By Leah Rosenthal
July 20, 2012

The Administrative Sciences Association of Canada presented McMaster's DeGroote School of Business with the Research Excellence Award in the doctoral category at its annual conference in June. The award highlights a school with the greatest research presence / impact on that year’s program.

The ASAC conference, hosted by Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland, was structured around exploring the new world of work. More than 450 people registered for the conference, with at least one registrant per paper. Fifteen McMaster faculty and students attended.

Catherine Connelly, associate professor of human resources and management, sits on the executive of ASAC and believes that this conference provides a community for researchers.

“ASAC is a friendly conference where presenters receive very high-quality feedback on their research. A lot of senior researchers use the conference as an opportunity to mentor others and to give back to a community that might have helped them to launch their own careers,” says Connelly.

James Chowhan, a PhD candidate, has attended and presented at ASAC conferences several and has found the experience to be valuable. Chowhan presented his paper ‘Perceived access to training and job satisfaction: The mediating role of symptom stress.’ He finds the environment at ASAC to be constructive and supportive. 

“The feedback that I have received, either through the review process or at my presentation, has always helped me improve my work. The collegial environment at ASAC makes it a great place to meet fellow students or professors doing research in your area of interest.”

Founded in 1957 and originally named The Association of Canadian Schools of Commerce and Business Administration, ASAC promotes and improves higher education in commerce and business and provides a place for scholarly research to be presented and discussed.

Benson Honig, professor of human resources and management, and Teresa Cascioli, chair in entrepreneurial leadership, spoke at the conference.

“I participated in the conference to help advance the field in Canada. In particular, I was interested in working with doctoral students and helping them with their research. To my surprise, I delivered a paper of my own and discovered that the audience was highly engaged, very supportive, and able to provide numerous concrete ideas to improve our work,” Honig said. “In short, I had better input and interaction at ASAC than I have had at the majority of international conferences I have attended.”

Membership includes business and related faculties from Canadian and international post-secondary institutions and public and private sector organizations.