Apologies for cross-posting
Dear Moderator: Kindly circulate this CFP to the MSR list-serv. Thanks
--------------
Call for Papers for a Special Issue of ‘Journal of Business Ethics’
Globalization, Development and Islamic Business Ethics
Deadline: 30 June 2012
http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/applied+ethics/journal/10551?detailsPage=societies
Guest Editors
Dr Beverly Dawn Metcalfe (University of Manchester) Dr Jawad Syed (University of Kent)
beverly.metcalfe@manchester.ac.uk
j.syed@kent.ac.uk
Aims and Description
There is limited scholarship on Islamic ethics and business in the global economy, especially work that draws on a range of knowledge domains including management, development and religious writings (except for a few notable studies, e.g., Beekun & Badawi, 2005; Syed 2009). This is an important knowledge gap given the resurgence of Islam of late, and concerns that globalization has heightened the ‘clash of civilizations’ thesis, and significantly that Islamlization through politicized regimes may prevent barriers to economic and social progress (Ahmed and Donnan, 2004; Platteau, 2010).
This view is all the more significant in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, the US invasion of Iraq, 9/11 and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Further, while dominant perceptions view Islamization as oppositional to Western democratic values and systems, the expansion of Islamic financial institutions and their funding of development projects in the Middle East, Asia and Africa suggest Islamic business ethics is shaped by the intersections of varying capitalist regimes, transnational corporations (TNCs) and multiple interpretations of ethics in very complex ways.
Current global discourses of Islam assume homogeneity of Islamic philosophy and its implications for public management, business ethics and social and gender relations (Williams and Zinkin, 2010). This is being challenged by a growing number of scholars who argue the need to examine alternative development ethics models (Chapra, 2003), and explore in depth the complexity of Islamic business ethics and the spatial, gendered, cultural and social implications for theorizing and practice (Maak and Pless, 2009; Metcalfe, 2008, Lunn 2009). This is also demonstrated by scholarship that considers injustices in working regimes, which review the diverse working conditions of migrants, the working poor and managerial systems in different geographic regions, particularly differences in developing and developed states (Werhane, 2008).
As globalization has precipitated the expansion of TNCs and foreign direct investment into the Middle Eastern, Asian and African markets, some of which are broadly influenced by Shar’ia (Islamic jurisprudence) institutional frameworks, there is a great deal of variety and fluidity in respect of stages of development, organization systems, and how ethics are constituted and practiced. Globalization has been characterized by uneven development and diverse approaches to ethical organization and management. In addition, globalization has tended to increase inequalities between men and women, and contribute to the feminization of poverty. Using the UNDP indicators, global regions face varying development challenges in terms of employment, income, health, democracy, sustainable resources, poverty and development, and partnership arrangements, that ultimately shape ethical dimensions of human resource development strategies (UNDP, 2009; Metcalfe and Rees, 2010).
These development indicators provide limited insights into the business ethics of TNCs and the different varieties of governance and labor management relations/regimes, and
environmental management strategies. While it is acknowledged the foundational source in the gradual codification of Islamic ethics is the Muslim understanding and interpretation of the Qur'an and the hadith (traditions of the Prophet Muhammad), there is little recognition that interpretations of Islamic ethics and their practices in organizations are far from homogenous, and are shaped by the institutional and socio-cultural context.
This is a key knowledge gap in the organization and development ethics academic literature and poses challenges for scholars in appreciating the complex and intersecting knowledge terrains. Ethics scholars would benefit from understanding diverse understandings and approaches to Islamic business ethics.
This SI aims to synthesize seminal work on this under-explored area to provide a key frame of reference for academicians and policy makers in understanding Islamic business ethics in diverse geo-political and socio-cultural contexts. Our aim is to challenge the universalizing ethos of Islamic ethics and development ethics, and advance debate and critique on the socio-cultural and geo-political nuances that shape the ethics of management, organization and development planning and governance frameworks. A supporting aim is to assist business knowledge transfer from the Global South to the Global North, and to reinvigorate debates about social justice and an ethics of care (Held, 2005; Ramadan, 2009), that have until recently had a predominantly Western flavor.
The focus of individual papers can be on TNCs, public/private sector companies, NGOs, co-operatives and international organizations such as the UN, as well as Islamic organizations such as the Islamic Development Bank for example, that have an organization/governance constitution premised on Shar’ia. We will be interested in conceptual as well as empirical papers on this topic. We encourage scholars from interdisciplinary backgrounds with an interest in Islamic business ethics including inter alia: organization, management, geography, development studies, religion, sociology, and economics. Further, although JOBE is published in English, we would welcome scholarly papers that draw on Arabic, Persian, Urdu & other literatures so as to glean rigorous assessment of Islamic business ethics.
Topics of interest may include:
• Islamic business ethics and leadership.
• Islamic business ethics and development.
• Feminist interpretations of Islamic ethics.
• Explorations of schools of Islamic thought, process of fiqh and al-fiqh
• Ethical strategies and experiences of TNCs operating in underdeveloped and resource-poor MMCs, e.g., Egypt, Pakistan, Morocco, in contrast to more developed and asset-rich countries, e.g., KSA, Turkey and UAE . and how they influence business and organization ethics.
• Business ethics and policies and practices of international organizations (i.e., UN).
• Case studies of Islamic organizations whose constitution is underwritten by Shar’ia, eg Islamic Development Bank, or public institutions in Islamic states.
• Islamic business ethics, varieties of capitalism and development models as an alternative or challenge to dominant neo-liberal models.
• Islamic business ethics, migrant labor and the working poor.
• Islamic ethics, sustainability and environmental management.
Time Scale, Process and Academic Standards
• Maximum word length: 8000 words including references.
• All submissions will go through a double-blind review process. Therefore, all author-identifying information should be removed from the paper except for a cover page.
• To be considered for the special issue, full papers need to be submitted by 30 June, 2012 to Guest Editors.
• Reviewing process-June 2012-Sep 2012/To be published 2013.
• The format of the paper must follow the guidelines of the Journal of Business Ethics.
http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/applied+ethics/journal/10551
Full papers should be submitted electronically to both editors at:
beverly.metcalfe@manchester.ac.uk and
j.syed@kent.ac.uk