The Misalignment of the FT50 with the Achievement of the UN’s SDGs: A Call for Responsible Research Assessment by Business Schools

Publication in the list of 50 journals endorsed by the Financial Times (i.e., the FT50) has become ‘institutionalized’ as a primary measure of research quality and prestige by business schools and faculty. This study investigated the extent to which this closed publication system is (mis)aligned with societal imperatives, in particular the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Research methods included both inductive and deductive analysis. Undergraduate and graduate student research assistants, enrolled in business-related programs, read all 4522 articles published by FT50 journals in 2019 and assessed their relevance to explicit and implicit concepts in the SDG framework. Additionally, potential biases that might stifle research innovation in support of the SDGs were explored. Findings included that 90% of articles were found to have no ‘explicit’ relationship to the SDGs, while only 17% were interpreted as having an implicit relationship. SDG-related articles were disproportionately from one journal-the Journal of Business Ethics (48.1%). There was also an over-representation of observed white male primary authors, who used North American (NA) data sets from NA institutions. A logistic regression model determined that the predicted probability of an SDG-related article increased with observed female primary authors, who used non-NA data sets and institutions. The next steps include comparing this methodological approach with machine learning techniques to find a more efficient and robust method for analyzing an article’s SDG content. Business Schools with sustainability as a core value are encouraged to move beyond FT50 publications for assessing research quality, including for tenure and promotion purposes, and place more focus on assessing research relevance and impact

SDGs: A Responsible Research Assessment Tool toward Impactful Business Research

An alternative research assessment (RA) tool was constructed to assess the relatedness of published business school research to the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The RA tool was created using Leximancer™, an on-line cloud-based text analytic software tool, that identified core themes within the SDG framework. Eight (8) core themes were found to define the ‘spirit of the SDGs’: Sustainable Development, Governance, Vulnerable Populations, Water, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Food Security, Restoration, and Public Health. These themes were compared to the core themes found in the content of 4576 academic articles published in 2019 in journals that comprise the Financial Times (FT) 50 list. The articles’ relatedness to the SDG themes were assessed. Overall, 10.6% of the themes found in the FT50 journal articles had an explicit relationship to the SDG themes while 24.5% were implied. Themes generated from machine learning (ML), augmented by researcher judgement (to account for synonyms, similar concepts, and discipline specific examples), improved the robustness of the relationships found between the SDG framework and the published articles. Although there are compelling reasons for business schools to focus research on advancing the SDGs, this study and others highlight that there is much opportunity for improvement. Recommendations are made to better align academic research with the SDGs, influencing how business school faculty and their schools prioritize research and its role in the world

Enhancing Business Schools’ Pedagogy on Sustainable Business Practices and Ethical Decision-Making

Business school curriculums are designed to improve business skills and a student’s eventual workplace performance. In addition to these business skill sets the emerging business environment demands softer skills associated with ethical decision-making and sustainable business practices. The objective of the study is to identify the key influencers of ethical orientation and attitudes towards the environment as a first critical step for curriculum planning designed to develop both ethical decision-making and environmental sensibilities of students in business schools. Using a bivariate regression analysis (OLS) that compared the established New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale and the newly introduced Ethical Orientation Scale (EOS), this study assesses environmental eco-consciousness and ethical orientation over time and across varying socio-demographic variables. The study shows first, that in addition to socio-cultural variables, situational factors influence ethical decision-making. Secondly, it illuminates that ethical orientations as measured by the EOS predicts beliefs about the environment as measured by the NEP scale. It further provides evidence of the ethical underpinnings of the New Ecological Paradigm as well as provides initial validation for the new EOS. These outcomes provide additional levers to assist business educators in the creation of high impact teaching strategies to measure and encourage ethical decision-making and sustainable business practices that protect the environment

Responsible Leadership in Sport: An Ethical Dilemma

Sports, apart from providing entertainment, can provide an escape from everyday troubles, a community to belong to, and an opportunity to connect to the wider world. As such, sports have contributed to the unification of people, the development of peace and tolerance, and the empowerment of women and young people globally. However, sports’ widespread popularity has also contributed to “big money” opportunities for sports organizations, sporting venues, athletes, and sponsors that have created an environment riddled with ethical dilemmas that make headlines, resulting in protests and violence, and often leave society more divided. A current ethical dilemma faced by agents associated with the Olympic games serves to demonstrate the magnitude and challenges related to resolving ethical dilemmas in the sport industry. A decision-making framework is applied to this current sport’s ethical dilemma, as an example of how better ethical decision making might be achieved

SDGs: A Responsible Research Assessment Tool toward Impactful Business Research

An alternative research assessment (RA) tool was constructed to assess the relatedness of published business school research to the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The RA tool was created using Leximancer™, an on-line cloud-based text analytic software tool, that identified core themes within the SDG framework. Eight (8) core themes were found to define the ‘spirit of the SDGs’: Sustainable Development, Governance, Vulnerable Populations, Water, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Food Security, Restoration, and Public Health. These themes were compared to the core themes found in the content of 4576 academic articles published in 2019 in journals that comprise the Financial Times (FT) 50 list. The articles’ relatedness to the SDG themes were assessed. Overall, 10.6% of the themes found in the FT50 journal articles had an explicit relationship to the SDG themes while 24.5% were implied. Themes generated from machine learning (ML), augmented by researcher judgement (to account for synonyms, similar concepts, and discipline specific examples), improved the robustness of the relationships found between the SDG framework and the published articles. Although there are compelling reasons for business schools to focus research on advancing the SDGs, this study and others highlight that there is much opportunity for improvement. Recommendations are made to better align academic research with the SDGs, influencing how business school faculty and their schools prioritize research and its role in the world

Assessment of the Psychometric Properties of the Family Management Measure

Objective This paper reports development of the Family Management Measure (FaMM) of parental perceptions of family management of chronic conditions. Method By telephone interview, 579 parents of children age 3 to 19 with a chronic condition (349 partnered mothers, 165 partners, 65 single mothers) completed the FaMM and measures of child functional status and behavioral problems and family functioning. Analyses addressed reliability, factor structure, and construct validity. Results Exploratory factor analysis yielded six scales: Child's Daily Life, Condition Management Ability, Condition Management Effort, Family Life Difficulty, Parental Mutuality, and View of Condition Impact. Internal consistency reliability ranged from .72 to .91, and test-retest reliability from .71 to .94. Construct validity was supported by significant correlations in hypothesized directions between FaMM scales and established measures. Conclusion Results support FaMM's; reliability and validity, indicating it performs in a theoretically meaningful way and taps distinct aspects of family response to childhood chronic conditions

Patterns of Family Management of Childhood Chronic Conditions and Their Relationship to Child and Family Functioning

Understanding patterns of family response to childhood chronic conditions based on a configuration of multiple variables or qualitative themes provides a comprehensive understanding of health-related challenges and their influence on family and child functioning. In this paper, we used the six scales comprising the Family Management Measure (FaMM) in a cluster analysis to describe a typology of family management and data from other measures of child and family functioning to validate and explain those clusters. The sample of 575 parents from 414 families of children who had diverse chronic conditions endorsed four patterns of response (Family Focused, Somewhat Family Focused, Somewhat Condition Focused, Condition Focused). We also considered the extent to which couples had shared or discrepant views of family management. Most (57%) families were in either the Family Focused or Somewhat Family Focused pattern. Single mothers were significantly less likely to be in the two patterns reflecting greater ease in family management and significantly more likely to be in the two patterns reflecting more difficulty. Patterns of family management were related significantly to family and child functioning, with families in the Family Focused and Somewhat Family Focused patterns demonstrating significantly better family and child functioning than families in the other two patterns