Publish or perish: exploring the barriers and enablers within the context of DBA programmes.

The paper examines the rhetoric of publish or perish with a particular focus on Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) education. We explore the growth of DBA education and how it is talked about (or not talked about) in the published literature. We differentiate the DBA from the PhD and draw attention to the promised potential of DBA education; rigorous and relevant management research which impacts on management practice. We situate ourselves as insider-researchers who are passionate about this promised potential and disappointed at the dearth of published empirical papers produced by and for the DBA community. This paper contributes by re-focusing attention on social practice theory. Specifically, we draw attention to the conceptual richness within communities of practice and academic literacies theory. At the conference we will offer some initial insights into our early data generation interventions and our planned interventions. In presenting this paper it is our intention to connect with those who are equally passionate about the hidden impact of DBA education and those who want to support the DBA community to publish. We refuse to perish