The paper “The Call for Responsible Research in Business and Management” by Laszlo Zsolnai and Mike J. Thompson was published in the book Responsible Research for Better Business. Creating Useful and Credible Knowledge for Business and Society. (Palgrave–Macmillan, London, 2020, pp. 3–14).
In this paper the authors emphasize that business and management researchers should not be passive observers of the subjects they study. Rather, responsible scholars should develop sensitivity and responsiveness toward the fate and wellbeing of the members of organizations and other social systems they happen to focus on.
Zsolnai and Thompson believe that a deep transformational change in the current business and management practices is under way. Responsible business and management researchers have a vision of being the change rather than being detached observers of this change. Some business schools have already set faculty evaluation objectives that focus on “research that makes a difference”, aiming to develop responsible leaders in all business disciplines. The hopeful message is that business school faculty can become active agents in following their vocation to catalyze the required transformation for better business and better society.