Call For Papers
Journal of Business Ethics Special Issue & Conference on Business Ethics in Greater China: Past, Present and Future

May 19-20, 2014, Lhasa, Tibet

SUBMISSION DEADLINES:
- Conference: January 10, 2014
- Special Issue: June 30, 2014

GUEST EDITORS:
- Douglas Cumming, Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada
- Wenxuan Hou, Business School, Edinburgh University, UK
- Edward Lee, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK

ORGANISING COMMITTEE CHAIRS:
- Jiandong Chen, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, China
- Huiyao Wang, Center for China and Globalization and Harvard University, US

CONFERENCE VENUE: The St. Regis Lhasa Resort, No.22, Jiangsu Road, Lhasa, Tibet, China

CONFERENCE LINK: http://www.chinadrcentre.org

BACKGROUND: Following a successful conference that took place in Beijing, China on April 5-6, 2013, the China Development and Research Center (CRDC, http://www.chinadrcentre.org/ ) will organize a special issue conference in conjunction with the Journal of Business Ethics (JBE) in Lhasa, Tibet on May 19–20, 2014 on the topic of: Business Ethics in Greater China: Past, Present and Future.

SCOPE OF SPECIAL ISSUE: In the aftermath of the financial crisis and recent recession, the center of gravity of global economic growth and competitiveness is shifting toward emerging economies. As a leading and increasingly influential emerging economy, China is currently attracting the attention of academics, practitioners, and policy makers. There is a rise of research interest and publications on issues relating to China among high quality international academic journals. China's economic success over the past three decades has been hailed as one of the greatest achievement in modern history because it has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. However, as China aspires to become one of the largest economies in the world, the sustainability of its growth and development will become increasingly reliant on business ethics. While China's economy marches forward, it must also address a wide range of business ethics relevant issues for publicly traded, privately held, and family and non-family firms alike, such as:
- Environment protection
- Intellectual capital protection
- Gender equality
- Religion and culture
- Political connections
- Regional development
- Investor protection
- Corporate stewardship
- Corporate social responsibility
- Corporate transparency
- External/internal fraud deterrence

The experiences, challenges, and development of these business ethics areas in China also have important implications for other developing economies. Therefore, this call for papers invites empirical studies on a wide range of business ethics related themes mentioned above that focuses on the Chinese setting and could provide useful policy implications. We also welcome studies on the cultural and philosophical foundations of business ethics in China as well as contemporary perspectives, including other areas of the Greater China region such as Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as comparative studies of China with other emerging countries. Specific topics and research questions can include, but are not limited to:
- What kind of regulations or institutional reforms facilitates ethical, sustainable and socially responsible entrepreneurship?
- What kind of regulations or institutional reforms encourages venture capital, private equity, and capital market investment in ethical, sustainable and socially responsible entrepreneurship?
- Do business ethics and corporate governance mechanisms improve capital acquisition and reduce cost of capital for entrepreneurs?
- Do sustainable and ethical entrepreneurs perform better and what type of corporate financing approach or corporate governance mechanism improves their performance?
- What are the appropriate performance metrics for sustainable and ethical entrepreneurs?
- Do sustainable and ethical entrepreneurship lead to more successful IPO and better post-IPO performance?
- What factors exacerbate the frequency of fraud in private and publicly traded companies?
- What regulatory or governance tools mitigate the incidence of fraud among private and publicly traded companies?
- Do political connections deter fraud and facilitate corporate transparency and corporate social responsibility?
- How do central and local governments encourage ethical investment in private and publicly traded companies?
- What is the role of different types of investors (such as private equity, hedge funds, banks, or institutional investors) in mitigating the incidence of fraud among private and publicly traded companies?
- What is the role of different types of investors (such as private equity, hedge funds, banks, or institutional investors) in stimulating new firm creation, particularly those in socially responsible industries?
- How does ethical investment and fraud compare in China with other emerging economics, and what factors (legal, institutional, institutional, or cultural) affect these differences?
- What are the theories that guide business ethics in China today? How has the field and discipline developed?
- Are Chinese CSR approaches different from Western concept and in what way? What role if any, play traditional values or concepts such as 'guanxi'?
- In light of the widespread call for responsible leaders: Are there specific notions of responsible leadership – traditional and modern – in Greater China? What is the meaning of responsible leadership in the Chinese context?

CONFERENCE PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: The submission deadline of the Conference is January 10, 2014. Submission to the Conference is required by email to chinardcentre@gmail.com. Please specify "JBE 2014 China Special Issue Conference" as the subject heading of the submission email. Authors should submit their papers in PDF format, with the title page of the manuscript indicating the name, affiliation, and contact information of the authors. Please also indicate whether you also intend to be considered for the JBE Special Issue. Authors of papers accepted for presentation at the Conference will be notified by February 10, 2014. The aim of the Conference is to aid the development of papers. A subset of papers presented in the Conference will be invited for consideration of publication in the JBE Special Issue. Acceptance to the conference does not guarantee acceptance into the Special Issue. Likewise, Conference attendance is not required for inclusion in the Special Issue.

SPECIAL ISSUE PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: The submission deadline of the Special Issue is June 30, 2014. Submission to the Special Issue is required through the Editorial Manager online system at http://www.editorialmanager.com/busi/, once the link becomes available. Please follow the JBE guideline on manuscript presentation: http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/applied+ethics/journal/10551

By submitting a paper, authors are certifying (a) that the submission is original, unpublished work, (b) that in whole or material part it is not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere. Papers will be externally double-blind reviewed according to standard journal policy. Eventual acceptance is subject to the successful addressing of comments by reviewers and guest editors.

KEY DATES:
- Submission deadline of the Conference: 10 January 2014
- Acceptance to Conference presentation will be notified by: 10 February 2014
- Conference dates: 19-20 May 2014
- Submission deadline for the JBE Special Issue: 30 June 2014

ABOUT JBE: The Journal of Business Ethics publishes original articles from a wide variety of methodological and disciplinary perspectives concerning ethical issues related to business that bring something new or unique to the discourse in their field. All research articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and refereeing by two anonymous referees. JBE is one of the top 45 journals used by the Financial Times in compiling the prestigious Business School research rank and is included in the Social Science Citation Index.