Call for papers for 2nd Common-Good HRM Spring Workshop 2024

After the success of our initial 2023 workshop, we are pleased to announce a call for papers for our 2nd Common-Good HRM Spring Workshop 2024 which will be hosted by the Institute for Human Resource Management, WU Vienna, Austria, the Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations (LouRIM) at UCLouvain, Belgium, and The Open University Business School, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, with the main theme:

In 2020 we published an article in the Human Resource Management Review (HRMR) entitled “Common Good HRM: A paradigm shift in Sustainable HRM?” which by now is cited almost 300 times according to Google Scholar (Aust, et al, 2020). We think that there are a large number of reasons why the paper was cited so often. One of the reasons is that the paper unpacks the limitations of earlier Sustainable HRM research (Richards, 2022), and has made an impression amongst Sustainable HRM scholars (and others). Some authors quote our review of the Sustainable HRM literature (e.g., Budhwar et al. 2023, p. 28), others apply our 4-Type typology to position their research in the debate (e.g., Su et al. 2023, p. 323). In addition, research increasingly uses Common-Good HRM (CGHRM) as a new alternative benchmark (Aust et al. 2022, Järlström et al. 2023, Podgorodnichenko et al. 2023). The later stream of citations will be the focus of this workshop.

The increased interested in the Common-Good HRM concept as a new alternative benchmark have been already evidenced by different research in this field, which makes this HR research even more attractive to other HRM related scholars. An example is Pham et al. (2023), who empirically explored the relationship between CGHRM and employee behaviour. They found that CGHRM has a direct and positive influence on ethical behaviour via value commitment, and that HRM spiritual leadership was an important mediating factor. Furthermore, Lu et al. (2022), suggest that CGHRM helps the development of a strong ethical organizational culture and positive stakeholder relationships resulting in enhanced employee engagement and performance.

Another reason for the growing interest in CGHRM could be increasing calls for more sustainable, values-based, and community-centric models focused on human flourishing and well-being, and a corresponding need for a more critical perspective on the Sustainable HRM paradigm embedded in reciprocal workplace interactions as an alternative to frameworks of global governance (Albareda & Sison, 2020). For example, CGHRM has been characterized as a pragmatic critical perspective which aims to empower workers (Omidi, Zotto and Gandini, 2023), and initial studies indicate that it can improve employee resilience and engagement (Lu et al. 2023), encourages positive employee behavior and commitment (Pham et al. 2023), and can improve managers ability to counteract workplace age-discrimination (Taylor, and Earl, 2023). Matthews and Muller-Camen (2022), in a similar fashion, show how CGHRM can help uncover and address unequal power dynamics in management-employee interactions which act to hinder a change to more democratic and sustainable systems of organizational governance. All these ideas are part of the ongoing conversation among the HRM scholars, which will also shape a discussion during the workshop.

Despite the various approaches to interpret the concept, there are still many gaps in the literature and practice. One of the gaps is that research would better unpack a link between CGHRM and the ecological dimension. Until now the concept of Common-Good HRM predominately discusses a pro-social dimension of sustainability, which is very important. However, the HR function is one of the important functions in any organization that can make a significant contribution in organizations in addressing complex environmental justice and sustainability issues. Moreover, despite the implied radical impact on HRM role and purpose, due to the novelty and regency of the concept there is still a lack of empirical data, especially regarding issues of operationalization, measurement, and validation. The aim of this conference is therefore to build on the initial momentum and to offer an opportunity for scholars to present and discuss how a common-good approach to sustainable HRM can act as a compass for HR professionals in the task of creating social and ecological impact and of bridging the ecological and social divide.

We welcome high-quality submissions across diverse research fields and theoretical backgrounds that could help advance our understanding of how to develop, initiate, implement, and sustain a CGHRM within the workplace from a broad range of complementary perspectives, e.g., Socioeconomics, Business-Ethics, Organization Studies and Sustainable HRM.

Questions and potential areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

Organizers:

Prof. Ina Aust (LouRIM at UCLouvain, Belgium).
Dr. Olga Andrianova (The Open University, United Kingdom)
Dr. Brian Matthews (WU Vienna, Austria).
Prof. Michael Muller-Camen (WU Vienna, Austria).

Scientific Committee:

Prof. Fang Lee Cooke (Monash University, Australia.)
Prof. Fiona Edgar (Otago University, New Zealand).
Dr. Maria Järlström (University of Vaasa, Finland).
Prof. Judith Semeijn (Open University, Netherlands)
Dr. Natasha Podgorodnichenko (Otago University, New Zealand).
Dr. Nhat Tan Pham (National University, Vietnam).
Prof. Geoffrey Wood (Western University, Canada).

The online access details will be sent to your email address a few days prior to the event.

Paper Submission and Registration:

Please submit either a full paper or a long abstract including a title page with title, author names and affiliations, 150-word abstract, and up to 5 key words. The maximum length of a full paper is 40 pages (including title page, all tables, graphs, figures, appendices, and references) and the minimum length for a long abstract is 2 pages. Both types of submissions should follow one specific format (such as, for example, 12 pt, Times New Roman or Arial; margin left/right: 2.5 cm; line spacing: 1.5).

We will send out the submissions for peer-review and inform you in a timely manner if your paper is accepted for the conference.

The registration is open from 2nd of January until 26th of February 2023 on our website. More information on the registration will follow. Participation is free of charge.

For further information, please contact brian.matthews@wu.ac.at or michael.mueller-camen@wu.ac.at or ina.aust@uclouvain.be or olga.andrianova@open.ac.uk

References

Albareda, L., & Sison, A. J. G. (2020). Commons organizing: Embedding common good and institutions for collective action. Insights from ethics and economics. Journal of Business Ethics, 166(4), 727-743.

Aust, I., Matthews, B., & Muller-Camen, M. (2020). Common Good HRM: A paradigm shift in Sustainable HRM? Human Resource Management Review, 30(3), 100705.

Aust, I, Cooke, F., Muller-Camen, M. & Wood, G. (2022). Call for papers: Achieving Sustainable Development Goals through a Common-Good HRM: Context, approach and practice. German Journal of Human Resource Management, 36(2), 197-201.

Budhwar, P., Chowdhury, S., Wood, G., Aguinis, H., Bamber, G. J., Beltran, J. R., ... & Varma, A. (2023). Human resource management in the age of generative artificial intelligence: Perspectives and research directions on ChatGPT. Human Resource Management Journal, 33(3), 606-659.

Järlström, M., Saru, E., Viitasaari, M., & Akrivou, K. (2023). Toward the Common Good HRM. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2023, No. 1, p. 14940). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.

Lu, Y., Zhang, M. M., Yang, M. M., & Wang, Y. (2023). Sustainable human resource management practices, employee resilience, and employee outcomes: Toward common good values. Human Resource Management, 62(3), 331-353.

Matthews, B., & Muller-Camen, M. (2022). Employee Capabilities, Workplace Resonance, and Common-Good HRM. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2022, No. 1, p. 13376). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.

Omidi, A., Dal Zotto, C., & Gandini, A. (2023). Labor process theory and critical HRM: A systematic review and agenda for future research. European Management Journal, in print.

Pham, N. T., Jabbour, C. J. C., Pereira, V., Usman, M., Ali, M., & Vo‐Thanh, T. (2023). Common good human resource management, ethical employee behaviors, and organizational citizenship behaviors toward the individual. Human Resource Management Journal, in print.

Podgorodnichenko, N., Edgar, F., & Akmal, A. (2023). How common are common good approaches to HRM? Paper presented at the Sustainable HRM Spring Workshop: Striving for Impact: Sustainable HRM for the Common-Good, [Online March 2023].

Richards, J. (2022). Putting employees at the centre of sustainable HRM: a review, map and research agenda. Employee Relations: The International Journal, 44(3), 533-554.

Su, Y., Xia, J., Zahra, S. A., & Ding, J. (2023). Family CEO successor and firm performance: The moderating role of sustainable HRM practices and corporate philanthropy. Human Resource Management, 62(3), 307-330.

Taylor, P., & Earl, C. (2023). Age Management for the Common Good. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 34(1), 179-188.