How our mindset matters: practical contemplations for countering instrumentalism in research

Purpose This paper presents a discussion between a junior and a senior scholar. It aims to capture, in directly practical terms, some aspects of the challenging situation that any scholar tends to face these days in the current ‘publish-or-perish regime’. The focus is on scholars’ mindset options and their agentic possibilities, often ignored in the constant pressure to ‘just get published’. It aims at offering encouragement and hints regarding how to keep carrying out the craft of a good scholarship in the spirit of epistemic self-respect. Design/methodology/approach Experience-based ‘auto-fictional’ dialogue between a junior and a senior scholar. Findings The authors emphasise the importance of adopting a mindset focused on pursuing a good scholarship – a systematic research approach to consistently uphold high standards of research integrity – thereby avoiding traps like easy shortcuts and “reverse-order instrumentalism”. The authors suggest that all researchers possess at least some degree of agency. The authors propose that relying solely on the oscillating position of a ‘conscious performer’ is insufficient; a more robust, non-instrumentalist mindset is necessary. Originality/value This paper offers guidance and practical solutions to tackle the current complex conditions which the ‘publish-or-perish regime’ poses and stresses the pressing need to avoid instrumentalism. The dialogue pays attention to how to do so in journals’ review processes, and which kind of agentic possibilities all researchers possess to carry out their research in the spirit of good scholarship, thereby avoiding instrumentalism.