Editorial: What should a publication in Journal of Global Responsibility achieve?

Citation

Kuokkanen, H. and Legrand, W. (2024), "Editorial: What should a publication in Journal of Global Responsibility achieve?", Journal of Global Responsibility, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 245-247. https://doi.org/10.1108/JGR-08-2024-200

Taking on the mantle as the new co-editors-in-chief of Journal of Global Responsibility (JGR), we found ourselves grappling with the question of what a JGR publication should aim to accomplish. Our initial response was closely tied to the journal’s stated mission: JGR publishes research that contributes to global responsibility and responsible leadership. In a sense, this is still the right answer and the raison d’être of the journal. On a closer look, however, the questions of why the journal focuses on these areas and what should the outcomes of JGR publication be require further thinking; this is a result of the inherent complexity underpinning the concept of global responsibility. In this editorial, we discuss our perspective on these issues and share our thoughts on the desired outcomes of JGR publication.

The first of the two core aims incorporates all topics under the fields known as corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate governance, or more recently as environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework when approaching the field from an investor perspective. While a quick search on EBSCO of peer-reviewed academic journal articles with these three terms returns 188,700 matches (we left the term “sustainability” out intentionally due to its widespread use in fields not related to JGR), “responsible leadership” only returns around 8,000 articles. The latter field grew out of the traditional field of leadership through inclusion of all stakeholders as relevant counterparts and thus considers corporate leaders to have multiple roles inside and outside their organizations (Maak and Pless, 2006). The research agenda around responsible leadership of Waldman and Balven (2015) includes questions on the connection between CSR and responsible leadership, and this highlights the inseparability of the two domains. Without responsible leadership, CSR would fail, but together the two fields can lead a sustainable change by defining how business and society should interact. Nevertheless, the concept becomes more intricate when broadening its scope to include “global responsibility” and “globally responsible leadership”. Despite their importance, responsible leadership and CSR should be viewed as initial steps, not ultimate goals, in striving for “global responsibility”.

Notably, the concept of global responsibility extends much further than ensuring sustainable resource utilization or realizing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The world is growing ever more complex. Almost 15 years ago, the UK government’s chief scientist, Professor John Beddington, warned of the “Perfect Storm” of food, water and energy shortages (or water-food-energy nexus) and climate change would lead to cross-border conflicts and mass migration by 2030 (Beddington, 2009). The same year, a group of scientists identified nine planetary boundaries, de facto setting the stage for what is known as the “safe operating space for humanity with respect to the Earth system” (Rockström et al., 2009, p. 472). In the meantime, six of the nine boundaries have been transgressed (Stockholm Resilience Center, 2022) and a newer model was proposed to reflect the inseparability of the Earth system and human well-being, labelled “safe and just Earth system boundaries (ESBs)” (Rockström et al., 2023, p. 104). Science has long established that risks associated with climate change and biodiversity loss pose a threat to society’s foundation (IPCC, 2023). Geo-economic and -political confrontation, social polarization, inflation, and debts are part of a global set of risks affecting the stability of societies (WEF, 2023). The convergence of global systemic risks is known as a “global polycrisis” (Lawrence et al., 2022). This crisis has significant consequences for governmental policies, societal adaptation, and business leadership, management and practices.

In many cases, governments have already implemented stricter regulations around climate change, biodiversity protection, and resource management, leading to new compliance requirements and reporting obligations for businesses. A growing number of consumers are becoming increasingly conscious of environmental and social issues related to the products and services they purchase. Investors and other stakeholders are demanding transparency on companies’ ESG performance. In response to these challenges and expectations, businesses will need to innovate their products, services and processes, while mitigating their impacts, adapting to changing market conditions, and striving for a net positive approach. Topics such as risk management, talent acquisition and retention, innovation and adaptation, collaboration and partnership and scenario planning are cornerstones to a long-term strategic approach on a global level. Therefore, all these represent interesting fields for JGR publication.

While we emphasize applicability to the real world, JGR is still an academic journal and “theory is the currency of our scholarly realm” (Corley and Gioia, 2011, p. 12). Therefore, theoretical contribution and rigor in research design and execution matter. However, we find the division of theoretical contribution by Corley and Gioia (2011) into practically vs scientifically useful and revelatory vs incremental in terms of originality highly insightful. Practical utility is essential in shaping the world around us, an outcome we see as crucial for this journal. Subsequently, we align with the call for an orientation toward prescience (Corley and Gioia, 2011) to develop theory that can influence practice. Considering the complexity discussed earlier, we also welcome “risky” research and conceptual development that has the potential for revelatory contribution that can address this complexity. While “risky” does not equal poor rigor, we are open to experimental research designs and conceptual developments that can provide such revelations. Of course, incremental contribution that addresses this complexity is equally welcome. As editors of JGR, we take on the responsibility to cultivate a discourse on these critical, complex questions.

Our planet faces unprecedented challenges, such as biodiversity loss, global warming and geopolitical crises; simultaneously, academic publishing faces a specific challenge (and an opportunity) in the form of generative AI. As we grow fully immersed in what nurturing a journal that focuses on responsibility really means and comprehend the responsibility this imposes on us, we want to reflect on what type of research we find worth publishing in JGR and elaborate on the stated scope of the journal. We believe that the recently achieved indexing and improved metrics will give our editorial team a good basis to develop JGR to become a prime source of relevant knowledge in our domain. As we want to set ourselves and our authors an inspiring goal, we define this domain as answering the questions of what kind of a world we wish to have and how can responsibility and leadership in business and management contribute to achieving it. Subsequently, we believe that every article published in JGR must aim to answer these two questions and help addressing the planetary challenges we face through developing more responsible business practice. We invite our valued community of authors and researchers to join us in pursuing these ambitious goals.