Call for Papers: The Role of Leadership, Responsibility, and Ethics in a Globalized World: Behavioral Issues of Implementing CSR

The Role of Leadership, Responsibility, and Ethics in a Globalized World: Behavioral Issues of Implementing CSR

Sub-theme #41 26th EGOS Colloquium, July 1–3, 2010 (EUROPEAN GROUP OF ORGANIZATION STUDIES) Center for Globalization and Governance, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade Nove de Lisbos Lisbon, Portugal

Convenors:

• Andreas Georg Scherer, University of Zurich, Switzerland andreas.scherer@iou.uzh.ch
• Guido Palazzo, University of Lausanne, Switzerland guido.palazzo@unil.ch
• Gary R. Weaver, University of Delaware, USA weaverg@lerner.udel.edu

The process of globalization has increasingly changed the relationship of business and society, undermining the paradigmatic assumption of a neat separation between the public and the economic sphere. This can be seen in the emergence of transnational social and environmental problems, like human rights, corruption or global warming, that cannot be sufficiently addressed by national regulation and the welfare institutions of the nation state alone. Modernity’s nation state is increasingly overstrained in trying to moderate the outcomes of the economical, political and social systems. With its enforcement powers territorially bound the nation state continuously loses its political steering capability. Under these conditions multinational corporations have become addressees of public concern, due to their role as potential source of relief or as factual wrong-doers. In response business has increasingly engaged in activities that traditionally were considered to be part of governmental responsibilities. This new role of corporations has been acknowledged in the literature on Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Citizenship and Business Ethics. This stream of research emphasizes structural aspects and is primarily focused on the business-society macro-level of analysis (Matten & Crane 2005; Palazzo & Scherer 2006; Scherer & Palazzo 2007). Given the important role of leadership for the direction and the depth of an organization's CSR engagement, it can be expected that the profound changes on the macro-level of society will have an impact on the role and responsibilities of organizational leaders. However, the implementation of corporate responsibility, the crucial role of leadership and of individual behavior have not yet been sufficiently addressed and have only recently been revived through works on moral values, personal responsibility, and the role of CEQs (Brown & Trevino 2006; Doh & Stumpf 2005; Maak & Pless 2006; Trevino, Weaver, & Reynolds 2006). The task for this workshop is to discuss the consequences and implications of the new, enlarged role of the business firm for leadership and individual behaviour. In particular, we want to address the need of leaders and leadership theory to acknowledge public demands for responsible conduct of global business firms. We specifically invite papers which take a critical perspective on the emerging role of leadership responsibility in the multinational firm.

We would like to see the workshop group advance the discussion in two main directions that address the philosophical, theoretical, and practical domains:

1. Implications for leadership theory building Possible topics might include (but are not restricted to) the following:

• What role does leadership play in a globalizing world?
• What are descriptive, instrumental, or normative implications for leadership (theory)?
• Do leaders have an extended responsibility beyond maximizing profits?
• How can the current leadership debate, especially research, on value-based transformational leadership be linked with the global CSR debate?
• What implications would a growing political role of organizations have for its leaders/for leadership?
• How can (responsible) leaders build legitimacy for their organization in a globalizing world
• How can responsible leadership contribute to social innovations or social entrepreneurship?

2. Implementing CSR: Behavioral issues Papers here might address questions such as the following:

• How can CSR be implemented successfully in organizations?
• What is the impact of leadership on the CSR engagement and performance of a corporation?
• How do leaders make sense of their emerging global decision-making context with its broader societal expectations?
• Why do leaders engage in social responsible actions or behaviors?What are the relationships between CSR, leadership, ethical decision making, ethical climate, and other aspects dealing with ethics and morality in organizations?

We invite both theoretical and empirical contributions that help us to better understand the role of leadership responsibility in a globalized world. Papers that argue across the potentially relevant disciplines (organization studies, leadership studies, business ethics & CSR, international management, legal studies, political theory, etc.) would be particularly welcome. EGOS has a long tradition of providing a forum for exchange and discussion rather than presentation of papers only. Therefore, the conference is organized in workshop form, which implies that every participant spends the conference in the subgroup where his/her paper is presented. Half the time is dedicated to paper presentation while the other half is free for discussion within the group. Therefore it is also a prerequisite that participants of the subgroup are familiar with all papers presented. The papers will be accessible on the conference website one month in advance. This workshop format allows for an intense, three-days immersion in a particular area of research and provides opportunities for profound exchange and learning within a group of international scholars. Further information can be found on the conference website: http://www.egosnet.org/.

The tentative schedule for submissions to the conference is as follows:

• January 10, 2010: Deadline for short papers of 3000 words, to be submitted to the EGOS website (please see www.egosnet.org)
• March 1, 2010: Notification of acceptance of papers
• June 1, 2010: Full papers to be uploaded to the EGOS websitePlease check the EGOS website for up-to-date information on deadlines and procedures.

Abstracts and papers will be available on the EGOS website (www.egosnet.org). Any inquiry concerning sub-theme # 41 should be directed to the following address: Prof. Dr. Andreas Georg SchererIOU/University of Zurich Email: andreas.scherer@iou.uzh.chTel: +41 (0) 44 634 5300

References:

• Brown, M.E. and Trevino, L.K. 2006. Ethical Leadership: A Review and Future Directions. Leadership Quarterly, 17: 595-616.
• Doh, J.P. and Stumpf, S.A. (Eds.) 2005. Handbook on Responsible Leadership and Governance in Global Business. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Maak, T. and Pless, N. (Eds.) 2006. Responsible Leadership. New York: Routledge.
• Matten, D. and Crane, A. 2005. Corporate Citizenship: Toward an Extended Theoretical Conceptualization. Academy of Management Review, 30: 166-179.
• Palazzo, G. and Scherer, A.G. 2006. Corporate Legitimacy as Deliberation: A Communicative Framework. Journal of Business Ethics, 66: 71-88.
• Scherer, A.G. and Palazzo, G. 2007. Toward a Political Conception of Corporate Social Responsibility: Business and Society Seen From a Habermasian Perspective. Academy of Management Review, 32: 1096-1120.
• Trevino, L.K., Weaver, G.R., and Reynolds, S.J. 2006. Behavioral Ethics in Organizations: A Review. Journal of Management, 32: 951-990.

The Convenors:

• Prof. Dr. Andreas Georg Scherer is Director of the Institute for Organization and Administrative Science (IOU) and holds the Chair for Foundations of Business Administration and Theories of the Firm at the University of Zurich (Switzerland). His research interests are in Business Ethics, International Management, Organization Theory, Philosophy of Science, and Strategic Management. His work has appeared in Academy of Management Review, Advances in Strategic Management, Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, Management International Review, Organization, Organization Studies. Dr. Scherer is Associate Editor of Business Ethics Quarterly and serves as a member of the editorial boards of Business and Society, Organization and Organization Studies.
• Prof. Dr. Guido Palazzo is Professor for Business Ethics at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) and a visiting fellow at the Universities of Nottingham and Oxford. His research interests are in Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Branding, Democratic Theory, and Organizational Ethics. His work has appeared in journals such as Academy of Management Review, Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, and Technology Analysis and Strategic Management. Dr. Palazzo is Associate Editor of Business Ethics Quarterly and serves on the editorial boards of Business and Society, and the Academy of Management Review.
• Prof. Dr. Gary R. Weaver is editor-in-chief of Business Ethics Quarterly, and professor of management at the University of Delaware. Dr. Weaver’s research interests lie in both micro- and macro-level business ethics from both social scientific and philosophical perspectives, and in meta-theoretical issues in business ethics theory and research. His research has appeared in Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Studies, Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Management, and other journals. In addition to his role as editor-in-chief of Business Ethics Quarterly, he serves on the board of the Journal of Management.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Andreas Georg Scherer
Chair of Foundations of Business Administration and Theories of the Firm Director of IOU / Institute of Organization and Administrative Science
University of Zurich, Universitätsstrasse 84, CH-8006 Zürich
Phone: +41 (0)44-634 5302, 5300 (secretary), fax: +41 (0)44-634 5301
Email: andreas.scherer@iou.uzh.ch,
homepage: www.iou.uzh.ch/bwl

See the new Handbook of Research on Global Corporate Citizenship:http://www.e-elgar.co.uk/Bookentry_main.lasso?id=4166