Thematic Symposium Research Articles

The Canadian Society for Immunology's 34th annual meeting 2022: symposia minireview.

The Canadian Society for Immunology 2022 Annual Meeting (June 17-20, 2022) brought together immunologists from across the country to discuss current topics and cutting-edge research in immunology. Here we highlight the published work presented during three thematic symposia (1) Immune Development and Layered Immunity; (2) Primary Immune Deficiencies from Thymic Developmental Defects to Dysregulation and Inflammation; and (3) Opposing Inflammatory and Suppressive Regulation of Anti-Tumor Immunity.

Opening Constructive Dialogues Between Business Ethics Research and the Sociology of Morality: Introduction to the Thematic Symposium.

Over the last decade, scholars across the wide spectrum of the discipline of sociology have started to reengage with questions on morality and moral phenomena. The continued wave of research in this field, which has come to be known as the new sociology of morality, is a lively research program that has several common grounds with scholarship in the field of business ethics. The aim of this thematic symposium is to open constructive dialogues between these two areas of study. In this introductory essay, we briefly present the project of the new sociology of morality and discuss its relevance for business ethics. We also review the contributions to this thematic symposium and identify four specific domains where future research can contribute to fruitful dialogues between the two fields.

From Periphery to Core: Researching, and Researching with, Emotion in Organisations

In this symposium we aim to give credence to the significance of emotion and the management thereof by presenting a thematic symposium of emotion management in, and around, organisational life. In particular, heeding the 2020 Academy theme of ‘Broadening our Sight’, our symposium makes a departure from traditional thematic symposiums and indeed ‘scholarship-silos’ by considering the typically hidden and neglected aspects of emotion and emotion management in both organisations and organisational scholarship. Thereby traversing the different ways in which emotion is, and becomes, salient in organisational research. To do so, our symposium offers a collective of presentations wherein emotion features in unique ways, offering both complementary and contrasting perspectives of researching emotion and researching with emotion in organisations. Vicarious Grief Work: Conceptualizing the Experience of Mediating Grief at Work Presenter: Ishan Jalan; Nottingham Trent U. Presenter: Caroline Jane Gatrell; Liverpool U. Juxtaposing Emotional and Rational Understanding: Enhancing the Rigor of Personally-Relevant Research Presenter: Danna Greenberg; Babson College Presenter: Jamie Jocelyn Ladge; Northeastern U. It’s Quite an Emotional Thing, Isn’t It?”: Participant Emotions in Qualitative Research Presenter: Catherine Cassell; U. of Birmingham Presenter: Laura Suzanne Radcliffe; U. of Liverpool Presenter: Fatima Malik; U. of Bradford Beyond the ‘Front Line’: Expanding ‘Qualitative Research as Emotional Labor’ Presenter: Leighann Spencer; U. of Liverpool Management School Presenter: Laura Suzanne Radcliffe; U. of Liverpool Presenter: Caroline Jane Gatrell; Liverpool U.

A New Research Horizon for Mass Entrepreneurship Policy and Chinese Firms’ CSR: Introduction to the Thematic Symposium

While China has experienced an unprecedented growth over the past decades, sustainability has become a major concern for policymakers and management practitioners. Consideration has been given to the convergence of mass entrepreneurship and innovation as a new economic driver and sustainability as a long-term economic objective. The focus of China’s economic development has moved from a resource-based expansion to a more entrepreneurial and socially responsible one. This is a timely and critical topic that captures the increasing concerns over sustainability and Chinese firms’ increased responsibility under the new governmental initiatives in fulfilling their social mandates from stakeholders at different levels. It is also a rich area for academic research but still under studied in the Chinese context. More indigenous management research on corporate social responsibility is required to adopt Chinese perspectives in conceptualizing CSR-related problems and further formulating more contextualized CSR theories, the emergence of a new research horizon.

Perspectives, Opportunities and Tensions in Ethical and Sustainable Luxury: Introduction to the Thematic Symposium

Scholars agree that the environmental and societal impacts of consumption require greater attention, and need examining in more diverse market contexts. This editorial essay focuses on the nascent area of ethical/sustainable luxury, and critically considers how the scope of ethical/sustainable consumption can be broadened in the luxury sector. We address the compatibility of ethicality/sustainability and luxury by examining a range of opportunities (e.g., durability, rarity, quality, local embedment) and inherent tensions (e.g., excess, prestige, self-gratification, uniqueness) in relation to improving the ethical/sustainable consumption practices within the luxury sector. We also introduce several original articles published as part of this Thematic Symposium, whose arguments underscore both the merits, and flaws, of ethical/sustainable luxury. On the basis of this and prior research, we present a balanced perspective by identifying various factors that facilitate or inhibit the acceptance and furtherance of ethicality/sustainability within sector. Thus, this essay serves as a springboard for further research and development in ethical/sustainable luxury whilst simultaneously highlighting the importance of the topic in general.

Thematic Symposium: The Impact of Technology on Ethics, Professionalism and Judgement in Accounting

Thematic Symposium: The Impact of Technology on Ethics, Professionalism and Judgement in Accounting

Thematic Symposium Editorial: Virtue Ethics Between East and West

Virtue ethics is widely recognized as one of three major approaches in contemporary moral philosophy and arguably the most influential normative theory in business ethics. Despite its rich pedigree in Western and Eastern philosophy, most work in contemporary virtue ethics is part of the Western tradition. The purpose of this Thematic Symposium is to foster dialogue between Western and Eastern conceptions of virtue in business and engage them with questions about the nature, justification, and content of the virtues in each tradition. This Editorial offers a brief introduction to the problem, a summary of Western and Eastern varieties of virtue ethics, an overview of the six articles included in this Thematic Symposium, and a section with five common themes for further exploration and future collaborative research (namely, the centrality of rites and rituals, the normative status of social relationships and organizations, role modeling, the analogy of families and communities to define the business corporation, and the definition of social responsibilities).

The Past, History, and Corporate Social Responsibility

An emerging body of research recognizes the importance of the past and history for corporate social responsibility (CSR) scholarship and practice. However, the meanings that scholars and practitioners can ascribe to the past and history differ fundamentally, posing challenges to the integration of history and CSR thinking. This essay reviews diverse approaches and proposes a broad conceptualization of the relationship between the past, history, and CSR. We suggest historical CSR as an umbrella term that comprises three distinct theoretical perspectives. The “past-of-CSR” perspective is concerned with the history of CSR and business ethics as a set of concepts and practices. The “past-in-CSR” perspective involves employing empirical historical research to substantiate and elaborate CSR concepts and theories. Finally, the “past-as-CSR” perspective seeks to understand the past as a living, yet contested, facet of current organizations, influencing contemporary perceptions of corporate and managerial responsibility. We then elaborate on conceptual issues and paths that may prove useful for future research. In all, this essay and the thematic symposium it precedes strive to deepen and broaden the salience of the past and history for thinking about business ethics and business responsibilities.

‘Freedom Through Marketing’ Is Not Doublespeak

The articles comprising this thematic symposium suggest options for exploring the nexus between freedom and unfreedom, as exemplified by the British abolitionists’ anti-slavery campaign and the paradox of freedom. Each article has implications for how these abolitionists achieved their goals, social activists’ efforts to secure reparations for slave ancestors, and modern slavery (e.g., human trafficking). We present the abolitionists’ undertaking as a marketing campaign, highlighting the role of instilling moral agency and indignation through re-humanizing the dehumanized. Despite this campaign’s eventual success, its post-emancipation phase illustrates a paradox of freedom. After introducing mystification as an explanation for the obscuring rhetoric used to conceal post-emancipation violations of freedom during the West’s colonial phase, we briefly discuss the appropriateness of reparations. Finally, we discuss the contributions made by the articles in this thematic symposium.

Emerging Paradigms of Corporate Social Responsibility, Regulation, and Governance: Introduction to the Thematic Symposium

Over the last decade, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has experienced a “governance turn” as scholars began examining the institutionally embedded nature of CSR (Brammer et al. 2012; Campbell 2007; Matten and Moon 2008; Waddock 2008). This was also a period when foundational work in institutional and political CSR appeared, including Habermasian approaches (Scherer and Palazzo, 2007), corporate citizenship (Matten and Crane 2005), and corporate accountability through multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) (Gilbert and Rasche 2007). Simultaneously, scholars utilizing post-colonial insights began surfacing the negative effects of CSR (Banerjee 2008). In short, CSR has emerged as an important part of a wider field of institutions governing the corporation and the economy, perhaps even as a mode of governance in itself (Brammer et al. 2012, p. 3). The aim of this thematic symposium of the Journal of Business Ethics is to contribute to and further these debates and highlight some questions still remaining to be addressed.

New Ways of Teaching: Using Technology and Mobile Apps to Educate on Societal Grand Challenges

We use this editorial essay as a call for a more effective use of new technologies, such as mobile apps and Web 2.0 tools, to educate students and other relevant stakeholders on business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability topics. We identify three overarching reasons that justify the need for new ways of teaching that further incorporate technology to foster the innovative thinking needed to tackle imminent societal grand challenges such as climate change and increasing inequality. First, we are facing a new generation of millennials and Generation Z students who are digital natives and more likely to search for educational content on their electronic devices. Second, new technologies offer opportunities to reach students globally, helping to democratize education. Third, we posit that the intrinsic characteristics of societal grand challenges, which are complex, uncertain, and evaluative, can benefit from technology as an effective translator of multilayered concepts into more digestible action items. Our essay ends with a brief summary of the four essays included in the thematic symposium: “There is an App for that! The Use of New Technologies and Apps in Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Education.”

Editorial ESB-ITA 2017 special issue

This special issue of the Journal for Modeling in Ophthalmology collects, in the form of extended abstracts, contributions presented during the Thematic Symposium on Eye Biomechanics, organized within the VII Annual Meeting of the Italian Chapter of the European Society of Biomechanics (ESB-ITA 2017) held on September 28-29, 2017 in Rome, Italy. The scientific and administrative organization of the general meeting was committed to the Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”, while the scientific coordination of the thematic symposium was assigned to the Politecnico di Milano.

Thematic Symposium: Accounting Ethics and Regulation: SOX 15 Years Later

Thematic Symposium: Accounting Ethics and Regulation: SOX 15 Years Later

Advances in Employee-Focused Micro-Level Research on Corporate Social Responsibility: Situating New Contributions Within the Current State of the Literature

This editorial outlines the articles included in the special thematic symposium on corporate social responsibility and employees and highlights their contributions to the literature. In doing so, it highlights the novel theoretical and empirical insights provided by the articles, how the articles inform and expand the methods and research designs researchers can use to study phenomena in this area, and identifies promising directions for future research.

Thematic Symposium: Business Ethics, Peace and Environmental Issues (T0004)

Large parts of the recent business ethics debate either focus on ethical behavior in and of companies or discuss corporate duties vis-a-vis its stakeholders. Also theories on Corporate Social Responsibilities or Corporate Citizenship often take a management perspective putting duties of business organizations in the center of their considerations. Less attention is paid to the infuence of business in the broader ecological and social context. Thus, for example, environmental threads such as ozone depletion or global warming are directly linked to our way of doing business. The same is true also in the social context. Here business activities may influence the social stability of regions or countries, like it can be seen actually in Greece and other South European countries. This shows that corporations’ impact on the macrolevel deserves more scholarly attention in the feld of business ethics.

(Re)appreciating the role of life history in eco‐evolutionary dynamics

(Re)appreciating the role of life history in eco‐evolutionary dynamics

Introduction to Thematic Symposium on Accounting Professionalism

Introduction to Thematic Symposium on Accounting Professionalism

Event review: Thematic Symposium Contributions of Technological Approaches to the Pre-history of South America: Theoretical Perspectives and Case Studies, Goiânia (Brazil)

The thematic symposium “Contributions of technological approaches to the pre-history of South America: Theoretical perspectives and case studies” took place in Goiânia, Brazil, during the 8th Congress of the Brazilian Archaeological Society (XVIII Congresso da Sociedade de Arqueologia Brasileira), on 1 October 2015. The organizers, Dr. Maria Jacqueline Rodet (Lithic Technology Laboratory, Federal University of Minas Gerais) and Barbara Romina Sacur Silvestre (National Institute of Anthropology and Latin-American Thought, Buenos Aires University) had the goal of connecting specialists in South-American technological analyses, irrespective of the nature of the supporting material or the archaeological period.

Introduction to the Special Thematic Symposium on the Ethics of Controversial Online Advertising

The field of marketing and consumer ethics has evolved considerably over the past 20 years, yet research on specific areas of advertising ethics remains limited. This limitation persists despite developments in digital technologies, and the impact they have had on advertising practice generally and online advertising more specifically. Online media are becoming increasingly populated by advertising content, as consumers continuously navigate ever-evolving mediascapes. Thus, there is a need to examine the ethical issues associated with the use of controversial advertising online, as well as consumers’ responses to such ads. This special thematic symposium addresses this literature gap, which is at the intersection of consumer ethics, e-marketing, and controversial advertising. The two papers in the special thematic symposium present new research in this area, along with some initial ethical implications as well as potential for future research.

“Beyond the Attitude-Behaviour Gap: Novel Perspectives in Consumer Ethics”: Introduction to the Thematic Symposium

Research into the ethical, sustainable, green and sociopolitical aspects of consumption has grown considerably since the 1990s. As Belz and Peattie (2009) suggest, however, perhaps the most consistent finding within this burgeoning literature has been inconsistency between what people say (or express via attitudes, values etc.) and what they actually do—the so-called ‘‘attitude-behaviour’’ and ‘‘intention-behaviour’’ gaps (e.g., Bray et al. 2011; Carrigan and Attalla 2001; Carrington et al. 2010; Chatzidakis et al. 2007; De Pelsmaker et al. 2005; Nicholls and Lee 2006). For instance, Young et al. (2010) observe that an estimated 30 % of consumers indicate concern about environmental issues, yet only 5 % translate this concern into action. Narrowing the gap between ethical consumption ‘‘attitudes/intentions’’ and actual consumption ‘‘behaviour’’ represents a challenge of practical and theoretical significance in light of the variety of top down and bottom up actors currently seeking to ‘‘mobilise the consumer’’ (Barnett et al. 2010) towards positive environmental and socio-economic outcomes. Extant research on the ethical consumption ‘‘attitudebehaviour’’ gap broadly falls into two camps. First, there is a considerable amount of psychological and attitudinal research that focuses on methodological flaws, situational issues, and the addition of further constructs (see e.g., Luzar and Cosse 1998; Ogden 2003). Methodological issues include the overreliance on quantitative survey formats that encourage rational answers rather than delving into everyday hedonistic shopping responses, and the desire for respondents to provide socially desirable answers and appear to be ‘good citizens’ (e.g., Trudel and Cotte 2009; Auger and Devinney 2007). Context-specific issues include lack of finance, time or appropriate product/brand information (e.g., labelling/brand image) or reluctance to change convenient shopping patterns (e.g., Shaw and Clarke 1999; De Pelsmaker et al. 2005). Authors have also proposed the addition of further constructs such as ‘‘ethical obligation’’, ‘‘self-identity’’ (Shaw and Clarke 1999; Shaw et al. 2000; Shaw and Shiu 2002a, b, 2003), and ‘‘commitment and sacrifice’’ (Carrington et al. 2014). Furthermore, a parallel line of research has examined potential variables that may increase the inconsistency between attitudes and behaviour rather than having an additional direct effect on behaviour (moderating variables). For instance, in the context of Fair Trade consumption, Chatzidakis et al. (2007) consider common beforeor afterthe-act justifications or ‘‘neutralisations’’ (Sykes and Matza 1957). Concurrently, we observe that a second camp of ‘interpretive’ and cross-disciplinary research has entered the discussion on the back of such developments. This literature stream argues that the ‘‘attitude-behaviour gap’’ is a methodological construction of decision-making modelling studies that continue to assume that consumer behaviour is rational and stripped away from a broader social, historical and cultural context (Caruana 2007a, b). This field conceptualises ethical consumers as sociallyconnected beings that establish shared meaning systems and construct complex consumption identities (Carrington R. Caruana University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK e-mail: Caruana@nottingham.ac.uk