Advancing the social impact of business schools: a framework for aligning faculty research with mission

Purpose This paper aims to introduce the Mission-Aligned Research Framework, a practical, staged process designed to align faculty research with institutional mission and social purpose. The framework is intended to support mission-driven institutions seeking to integrate scholarly rigor with sustained community and regional relevance. Design/methodology/approach The framework emerged from a three-year analytic autoethnographic inquiry conducted during the author’s tenure as dean of a mission-driven business school in Appalachia. Findings The Mission-Aligned Research Framework consists of six sequential components, including examining the school’s mission for relevance and impact, prioritizing mission-aligned research themes, structuring and communicating research expectations with purpose, developing structural supports for mission-aligned research, conducting mission-aligned research and measuring the social impact of mission-aligned research. Practical implications The framework provides higher education leaders with a structured approach for aligning faculty research with institutional mission while preserving scholarly autonomy. It is intended to support administrators in intentionally leveraging faculty scholarship as a mechanism for advancing institutional mission, strengthening community and regional engagement and reinforcing the social purpose of academic research. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is among the first to introduce a structured framework that operationalizes mission-aligned faculty research as a mechanism for accomplishing institutional social purpose.