Historical Present

An on-going series of articles launched by
Journal of Management History
 

Historia magistra vitae. This is the Latin expression used by Cicero in his De Oratore (II, 9) to remind us that history is a life’s teacher. 

Despite the relevance of this sentence, recalled over time by many literati, very often it happens that history is considered as a useless and fruitless subject, just looking at what was or happened in the past. In his seminal view, instead, Cicero encouraged everyone to be aware of what was or happened in the past since it offers insight into the future. This applies to all the domains, from international to political, from social to economic ones.

In the field of management, it is worth asking about the relevance of history. In fact, this question is not asked as often as it should be.

On the one hand, practitioners remark that time runs out fast, scenarios radically change, and individual choices and behaviours are always new and difficult to explain unless they are interpreted according to contemporary perspectives. As a result, the relevance of the past is called into question.

On the other hand, experts and analysts – commenting phenomena and events ex post – are used to recall past theories, concepts, and notions to carry out exhaustive analyses and allocate authoritative judgments. In this case, the relevance of the past is confirmed and reinforced time after time.

Management scholars find themselves squarely in the middle. On the one side, they are interested in catching current phenomena and so they are inclined to share the practitioners’ view. On the other side, they are aware of the relevance of the past and so they are likely to share the analysts’ view.

This on-going series of articles, launched by Journal of Management History and named “Historical Present”, tries to reconcile these views. In fact, just like it happens in the fields of linguistics and rhetoric, where the historical present is the use of the present tense instead of past tenses to narrate relevant timeless events as if they are still unfolding, this on-going series of articles looks for contributions that can analyse new and current managerial phenomena occurring in the world in the light of historical theories, concepts, and notions. 
Some questions necessarily arise: Can scholars do this? Can they study new management topics within a specific historical framework? 

Although this may sound as the main challenge of this on-going series of articles launched by Journal of Management History, this is not. The series is embedded in one basic and unquestionable assumption: although the relationship between past and present is not clear (according to some historians the past creates the present; according to others the present is a repetition of the past), this relationship exists, and it can exert a great impact and effect if properly recalled and exploited.

This on-going series of articles launched by Journal of Management History looks for contributions (both qualitative and quantitative ones) that start by recalling theories, concepts, or notions embedded in the past and analyse management events taking place at a macro, meso, and micro level from the selected perspective. At the same time, this on-going series of articles seeks contribution that start from occurred events or phenomena and reinterpret existing theories, concepts, or notions, giving them new lifeblood. 

Specifically, we do not seek narrative papers, where reviews attempt to summarize or synthesize what other scholars have written on a particular topic without seeking generalization or cumulative knowledge from what is being reviewed; nor descriptive papers, where reviews aim to determine the extent to which a body of knowledge in a particular research topic reveals any interpretable patterns or trends relative to pre-existing propositions, theories, methodologies or findings; nor scoping papers, where reviews attempt to provide an initial indication of the potential size and nature of the extant literature on an emergent topic. 

Instead, we encourage submissions based on integrative papers that originate a new research design that:

  • relies on theories, concepts, or notions embedded in the past not only to frame management events taking place at a macro, meso, and micro level, but also to analyse these events and their dynamics; 
  • provides a clear synthesis of knowledge and applicability of results of previous theories to current events and their dynamics;
  • reaches conclusions that are comprehensive and reliable.

Although the relationship between past and present requires some efforts to be clarified, accepted contributions will be able to unfold and revitalize the fil rouge linking them.

 

Submissions Information


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Author guidelines must be strictly followed.
Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to “Please select the issue you are submitting to”. 
Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.