Anne-Wil Harzing and Christa Sathish 2026. Every little action counts: How cognitive, affective, relational, and agentic (micro-)practices support academic micro-transformation. Management Learning. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/13505076261437406
| Title | Every little action counts: How cognitive, affective, relational, and agentic (micro-)practices support academic micro-transformation |
|---|---|
| Type | Journal article |
| Authors | Anne-Wil Harzing and Christa Sathish |
| Abstract | There is an abundance of lamentations on the ills of academia, and a more modest, but growing, discussion on how to both reimagine academia and delegitimize its dominant micro-practices. What is missing, however, is a clearer understanding of how individual academics can help to move academia from reimagination and delegitimization to transformation. Addressing this lacuna, our article makes three interrelated contributions. First, we conceptualize a novel process that we call academic micro-transformation, where change occurs through small, interconnected acts. Second, drawing on the vocabulary of Positive Organizational Scholarship, we create a typology that demonstrates how cognitive, affective, relational, and agentic change mechanisms can be implemented through daily practices that accumulate and – over time – reshape the academic ecosystem structurally. Finally, we offer readers a practical template with a range of example micro-practices that all of us – from early career academics to emeriti – can enact on a daily basis to support academic micro-transformation. |
| Keywords | Academic cultures, micro-practices, micro-transformation, organizational change |
| Journal | Management Learning |
| ISSN | 1350-5076 |
| 1461-7307 | |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications |
| Publisher's version | License CC BY-NC 4.0 File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1177/13505076261437406 |
| Web address (URL) | https://doi.org/10.1177/13505076261437406 |
| Publication dates | |
| Published online | 21 Apr 2026 |