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Research into responsible management education has largely focused on the merits, attributes, and transformation opportunities to enhance responsible business school education aims. As such, a prominent part of the literature has occupied itself with examining if responsible management modules are inherently considered a non-crucial element of the curriculum and determining the extent to which business schools have introduced such learning content into their curriculum. However, there has been scant research into how to apply novel teaching approaches to engage students and promote responsible management education endeavours. As such, this paper seeks to address this gap through the development of a teaching framework to support educators in designing effective learning environments focused on responsible management education. We draw on constructivist learning theories and Lego Serious Play (LSP) as a learning enhancement approach to develop a pedagogical framework titled The Educator's LSP Journey. LSP is chosen due to its increasing application in learning environments to help promote critical discourse, and engage with highly complex problems, whether these are social, economic, environmental, or organisational. Therefore, this paper contributes to the responsible management education discourse by providing educators with a practical methodology to support student engagement and co-creation of knowledge by fostering exploratory learning environments and enriching the practices of active learning communities.

As focal firms in supply networks reflect on their experiences of the pandemic and begin to rethink their operations and supply chains, there is a significant opportunity to leverage digital technological advances to enhance socially responsible operations performance (SROP). This paper develops a novel framework for exploring the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies for improving SROP. It highlights current best-practice examples and presents future research pathways.

This viewpoint paper argues how Industry 4.0 technology adoption can enable effective SROP in the post-COVID-19 era. Academic articles, relevant grey literature, and insights from industry experts are used to support the development of the framework.

Seven technologies are identified that bring transformational capabilities to SROP, i.e. big data analytics, digital twins, augmented reality, blockchain, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things. It is demonstrated how these technologies can help to improve three sub-themes of organisational social performance (employment practices, health and safety, and business practices) and three sub-themes of community social performance (quality of life and social welfare, social governance, and economic welfare and growth).

A research agenda is outlined at the intersection of Industry 4.0 and SROP through the six sub-themes of organisational and community social performance. Further, these are connected through three overarching research agendas: “Trust through Technology”, “Responsible Relationships” and “Freedom through Flexibility”.

Organisational agendas for Industry 4.0 and social responsibility can be complementary. The framework provides insights into how Industry 4.0 technologies can help firms achieve long-term post-COVID-19 recovery, with an emphasis on SROP. This can offer firms competitive advantage in the “new normal” by helping them build back better.

People and communities should be at the heart of decisions about rethinking operations and supply chains. This paper expresses a view on what it entails for organisations to be responsible for the supply chain-wide social wellbeing of employees and the wider community they operate in, and how they can use technology to embed social responsibility in their operations and supply chains.

Contributes to the limited understanding of how Industry 4.0 technologies can lead to socially responsible transformations. A novel framework integrating SROP and Industry 4.0 is presented.

This study aims to deepen the understanding of insurers’ role within the return-to-work (RTW) process by uncovering and categorizing the multiple roles assumed by the insurer based on the claimant’s perceptions and identifying the underlying mechanisms that explain the relationship between perceived insurer roles and occupational rehabilitation outcomes.

The author used a qualitative approach with theory-guided content analysis to examine 24 semi-structured interviews with occupational rehabilitation claimants who had undergone occupational rehabilitation within the earnings-related pension insurance system in Finland.

The author uncovered three perceived insurer roles in relation to other stakeholders in the rehabilitation network: financier, coordinator and leader. These roles have different perceived responsibilities and influences on rehabilitation outcomes. Additionally, the author found four perceived insurer roles in relation to the claimants, which varied according to their democracy and activity levels: ally, facilitator, enforcer or enemy. Based on this study, the author recommends that insurers adopt democratic and participatory actor roles (ally and facilitator) to promote the RTW process in occupational rehabilitation.

This inaugural study applied role theory to insurers within the RTW process, developing a new framework of insurer profiles. This study reveals the dynamic nature of insurers and enhances the understanding of the connections between perceived insurer roles and rehabilitation outcomes.