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Dear colleagues,
During the next annual meeting of the European Business Ethics Network
(EBEN), June 12-14 2014 (Berlin), we organize a special track on
Responsible Innovation & Innovation Ethics
We would like to invite you to submit an abstract for this special track
(deadline: February 28th)
Special Track EBEN AC 2014
Responsible Innovation & Innovation Ethics
Responsible Innovation is an emerging concept to balance economic, socio-
cultural and environmental aspects in innovation processes (European
Commission 2011). Because technological innovations can contribute
significantly to the solution of societal challenges like climate change
or the aging of people, but can also have negative societal consequences,
it is assumed that social and ethical aspects should be considered during
the innovation process. By involving multiple stakeholders in innovation
processes at an early stage, “societal actors and innovators become
mutually responsive to each other with a view to the (ethical)
acceptability, sustainability and societal desirability of the innovation
process and its marketable products” (von Schomberg 2013: 63). The
consideration of ethical and social aspects during innovation processes
will lead not only to technological innovations which are socially
acceptable but also socially desirable (cf. Matter 2011). The concept of
responsible innovation expresses the ambition to address societal needs,
next to the more traditional objectives of innovation like economic
growth, profit maximization, competitive advantage etc. Because the
concept of responsible innovation is relatively new and still evolving in
different directions (cf. Owen et al. 2013; van den Hoven et al. 2013),
the ethical implications for the innovation processes of large
corporations and SMEs are still under-researched (Blok & Lemmens, 2014).
Waldman and Galvin (2008) for instance claim that responsible leaders
combine economic orientations with an extended stakeholder orientation.
The business objective shifts to optimizing the economic, social and
environmental values in order to bring sustainable value for business and
society. Waldman and Siegel (2008) stress, however, that responsibility
exists only if there is “a clear and directly foreseeable return on
investment”. The central problem remains that for the short term, strict
cost-benefits analyses are more accurate, but projections tend to become
more difficult with respect to responsibility in the long term (Pless, et
al. 2012; Blok & Lemmens, 2014). Consequently, the question is raised how
companies make decisions and organize their innovation process to the
extent it is considered more responsible?
While many innovation processes in the past have been blind to ethical
impacts and concerns, the concept of responsible Innovation challenges us
to deeply reflect on both personal values and societal norms when engaging
with technological innovations (Nathan, 2014). Furthermore, we have to
understand how companies deal with moral concerns and how they involve
stakeholders in innovation processes in order to generate sustainable
value for business and society. In this respect, it is not only necessary
to analyse (ethical) decision-making processes of technological
innovations at an organizational level, but also the linkages between
innovations and their impact at a macro level.
Given the importance of the emerging field of responsible innovation and
innovation ethics, we invite papers that discuss and provide insights in
the business ethical aspects of responsible innovations and deepen
management scholars’ and practitioners’ understanding of how ethical
concerns can effectively be involved in responsible innovation processes.
Therefore, we encourage the submission of papers that address the above
issues.
Both empirical and conceptual papers are welcome and we strongly encourage
multi-disciplinary submissions in areas such as:
• Management
• Innovation Management
• Business Ethics
• Public Administration
• Policy and Organizational Behaviour
Organizers
Vincent Blok
Wageningen University
Email:
vincent.blok@wur.nl
Victor Scholten
Delft University of Technology
Ganesh Nathan
University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, FHNW
Xavier Pavie
ESSEC
Submissions
Submissions should be made directly to the organizers
(
vincent.blok@wur.nl), not later than February 28th.
For more information about the EBEN Annual conference 2014:
http://www.eben-net.org/sites/default/files/Call%20for%20Papers%20AC%
202014.pdf
Dr. Vincent Blok MBA
Assistant Professor in Responsible Innovation and Sustainable
Entrepreneurship
Wageningen University
Management Studies
Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN, Wageningen (Building 201)
De Leeuwenborch, Room 5059
P.O. Box 8130, 6700 EW, Wageningen
T: +31 (0) 317 483623
F: +31 (0) 317 485454
E-mail:
vincent.blok@wur.nl
Website:
www.vincentblok.nl
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