Call for Papers

This sub-theme brings together traditional concerns around professional work such as ethics and altruism, with more recent or perennial challenges such as social inequalities and climate and financial crises. In particular, we aim to explore, debate and critique the socially and environmentally responsible nature of professional work (or otherwise) in terms of both how it is organised/performed and the services it delivers (Fisher, 2004).
 
While what constitutes social responsibility is necessarily contingent and contested, there is still a need to theorise practices (Mitnick et al., 2021) and politicise research (Ergene et al., 2021). Further, in the professions literature there is surprisingly little consensus on what it means to serve the social good, or professions’ social intent in the first place (Goode, 1957). This becomes even more challenging when such notions have hitherto been based on largely western and even Anglo-American contexts, while professionals’ accounts from the Global South have remained scarce (Boussebaa, 2022). Yet, the centrality and growth of professional actors such as advisers to governments/citizens and firms in this space makes our focus all the more pressing, especially at a time when ethical scandals involving professional firms are numerous. Already, we see an apparent normative turn or performance in the professions, reflected in headlines such as Pope Francis addressing Deloitte consultants on the social value of their practice or the Boston Consulting Group calling for climate change activists to apply for jobs. Moreover, understanding these dynamics is important in terms of policy and practice in relation to how to govern and organise professional work responsibly and how to address associated tensions and consequences such as for democratic institutions.
 
The sub-theme will be concerned mainly with where professional discourses, practices and debates interconnect with those of social and environmental responsibility rather than each one on its own. This concerns not only the nature of the services offered and how they are delivered, but also the way professional firms may organize themselves responsibly. The following are indicative questions, but we welcome contributions on the above themes from diverse perspectives, methods and contexts.

• How might professional services firms (PSFs), large and small, operating in the Global North and Global South, organise and reward (or disincentivise) work in a way which is consistent with, say, a post-growth philosophy and services? Is it necessary?

• What are the consequences of climate change policy becoming a site of professional jurisdictional conflict or one where accountability is lost by acting as technocrats or ‘servants of power’?

• What (new) forms of ‘responsible’ governance can PSFs adopt and how are they implemented in practice? Thus, for example, how might ‘greenwashing’ or ‘woke capitalism’ by professional service firms and their clients reflect or undermine professional ethics or employee control? How does this differ across global regions?

• How are tensions addressed between the status and aims of professions to develop and legitimise expertise and those of the socially responsible services they provide? What can we learn from indigenous practices in developing regions?

• To what extent do professions/PSFs monopolise policy spaces nationally and transnationally and with what outcomes for the work of professionals, clients, and their employees and more generally?

• What are the experiences, tensions and struggles of professional workers as they seek to contribute actively to the social good through their everyday work, identities and careers? How do they seek to resist their employers ‘non-responsible’ actions and shape policy? Are these different for employees in non-traditional settings?

• To what extent is professional expertise an important resource or boundary in acting in more (or less) socially responsible ways and what role do clients play in facilitating or hindering this?

• Beyond clients, who are the different stakeholders – from professional associations, to public institutions and communities – involved in the production of more (or less) socially responsible professional services and what role do they play? More specifically, what is the role of academics in this process?

• How might ‘alternative’ and ‘non-traditional’ forms of organising be introduced into professional contexts such as organisational forms and governance and with what outcomes?

References

• Boussebaa, M. (2022): “Unsettling West-centrism in the study of professional service firms.” Human Relations, doi: 10.1177/00187267221128262.
• Ergene. S., Banerjee, S., & Hoffman, A (2021): “(Un)sustainability and Organization Studies: Towards a Radical Engagement.” Organization Studies, 42 (8), 1319–1335.
•  Fisher, J. (2004): “Social Responsibility and Ethics: Clarifying the Concepts.” Journal of Business Ethics, 52, 392–400.
•  Goode, W. (1957): “Community Within a Community: The Professions.” American Sociological Review, 22 (2), 194–200.
•  Mitnick, B., Windsor, D., & Wood, D. (2021): “CSR: Undertheorized or Essentially Contested?” Academy of Management Review, 46 (3).
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