FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS – 17th ANNUAL BEN-AFRICA CONFERENCE

8-9 November 2018, Maputo, Mozambique

Ethics, governance and leadership as drivers for African growth

The conference is an international platform for stakeholders from the private sector, the public sector, non-profit organisations and academia to come together to reflect, to discuss and to respond to the opportunities and challenges related to promoting ethics, governance and sustainability in African contexts. Inputs from and about the region, as well as contributions dealing with Africa’s position with respect to other world regions will be considered.

Submissions

Scholars and other experts from around the world are invited to submit industry and academic papers and posters that address the theme of ‘Ethics, governance and leadership as driver for African growth’ (please see below for suggested sub-themes). However, any papers dealing with business or organisational ethics in Africa will be considered.

The conference language is English. The abstract of the papers and posters will be reviewed for relevance and rigour. Abstract submissions should be sent electronically to Prof. Kevin Behrens at Kevin.Behrens@wits.ac.za

Timeline

  • September 24, 2018: Deadline for abstract submissions (500-1,000 words) and for full papers for potential publication in the African Journal of Business Ethics*.
  • October 6, 2018: Confirmation of acceptance to present at the Conference
  • November 8 -9, 2018: Conference. The presentation parallel sessions will take place on Day 1 of the conference – 8th November.
  • December 7, 2018: Re-submission of revised, full papers for external review (single blind peer review)
  • January 15 –Feb 14, 2019: Completion of external review, and feedback to authors
  • Mid-March 2019: Publication of papers in the African Journal of Business Ethics

*Please note that abstract submissions are adequate if you only intend on presenting at the conference. If, however, you are interested in publishing your paper in the African Journal of Business Ethics, the above deadlines must please be adhered to. We are also pleased to announce our inaugural Aloe award for the best conference paper. The winner will be announced at the conference and will receive a signed copy of Rossouw and Van Vuuren’s Business Ethics (6th edition). In order to be eligible for this award, your FULL paper must be submitted as per the abstract deadline, i.e. 24 September 2018. BEN-Africa reserves the right not to make the award should an insufficient amount of full papers be received by the deadline.

Presenters are required to register and pay for the conference , the conference fee being R3900 (as a presenter, you will receive a 20% rebate on this conference fee) and to make the own way to the conference.

Details 

For details on the preparation of full papers, please see the ‘Author Guidelines’ for the African Journal of Business Ethics, available online at:

http://ajobe.journals.ac.za/pub/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions.

Sub-themes 

The conference theme is ‘Ethics, Governance & Leadership as driver for African growth’. Any paper that addresses this theme, or the wider theme of business ethics in Africa, will be considered.

Suggested sub-themes include:

  • The role of Ethics Functions (or Ethics Officers) in organisations as drivers for African growth
  • The role of Social & Ethics Committees in organisations as drivers for African growth.
  • Trade-offs between Ethics, Governance and Leadership versus growth
  • The organizational interface between compliance and Ethics, Governance and Leadership
  • Exploring the sustainability agenda: challenges & opportunities for developing contexts.
  • Transparency in the reporting of social and ethics performance.
  • Integrated reporting and Ethics, Governance and Leadership
  • How Ethics, Governance and Leadership assist in combatting corruption
  • Developed vs. developing contexts: contextual factors shaping the Ethics, Governance and Leadership agendas.
  • Principles, practices, and policies for promoting responsible leadership / governance / ethics / sustainable development in African contexts.
  • Measurements and measures for promoting responsible leadership / good governance / ethics / sustainability in the corporate, NGO, and public spheres.
  • Technical platforms for maintaining, promoting, & measuring governance/sustainability initiatives.
  • Developing curricula and pedagogies for fostering responsible leadership / governance / ethics / sustainable development on the African continent.
  • Exploring humanistic and ethical management as a vehicle towards promoting good governance practices and ethics in private and public sector African organisations.
  • Public-private sector collaborations for promoting African development.
  • African SMMEs and governance / ethics / sustainability opportunities and challenges.
  • The informal sector and sustainable African development: opportunities and challenges.
  • Governance, ethics, & sustainability: best practices / case studies / field surveys from Africa.
  • Poverty and sustainability: defining the challenges and the way forward.

Wider themes

  • Developments in business ethics teaching and practice.
  • Defining the business ethics agenda for Africa: Contextual challenges and opportunities.
  • Towards an African business ethics: applying indigenous institutional models, cultural norms, and Ubuntu values to business ethics.
  • Managing ethics in African companies and organisations.