Code of Conduct

Welcome to Connect!  

 

Thank you for being part of our exclusive member community.

To ensure the best possible experience for all members and users, we have established some basic guidelines for participation covered under the following areas:

  • Code of Conduct
  • Privacy Policy
  • Legal Terms and Conditions

By joining and participating in this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. Connect shall be used exclusively as a professional service for networking and information sharing among members and authenticated individual users in a collegial setting.  As such, members and users acknowledge the intended spirit and professional intent of Connect and agree to use it accordingly. Connect is a great platform with which to connect with your peers by initiating and participating in ongoing conversations. In doing so you agree to hold discussions and share files and content that are best suited to the platform.  Questions regarding what is considered appropriate content should be directed to our Member Services Department via AOM Support. 

Please take a moment to acquaint yourself with these important guidelines. If you have questions, please contact AOM Support. 

Code of Conduct

In order to preserve an environment that encourages both civil and constructive dialogue, we reserve the right to suspend access to this community, or take any other action determined in our reasoned discretion, for inappropriate use or violation of these rules and guidelines. Participation in the community extends to current members participating in AOM activities and covered under the AOM Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct which include enforceable standards.   

The Rules

  • Respect others. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Please extend the benefit of the doubt to newer guests and members; there’s no such thing as an irrelevant question.
  • Respect the purpose of the community. Use the community to share knowledge, ask questions, and provide constructive feedback instead of commercial promotion.
  • Protect private information. Information posted in the discussion groups and in the libraries is available for all community participants to see. Do not post any confidential information or any information that would infringe upon the proprietary, privacy or personal rights of others. 
  • Defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials are strictly prohibited.  Be respectful in communications, and comply with relevant laws.
  • Identify yourself and take responsibility for posts. Content (including fake user accounts) intended to impersonate a person, company or organization is not allowed.  
  • Respect intellectual property. Only post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator. Do not use any words, logos or other marks that would infringe upon the trademark, service mark, certification mark, or other intellectual property rights of the owners of such marks without the permission of such owners. 
  • Refrain from advertising, whether self-promotion or promoting goods and services of others. Do not post any information or other material that constitutes or could reasonably be construed as constituting advertising, marketing, solicitation of business, vending, attempting to sell or promote products or services, or otherwise engaging in or attempting to consummate commercial or professional transactions.
  • Respect federal, state, and international antitrust laws. This listserv shall not be utilized in any manner that violates federal or state antitrust laws or other laws prohibiting anticompetitive practices.  The antitrust laws generally prohibit any agreement or understanding inconsistent with the right and obligation of competitors to exercise independent business judgment in pricing their products or services, dealing with their customers and suppliers, and selecting the markets in which to compete, among other business practices.  No express agreement or understanding is required; one can be inferred from statements or conduct.  Do not post any information regarding specific prices or fees charged or paid, and do not post any information concerning prices, pricing practices, discounts, or other terms or conditions of sale either obtained by or offered to another entity.  Do not post any information concerning market shares, salaries, costs, sales territories, profit margins, or encouraging the rejection of, or that are critical of, members, customers, vendors, suppliers, or others.
  • Post your message or documents only to the most appropriate communities. This helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating "noise."

In addition to the rules described above, consider the following general tips to help you maintain good etiquette when reproducing content.

  • Be courteous. Treat others with respect, using professional and considerate language that fosters a welcoming community.
  • When citing Connect discussions, please include a link back to the original discussion or to the Connect homepage. Please ask participants for permission to republish their words elsewhere (especially if elsewhere would be a publicly viewable setting).
  • State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.
  • Send short reply messages such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too" to individuals, not to the entire list. Do this by using the "Reply to Sender" link in every message.
  • Do not send administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list,” to the group. Instead, use the web interface to change your email delivery settings or to remove yourself from a community. If you are changing email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the community and rejoin under your new email address. Simply update your AOM member profile.

AOM does not generally monitor the community discussions for inappropriate postings, and does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings.  However, in the event that any inappropriate posting or unauthorized use of the community is brought to AOM's attention, including but not limited to prohibited posting and usage as outlined herein, AOM will take all appropriate action, in its sole discretion. AOM reserves the right to terminate, without prior notice, the access of any user who does not abide by these guidelines, and/or to take other disciplinary action against violators.

AOM accepts no responsibility for opinions and information posted on this community by others.  AOM disclaims all warranties with regard to information posted on this community, whether posted by AOM or others; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness.  In no event shall AOM be liable for any special, indirect or consequential damages, or damages of any kind whatsoever, resulting from loss of use, data or profits, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this community.

Academy of Management Privacy Policy

We encourage you to read this overall Privacy and Cookies Policy before using this website and providing your personal data to us. We also encourage you to review the Higher Logic Privacy Notice, which further details out how the Connect platform collects and processes personal information.

Additional Privacy Policies under Connect

This Privacy Policy is intended to inform you of our policies and practices regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of any personal information you submit to us through Connect.  Any personal information you provide to us including and similar to your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address will not be released, sold, or rented to any entities or individuals outside of our organization except as noted below.

About Connect
Connect is the online community and professional networking site for members of the Academy of Management (AOM) and authenticated users who create an account.  The site seeks to facilitate user interaction through its many features including user profiles, which display some personal information to other members and authenticated account holders.  This allows our users to identify each other and expand their scholarly network. 

User Controls & Directory Privacy Settings
AOM members and authenticated users can change their profile information at any time and can control how other members and the platform communicates with them. Users can set their privacy level for each group, including making information private and not visible to the Connect community, or known only to the user’s personal networks.

Please note that when users enter and information is collected, including personal information, this information might be available for some, a subgroup of, or even all members of the Connect community, depending on how and where this information was posted by the user or the settings the user has chosen. Personal information entered into publicly available sections of Connect will be displayed to anyone who has access to those sections.

Information Collection and Used by Connect

Personal Information Provided by AOM and by Users
Connect extracts and stores basic profile information from the AOM’s membership database such as name, organization, email, and divisions and interests groups in order to authenticate users, facilitate user interaction, and send notifications related to the service.  As such, users of the site are not anonymous to us.  

In addition, when you personalize your profile, Connect collects the user submitted information in order to further enhance interaction, such as personal interests, bios, education, areas of expertise, and other fields that will develop over time as the site matures and the profile options for users expand.  The personal data we gather from you helps us to learn about our members, potential members, and other users of our community to generally improve AOM services.  But what information you provide on Connect is your choice. Only what you provide will be collected and processed.

From time to time, AOM may reproduce postings for members-only communications.  This means that any communications that you post through Connect may be reposted within other members-only area.

Personal Information Collected Via Technology
As you navigate Connect, certain information may also be collected passively.  Connect logs personally identifiable and non-personally identifiable information from users, including but not limited to IP addresses, aggregate user and profile data, cookie information, and browser type. This data is used to manage the website, track usage and improve the website services. User IP addresses are recorded for security and monitoring purposes and to analyze web page flow.

Connect is a private site powered by Higher Logic.  Non personally identifiable data regarding the use of the community may be used by Higher Logic for the purpose of establishing overall user trends and best practice community strategies.  Higher Logic also uses this information to better tailor the features, performance and support for Connect.

Links and Third Parties
Connect may contain links to other websites. The AOM is not responsible for the privacy policies and/or practices on other sites. When linking to another site a user should read the privacy policy stated on that site. Our Privacy Policy only governs information collected on Connect. Please be aware that whenever you leave the Connect site and voluntarily post public information to outside links, information can be accessed by the public and can in turn be used to send you unsolicited communications. 

AOM may permit paid advertising on Connect.  In such instances, aggregated information may be used to tailor the display of ads for certain sections of Connect.  Personal information will not be used to direct advertisements to specific individuals. Clicking on such ads will direct you to the site of the advertiser who may also use Cookies in connection with these ads.

Security
The AOM and Higher Logic use reasonable measures to protect user information, to keep user account information private, and to prevent unauthorized access to any restricted areas of the Connect site and any databases or other sensitive material generated from or used in conjunction with the community.  Connect member or authenticated user accounts are secured by ID numbers created in the membership database.  Although access to Connect is restricted, please note that we cannot fully guarantee the security of account information. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors may compromise the security of user information at any time.

Remember The Risks Whenever You Use the Internet
While we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us, and you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any passwords or other account information. In addition, other Internet sites or services that may be accessible through our site have separate data and privacy practices independent of us, and therefore we disclaim any responsibility or liability for their policies or actions. Please contact those vendors and others directly if you have any questions about their privacy policies.  For any other information please contact AOM Support.

Sharing and Disclosure of Information AOM Connect Collects
Except as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy, Connect will not disclose personal information to any third party unless we believe that disclosure is necessary: (1) to conform to legal requirements or to respond to a subpoena, search warrant or other legal process received by the AOM , whether or not a response is required by applicable law; (2) to enforce the Connect Terms of Service Agreement or to protect our rights; or (3) to protect the safety of members or the public and users of the service.

Special Note to International Users
Connect is hosted in the United States.  If you are a User accessing Connect from the European Union, Asia, or any other region with laws or regulations governing personal data collection, use, and disclosure, that differ from United States laws, please be advised that you are transferring your personal information outside your jurisdiction. For individuals from the EU and UK, please see Higher Logic’s Privacy Notice section on cross border data transfers here.

Changes in Our Privacy Policy
From time to time, we may make changes to our privacy policy. The forgoing policies are effective as of September 9, 2025.  AOM reserves the right to change this policy at any time without notice. Accordingly, we recommend that you review the Privacy Policy from time to time to stay abreast of any changes. 

Legal Terms and Conditions 

1.  Connect is an online community sponsored by the Academy of Management (AOM) for use by AOM members who want to interact and share information in a virtual environment. Connect shall be used exclusively as a professional service for networking and information sharing among members and authenticated individual users in a collegial setting.  As such, users acknowledge the intended spirit and professional intent of Connect and agree to use it accordingly.

2.  By accessing, viewing, or using Connect, you indicate that you understand and intend these Terms of Service, Code of Conduct and Privacy Guidelines to be the legal equivalent of a signed, written contract and equally binding, and that you accept such Terms of Service and agree to be legally bound by them. Please note that AOM reserves the right to change the Terms of Service under which Connect is extended to you.  Your continued use of Connect following such modifications will be conclusively deemed acceptance by you of any changes to these Terms of Service.   AOM, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to terminate access to any Connect user for any reason, with or without cause, including but not limited to a user’s failure to abide by the Terms of Service, or no longer qualifying to use the Connect service.   

3.  This Term of Service Agreement provides you with a personal, revocable, nonexclusive, nontransferable license to use Connect conditioned on your continued compliance with the Terms of Service and your membership in the AOM or authorized account holder granted by AOM.  As a condition of use of Connect, you warrant to AOM that you will not use Connect for any purpose that is unlawful or otherwise prohibited by these Terms of Service.

4.  AOM accepts no responsibility for the opinions and information posted or circulated by users.  AOM cannot warrant the accuracy of any information posted on Connect.  AOM disclaims all warranties with regard to information circulated on Connect. This disclaimer includes all warranties of merchantability and fitness.  In no event shall AOM be liable for any special, indirect or consequential damages, or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on Connect.  In no event is AOM liable for any damage to your computer system or business delays caused by computer viruses that may emerge from Connect.

5.  AOM nor its officers, staff, or volunteers accept any responsibility for the content of the postings on Connect.  The content of all postings is solely the responsibility of the users.  AOM does not actively monitor Connect for inappropriate or illegal postings, and does not, on its own, undertake editorial control of postings. However, AOM reserves the right to delete, move or edit any communications at any time, for any reason or in its discretion, but has no obligation to review or remove any such content.  In the event that any inappropriate or illegal posting is brought to AOM’s attention, AOM may exercise appropriate action.  AOM reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.

6.  You agree not to use Connect to post material that:

  • contains vulgar, profane, pornographic, abusive, racist or hateful language or expressions, epithets or slurs, text, photographs, videos or illustrations in poor taste, inflammatory attacks of a personal, racial, sexual, or religious nature;
  • is defamatory, threatening, disparaging, grossly inflammatory, false, misleading, fraudulent, inaccurate, unfair, contains gross exaggeration or unsubstantiated claims, violates the privacy rights of any third party, is unreasonably harmful or offensive to any individual or community;
  • violates any right of AOM, its officers, directors, employees, members or any third party;
  • discriminates on the grounds of race, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, sexual orientation or disability, or refers to such matters in any manner prohibited by law;
  • violates or inappropriately encourages the violation of any municipal, state, federal or international law, rule, regulation or ordinance;
  • advertises, promotes or offers to trade any goods or services; encourages or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another's business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade; encourages or facilitates an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers;
  • you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements);
  • infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party;
  • contains software viruses, spyware or any other computer code, files or programs that interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment; and/or
  • "stalks," “flames” or otherwise harasses another person or entity.

7.  All content you post on Connect, including but not limited to text, video, pictures, graphics and audio (“User Generated Content”) may be viewed and/or accessed by Connect users and is available for copying and downloading.  By posting User Generated Content, you warrant and represent that you own the intellectual property rights in and to such User Generated Content, including but not limited to copyrights, patents, trademarks and trade secrets (“Intellectual Property Rights”) or you have received permission from the owner(s) of the Intellectual Property Rights in and to such User Generated Content.  To the extent you claim Intellectual Property Rights to any User Generated Content, it shall be your responsibility to safeguard and enforce these rights should you not approve of any user’s copying or use of such User Generated Content.  Notwithstanding Connect’s obligations as a service provider under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, you agree that AOM shall have no other obligation to enforce your Intellectual Property Rights to the User Generated Content.  You further agree that AOM shall not be liable for third party infringements of your Intellectual Property Rights to the User Generated Content.  For any User Generated Content, you hereby grant AOM a non-exclusive, sub-licensable, transferable, royalty-free and worldwide license to use your User Generated Content in connection with Connect.  This license shall terminate upon: (1) your deletion of the User Generated Content from Connect; or (2) your cessation as an authorized user of Connect and the deletion of your Connect account.

 8.  The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the “DMCA”) provides recourse for copyright owners who believe that material appearing on the Internet infringes their rights under US copyright law.  AOM reserves the right to remove any material on Connect which allegedly infringes another person’s copyright.  Notices to AOM regarding any alleged copyright infringement on Connect should be directed to: Terese Loncar, Academy of Management.

 9.  You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless AOM and its directors, officers, employees, members, agents, successors, and assigns, from and against any and all claims, proceedings, damages, injuries, liabilities, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses), relating to or arising from your use of Connect, any breach by you of the Terms of Service or Privacy Policy, or any other matter for which you are responsible hereunder or under law.

10.  You acknowledge, consent and agree that AOM may access, preserve and disclose your account information and content if required to do so by law or in a good faith belief that such access preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with legal process; (b) enforce the Terms of Service; (c) respond to claims that any content violates the rights of third parties; (d) respond to your requests for customer service; or (e) protect the rights, property or personal safety of AOM, its officers, directors, employers, agents, other AOM Connect users or the public.

11.  Any disputes arising in connection with the Terms of Service and/or Privacy Policy shall be resolved by binding arbitration in White Plains, New York, U.S.A. by a single arbitrator under the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association.  The award shall be enforceable in any court having jurisdiction thereof.  The validity, construction, and performance of the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York  This Site is controlled and operated by AOM from its offices within the United States.  AOM makes no representation that materials on AOM Connect are appropriate or available for use in other locations, and access to them from territories where any of the contents of AOM Connect are illegal or prohibited.  If you choose to access AOM Connect from other locations, you do so of your own volition and are responsible for compliance with any applicable local laws.

12.  From time to time we may make changes to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The forgoing policies are effective as of September 9, 2025.  AOM reserves the right to change this policy at any time, without notice. Accordingly, we recommend that you review these Terms of Service and Privacy Policy from time to time to stay abreast of any changes.