This paper contributes a new perspective on the impact of professional doctorates. Professional doctorates offer a form of higher-level management education, which aims to contribute to professional practice as well as to academic knowledge. Although there is a growing literature identifying the personal benefits of undertaking a professional doctorate, the evidence of wider impact on the workplace remains limited. Drawing on interviews with 25 professional doctorate graduates working in managerial and professional roles in different parts of the criminal justice sector, this study explores the wider impact of the professional doctorate. The paper identifies impact dimensions, influencers and processes. It extends the processual approach by conceptualizing impact as an active and negotiated process operating over time and in changing contexts. The analysis shows impact construction to be a complex and nuanced process, involving interactions between graduates and significant others beyond the realm of the university. The analysis has important implications for the design and delivery of professional doctorate programmes in management and business and for extended engagement by educators, professional bodies and employers with the issues of impact.

本文为专业博士学位的影响提供了新的视角。专业博士学位提供了一种高级管理教育形式，旨在为专业实践和学术知识做出贡献。尽管越来越多的文献确定了获得专业博士学位的个人利益，但对工作场所产生更广泛影响的证据仍然有限。这项研究以对25名在刑事司法部门不同部门担任管理和专业职务的专业博士学位毕业生的访谈为基础，探索了专业博士学位的广泛影响。本文确定了影响范围，影响者和过程。它通过将影响概念化为随着时间推移以及在不断变化的环境中运行的积极而协商的过程，从而扩展了过程方法。分析表明，影响力建设是一个复杂而细微的过程，涉及毕业生与大学范围以外其他重要人士之间的互动。该分析对于管理和商业领域的专业博士课​​程的设计和交付以及教育工作者，专业团体和雇主在影响问题上的广泛参与具有重要意义。