Call for Papers
/Human Resource Management /
HRM�s Role in Sustainability: Systems, Strategies, & Practices
Manuscript Submission Deadline: December 1, 2010
Guest Co-Editors:
Sully Taylor, Professor of International Management, Portland State
University,
sullyt@sba.pdx.edu
Carolyn Egri, Professor of Management and Organization Studies, Simon
Fraser University,
egri@sfu.ca
Joyce Osland, Lucas Endowed Professor of Global Leadership, San Jose
State University,
osland_j@cob.sjsu.edu
In the last decade, a growing number of companies, both global and
domestic, have incorporated a sustainability focus in their
strategiesand operations. Defined most commonly as �the triple bottom
line� of setting environmental, social, and
economic goals (Elkington, 1997), sustainability strategies are in
response to increasing external pressures for
companies to take active roles in solving pressing global issues. These
global issues include, but are not limited
to, social inequity and poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, climate
change, environmental pollution, and resource
scarcities. The emerging challenge of integrating social, environmental,
and financial issues into firms� strategies
and operations has begun to engage a wide number of scholars and
business managers (e.g., Epstein, 2008; Hart
and Milstein, 2003; Sharma & Henriques, 2005). While scholars have given
increased empirical and theoretical
attention to achieving a firm�s environmental goals, the role of the HRM
system in that achievement has not
been widely studied. Moreover, achieving the social bottom line has
received less academic attention than the
environmental bottom line to date, although some recent research has
started to address this gap (e.g., Ehnert,
2009). This Special Issue will help fill these two research gaps: the
key role played by HRM in firms that have
adopted a sustainability focus and HRM�s role in attaining the �social�
part of a firm�s sustainability goals.
In particular, we encourage articles that:
1. Address how the HRM approach or strategy as a system can most
effectively support the attainment of an
integrated sustainability strategy.
2. Address how, and under what conditions, individual HRM policies and
practices can best support the
attainment of an integrated sustainability strategy.
3. Conceptualize and investigate the role of the HRM system of a firm in
its evaluation of its own social bottom
line.
4. Theoretically examine how the fundamental principles of HRM as
practiced today may be challenged
because of an organization�s pursuit of sustainability, such as the very
concept of �human resource.�
5. Help bridge the gap between theory and practice by providing both
practical implications of empirical
research on Sustainable HRM and by capturing leading examples of
practitioner-initiated sustainable HRM
strategies and policies via theoretically grounded case studies.
Please see the attached Call for Papers, or contact Sully Taylor for
further information.
--
Sully Taylor
Director of International Programs
Professor of International Management
School of Business Administration
Portland State University
P.O. Box 751
Portland, OR 97207
Tel: 503 725 3761
Fax: 503 725 5850