Special issue call for papers from Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal
Deadline: May 2014
Guest Editors:
Professor Elizabeth Gammie, Aberdeen Business School, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK ([email protected])
Kathleen Herbohn, UQ Business School, The University of Queensland, Australia ([email protected])
Rosalind Whiting, Otago Business School, University of Otago, New Zealand. ([email protected])
Societal, educational and economic changes over the last decade have resulted in growing interest in the sustainability of professional working lives. This special edition welcomes research which furthers an understanding of how individual employees, employing organisations and professions manage, or indeed mismanage the social sustainability of modern professionals’ lifestyles. Of particular interest, is how this occurs within accounting and business management workplaces. Papers can be theoretical, or empirical in nature. They can adopt a historical or contemporary perspective, and draw on a range of theoretical approaches.
The social sustainability of professional working lives is a broad issue that covers many disparate but interconnected areas such as parenthood, climate change, migration and economic downturns. For example, there is a growing interest in employees’ work-lifestyle balance within modern society. Concern with work-lifestyle balance has witnessed the growth of flexible working arrangements, and raised an awareness of inter-generational differences in attitudes toward the work-lifestyle balance.
Secondly, climate change and growing concern with sustainability are changing the workforce and the nature of many jobs. Challenges include the development and implementation of climate change adaptation strategies to preserve and build flexibility into the professional workforce. For example, climate focussed strategies may encourage employees to work from home and to use social networking to reduce organisational usage of vehicles and planes for travel. Questions have been raised about the impact of such strategies.
Thirdly, global financial pressures have led to the migration of skilled professionals from developing countries into more affluent developed countries. These individuals are often working in a different culture without a social support network, which raises questions about the sustainability of their professional lives.
Fourthly, the 2008 global credit crisis has cast doubt on the longer-term viability of many individuals’ careers, irrespective of their career stage. It has also challenged employers and professions to develop human resource strategies to better manage their social capital.
Submissions are encouraged which explore, but are not restricted to, the following:
• Climate change and the sustainability of modern professional lifestyles;
• Strategies to build resilience and adaptability to climate change into the professional workforce;
• The accelerating pace of technological change and the sustainability of professional careers;
• Men and women employed under flexible working arrangements;
• Generational differences and work-lifestyle balance;
• Gender and work-lifestyle preferences;
• The social sustainability of professionals working outside their home countries;
• Mobile professionals and the capacity to sustain a work-lifestyle balance;
• The impact of changing economic conditions such as the 2008 global credit crisis on social sustainability;
• Restructurings/reorganisations and the sustainability of an upward professional career; and
• The accountability of organisations and professions around the sustainability of professional working lives – how they manage and measure these issues, and engage staff around these issues.
The closing date for submissions for this special issue is May 2014. Manuscripts submissions should be made via Scholar One Manuscripts: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/sampj selecting the special issue from the list. Please check the author guidelines on the homepage before submitting: www.emeraldinsight.com/sampj.htm. The guest editors welcome enquiries and declarations of interest in submitting. All papers will be reviewed in accordance with SAMPJ's normal processes. It is anticipated that this special issue will be published as Issue 3 in 2015.