2019, Nathan, Ganesh, Gianni, Robert, Pearson, John, Reber, Bernard

There is growing interest in and importance of responsible research and innovation (RRI) among academic scholars and policy-makers, especially in relation to emerging technologies such as nanotechnology. It is also to be noted that, although the design-thinking approach has been around since the 1960s, there is renewed interest in this approach to innovation with an increasing number of related publications over the last couple of decades. Furthermore, it is currently introduced in a number of schools and community projects. However, there is a gap in bridging the design-thinking approach to RRI, and this chapter attempts to address this need.

2018-06-20, Nathan, Ganesh

Meaningfulness work has been gaining significance since the beginning of the 21st Century. This paper attempts to clarify the meaning of meaningful work as a moral issue and how it is linked to employee’s well‐being by introducing a concept of ‘employeeship’ to bring dignity at workplace. It critiques work-life balance and argues for integrating meaningful work within the work-life continuum. Employee engagement has recently become a significant topic both within human resources management consultancy and academic research. However, there are many different meanings associated with employee engagement and a variety of factors have been identified and proposed for employee engagement. These factors although may contribute to meaningfulness of work, meaningful activity is not clearly liked to well‐being. Therefore, this paper shows the link between meaningful activity and well‐being and argues for the just context rooted in self-respect to bring employees’ dignity at workplace. It introduces a concept of ‘employeeship’ and shows the importance of normative context of well‐being. It conceptualizes employeeship for ‘self‐leading’ which is constituted by autonomy, ownership and responsibility. Leadership without counterpart of employeeship can lead to undermining employees’ dignity through depriving their self-respect. This paper further attempts to show that the minimal and common conditions of freedom as non‐domination and recognition for employeeship can lead to skilful performance of employees facing fair challenges. Based on these conceptual understanding, this paper briefly discusses some implications for management in terms of leadership and concludes with further research directions in this important topic of interest.

2018-11-24, Bradly, Andrew, Nathan, Ganesh

Purpose This paper aims to introduce the concept of institutional CSR and explains its antecedents, key characteristics and the potential implications arising from private firms providing public goods and services in developing economies. Design/methodology/approach The paper conceptualises institutional CSR using key insights from institutional theory along with legitimacy theory. It integrates the antecedents of CSR at the state and society levels and shows how firms may respond to these antecedents within an integrated institutional CSR framework. Findings The paper derives six distinct characteristics of institutional CSR and presents a conceptual model to inform how institutional CSR occurs in practice. Practical implications This paper brings to the attention the need for private firms that undertake institutional CSR activities to engage more closely with the state to ensure better societal outcomes. Social implications The paper identifies the importance of resource coordination between the state and the firm for the efficient and effective provision of public goods and services. Without such coordination, moral hazard, resource imbalances and long-term viability concerns pose a risk for institutional CSR activities. It furthermore highlights important implications for societal governance. Originality/value The paper makes an important contribution to the literature on CSR practices within developing economies by conceptualising institutional CSR in providing public goods and services.

2018-07-27, Nathan, Ganesh, Gianni, Robert, Pearson, John, Reber, Bernard

There is growing interest and importance for responsible research and innovation (RRI) among academic scholars and policy makers, especially, in relation to emerging technologies such as nanotechnology. It is also to be noted that, although the design thinking approach has been around since 1960s, there is renewed interest in this approach to innovation with an increasing number of related publications over the last couple of decades. Furthermore, it is currently introduced in a number of schools and community projects. However, there is a gap in bridging design thinking approach to RRI and this chapter attempts to address this need.