AMJ Special Research Forum - Joining Conversations in the Society on Management and Organizations

When a manuscript is submitted to Academy of Management Journal (AMJ), editors and reviewers frequently ask: Does the study define a new conversation (theory/lens/paradigm) or divert an existing conversation into a meaningfully different area? Conversations about management and organizations are regularly taking place outside the field of management and its journals, as well. Those outside of our field and academic halls may conceptualize organizations and management differently, emphasize organizational and managerial characteristics that are relevant to them, and focus on problems that have not received attention in our studies.

The objective of this Special Research Forum (SRF) is to encourage AMJ authors to join conversations on management and organizations that are taking place in societies around the world. Specifically, we would like to publish a collection of outstanding empirical studies that (1) contribute to the solutions of contemporary managerial and organizational problems and (2) introduce topics to AMJ readers that are seen as important outside of our field, but are understudied by management scholars. Examples of such topics include: the effects of caste systems on employment; discrimination; socioeconomic status and class in organizations; sexual harassment; diversity and inclusion in the workplace; organizational values; labor strikes; artificial intelligence; global health inequities; the movement of workforce across borders; bribery; political influence; private politics; transnational organizations; interconnected economic systems; and the organizational implications of national conflicts, wars, and international trade agreements and sanctions.

Consistent with AMJ’s mission, we seek to publish original, insightful, interesting, important, and theoretically bold studies that employ qualitative, quantitative, field, laboratory, meta-analytic, mixed, or other empirical methods. In addition to making strong empirical and theoretical contributions, submissions to the SRF are expected to explain how practitioners may help solve problems related to the research. In other words, authors are asked to shift their discussions from the traditional practical implications of their studies to proposing solutions to the underlying problems.

It is our hope that this SRF will attract research that goes beyond interestingness and takes on the difficult task of settling current debates in the society by developing new theories, applying existing theories to new problems, collecting and analyzing relevant data, and reporting credible findings.