings for scholars and special incentives for international research networking.