Why Don’t Top Management Journals Publish More Papers on the Big Challenges Facing Humanity?

Abstract

Our paper analysed approximately 5500 articles published in ‘top-tier’ management journals between 2008 and 2018 to identify the extent to which they engaged with ‘societal grand challenges’ (e.g., critical investigations of wealth/income inequality, global warming, racism, gender inequality, etc.). Only 2.8 per cent did so. The reason why, we argue, is not because management scholars are oblivious to major problems facing societies around the world. For example, the Academy of Management even themed its 2013 conference ‘Capitalism in Question’. We instead examine the relationship between a) practices in contemporary business schools that reduce the likelihood academics will submit ‘critical’ papers and b) journal norms that favour rejecting such papers if submitted. We term this the ‘business school/elite journal gridlock’.