Research Policy

Discussed and Approved by the Hon President on 18^th January 2021.

Eligibility: The provisions of this Policy would be applicable to all the Full-time (including faculty members on contract) faculty members of VPSM.

There are several ways research at VPSM may be facilitated by offering enhanced support to faculty, in addition to providing them a conducive academic environment, high-quality infrastructure, and library support and database facilities, among others. Such support not only encourages faculty to try to do better and publish in high-quality journals but also enables VPSM to recruit promising young faculty with high research potential who might otherwise prefer a competitor institution. The Policy outlined here is subject to periodic revision.

The Policy to Support Research (hereinafter called the Policy) proposes research support to faculty members under various categories:

1. Financial Support for Research
   A number of research projects by faculty needs institutional support to meet expenditures on recruiting research assistants, collection of primary data, purchasing special software and databases not available institutionally, traveling for purposes of data collection, interviews, discussions with collaborators from other institutions, help with language editorial services, paying evaluation and submission fees to high-quality journals for the peer review process, etc. Without such support, a research project may not reach the desired quality to enable the faculty to publish in reasonably high-quality journals (B and above or equivalent in ABDC list).

Proposal

It is being proposed that VPSM provides up to Rs. 2 lakh of financial research support to all full-time faculty members, subject to provisions listed below and following due process.

Three types of projects are being considered.

Category 1: Such projects are short-duration projects not exceeding a period of one year, and will be for a maximum of Rs. 1 lakh. In certain exceptional cases, upon presentation of legitimate reasons, the period may be extended for an additional year and the total amount of Rs. 1 lakh may be distributed across these two years. Any additional extensions may be granted by the Committee after following due process, with documented reasons.

Category 2: Such projects are of longer duration for at least 2 years, and will carry a grant of Rs. 2 lakhs. Any extension of such projects is subject to the same processes as outlined in the case of Category 1 projects.

Process of Approval:

• For availing of this support, the faculty may put forward a proposal with important details to the VPSM Research Committee.
• The proposal will contain:
  • Topic of Research
  • Methodology
  • Timelines and anticipated milestones
  • Presentation of the proposal at internal Seminar and a minute of the comments received.
  • Budget of expenditures
• The VPSM Research Committee will review the proposal and need be seek an independent review. The review process will investigate the scope and potential of the proposed research, incorporate internal Seminar suggestions and determine whether the proposal can be forwarded to the University for granting the requisite funding.
• In case multiple faculty members from VPSM are collaborating on the same project, only one faculty member may be designated as principal investigator by the team who will prepare the research support.
• VPSM Research Office will submit the proposal to the Dean for approval.
• Once funding support has been approved, the principal investigator will not be eligible to apply for funding for the next project till the completion and closure of the existing grant proposal.
• Once the funding is approved, the faculty may avail of the money without any need for further approval for each item (e.g., procurement of software, data collection, etc.) on which funding may be granted, except of course adherence to standard accounting processes such as disbursements may be subjected to as per VPSM rules.
• The release of funds to support the expenditures will follow the standard accounting process followed by the VPSM.
• There was a discussion on combining expenses for multiple projects from the initial lump sum grant. Here, it is clarified that a project may lead to multiple papers/research outcomes, and the proposal against which the money will be disbursed may make that clear. However, two separate projects may not be combined.

2. Attending Conferences/Training FDPs

Academic research is ever-changing, and skills learned during one’s Ph.D. training may become obsolete/outdated over time. To continue to remain a strong researcher and to maintain the currency, faculty needs periodic specialized training. In addition, presenting papers in conferences to receive constructive feedback on ongoing work, as well as building the network and VPSM visibility with outside collaborators, it is necessary that faculty travel not just nationally but also internationally for such a high-quality conference.

Proposal

It is being proposed that individual full-time faculty members (confirmed and on-probation) be provided support to the extent of Rs. 2 lakhs for a period of 3 years for conferences that are value-adding. The support will cover registration fees, expenses for travel, visa fees, food, lodging, and boarding, and is applicable only when the organizing institution is not financially supporting the VPSM faculty for these endeavors. In case partial support is available from organizers, the VPSM faculty may only ask for support for the shortfall in the amount for the endeavor.

Process of Approval:

• Submission of a formal proposal to Research Committee
• Review of the proposal by the Research Committee (including possibly by independent reviewers of international repute outside of VPSM) to review and offer judgment on the quality and significance of the conference/training for which request has been received.
• VPSM will try to maintain a list of reputed conferences (AOM, AMA, AEA, AFA, etc.), and for such cases, the approval may be automatic. The list of such conferences may be proposed by respective areas that will be vetted by external academics of global repute. However, given the dynamic nature of the conferences, it will be left to individual researchers to make a case for the conferences they are attending if they are outside of the list of conferences maintained by VPSM.
• Presentation of an accepted conference paper or proposed training proposal at an internal Seminar
• The money may also cover any value-adding pre-conference training for the faculty on demonstration of need (acquisition of new skillset or up-gradation of existing skills) provided by the same organizers at the same conference.
• Research Committee forwarding the proposal to Dean of VPSM for approval.
• The release of funds to support the expenditures will follow the standard accounting process followed by the VPSM.
• Satisfying the above criteria, and subject to the Rs. 2 lakh threshold, a faculty can avail of this as many times in the 3-year as needed. However, accessing grant support for presenting the same paper in multiple conferences within the same year may not be allowed. If this is presented to different conferences in multiple years, then substantial change (e.g., modification, in theory, the introduction of a different methodology, etc.) from a previous version would need to be demonstrated for accessing grant money.
• Note: In certain specific cases, the faculty may approach management with a higher disbursement of funds than proposed in this document. In such cases, the management may decide whether the request for such additional funding may be granted.

3. Support to Research Centers

The hallmark of good research institutions is to create specialized teams of researchers to undertake important academic research on issues of importance to industry and policymakers. Such activities are facilitated by the creation of research centers that seek to partner with industry and government organizations. Such case centers can facilitate case study research and bring in additional funds from industry and government bodies via sponsored projects. They may also involve students, and look to become self-sustaining over a period of time. This may also facilitate collaboration among different schools of DY Patil University.

Proposal

To facilitate such activities, it is being proposed that multiple centers be set up. For each such center, proposals would need to be sent to the Research Committee with the research themes that such Centers wish to pursue, and a detailed plan as to how they will raise money for their activities by tying up with industry and government bodies. From its ends, VPSM may consider one-time approvals of appropriate amounts against proposals for the seed money for such a center. However, it is envisaged that such centers will be self-sustaining, and perhaps serve as sources of revenue for the institution.

4. Monetary Incentives for publications in high-quality peer-reviewed journals

The Policy proposes the following monetary incentives for the full-time Faculty.

Deliverables	Incentive (INR)	Remarks
Category A* (ABDC list)/FT50 journals	5,00,000	Affiliation must mention VPSM. Payment will be made only on producing the proof of publication with page, volume no. etc. by way of a hard copy.   The incentive payment will be subject to 2/(n+1) adjustment, where n is the number of authors.
Category A (ABDC list)/Clarivate Analytics Impact Factor > 3 if not in ABDC list	3,50,000
Category B (ABDC list)/Clarivate Analytics Impact Factor between 1 and 3 if not in ABDC list/Other journals in internal list not in ABDC list or without Clarivate Analytics Impact Factor	1,00,000
Cases along with teaching note	50,000	Harvard/Ivey/Emerald/ACRC Publishing. Affiliation must mention VPSM for the credit.   The incentive payment will be subject to 2/(n+1) adjustment, where n is the number of authors

 The monetary compensation will also consider when the paper was submitted. For instance, a faculty submits a paper to a journal which is ranked A in ABDC. However, when the paper is published, the journal may either be upgraded to A* or downgraded to a B. In this case, the faculty may receive incentives as per the original rank, i.e., A. In case the journal was earlier a B and now has been delisted from ABDC, the faculty will receive the incentive as per the above. However, if a journal is a new inclusion when a paper is published, but did not satisfy any of the above criteria when it was submitted, the faculty will not receive any incentive.

For journals not in the ABDC list or having no Clarivate Analytics Impact Factor, the proposal, for the time being, is to adopt the IIM Ahmedabad’s list of journals. In case more journals need to be added, areas may present a set of journals with adequate justification as to the quality of the journals.

5. Support for journals and research databases

In addition, certain other research-related support will be needed. A Library Committee may be constituted at the earliest with an operating budget. This will work with the Librarian to procure research support for different journals and databases. Some of the journal support that may be covered are JSTOR, EBSCO Premium, ProQuest, ScienceDirect (for management and economics journals only, ICSSR rates may be sought to access these). Consideration may also be given to Wiley, Sage, and Springer publishers. In addition, some journals that are directly published by the respective societies or associations may be accessed directly (Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Finance, Journal of Marketing, MISQ, American Economic Review, etc.) through online subscription. The concerned areas may present a list of such necessary journals to ensure adequate coverage for research.

Databases such as Bloomberg terminals, Prowess database, CMIE consumer expenditure surveys may be subscribed to with a view to enhancing both teaching and research.

Some other services such as editorial software service (Grammarly/Ginger) may be subscribed to for the provision of research.

6. Establishment of Research Seminar Series and Conference

To facilitate discussions with peers of other institutions, and also to maintain a vibrant internal research culture, VPSM may look to create a research seminar series that will meet frequently (on a weekly basis) for the presentation of research work either by an internal or an external faculty member. For these, a research presentation will need to be a work that has not yet been published and is at a formative or advanced (but not completed) stage, so the author(s) can benefit from constructive feedback. The presentation may be of roughly 60 to 90-minute duration, and it is desirable that thereby be a designated discussant for each such presentation. Research ideas could be presented here. Sometimes we may invite other researchers from our peer institutions to present their work at our seminars.

To continue with the above, it is also being proposed that VPSM look to host at least one conference annually, either by themselves or in partnership with a reputable society with the possibility of publication in a reputed journal. The budget for this may be set depending on the scope and nature of the Conference.

7. Constitution of a Research Ethics and Academic Integrity Panel:

As required by UGC regulation in this matter, the Committee recommends that Research Ethics and Academic Integrity Panels be set up to ensure that academic integrity with respect to plagiarism and academic honesty is upheld by the community of researchers at VPSM and that publications in predatory journals do not happen by the researchers at VPSM. Simultaneously, to ensure ethics approval of research when the research requires interactions with human subjects that may be deemed to possibly endanger the physical and/or mental health of subjects, the Panel may evaluate research projects and decide on the approval of projects.

This Policy comes into effect from 1^st June 2021.

VPSM understand the importance of the contemporary research. In order to boost the research activities among the faculty members, a new initiative called as the Brown Bag Seminar series was inaugurated. Brown Bag seminar series invites a faculty member of VPSM to present his / her research to all the other faculty members and seek a feedback on the same. This not only improves the quality of the research but also develops the collegial environment among the faculty members. It also leads to a lot of new research ideas which can be worked on.

The inaugural Seminar of the Brown Bag was presented by Dr Bilwa Deshpande of Marketing Area. Dr Deshpande presented her ongoing research on “Advertising and Impulse Buying: Mirth for Vices and Dearth for Virtues”.

Abstract of her paper:

Purpose: Impulse buying is critically important for marketers and hence they try various strategies to enhance impulse buying. The purpose of this paper is to examine the varying impact of advertising appeals on customers’ impulse buyingfor vice and virtue food products.

Design/ methodology/ approach:  This research used two experiments in India. Experiment 1 (n=160) used a 2 (Humor: High versus Low) * 2 (Product category: Vice versus Virtue) between-subjects design. Experiment 2 (n=160) used a 2 (Scarcity: High versus Low) * 2 (Product category: Vice versus Virtue) between-subjects design. Logistic Regression and SPSS PROCESS MACRO were used for data analysis.

Findings: Humor enhances impulse buying of vice products through anticipation of enjoyment and scarcity enhances impulse buying of virtue products through perception of uniqueness. Therefore, product category (vice vis-à-vis virtue) plays a moderating role in the relationship between humor (scarcity) and impulse buying.

Research implications: This research contributes to the literature by identifying a new antecedent to IB while integrating the body of work in impulse buying with that in advertising thereby supporting incongruity-resolution theory and reactance theory.

Practical implications: Practitioners managing vice (virtue) brands may use humor (scarcity) appeals to promote impulse buying. Though impulse buying is generally considered normatively wrong, this research shows how to enhance impulse buying for virtue products, which are beneficial for consumers.

Originality/ Value: This paper demonstrates that humor (scarcity) appeals enhance impulse buying of vice (virtue) products and shows the underlying mechanisms behind these effects.

Keywords: impulse buying, advertising, advertising appeals, humor, scarcity        

Paper type: Research paper