Call for Papers - Sufficiency: An Ethic for Ecologically Constrained Organizations

Guest Editors

Pasi Heikkurinen, LUT Business School, Pasi Heikkurinen

David Skrbina, University of Helsinki, David Skrbina

Nancy Bocken, Maastricht University, Nancy Bocken

Maike Gossen, Technical University of Berlin, Maike Gossen

Thomas Princen, University of Michigan, Thomas Princen

The global economy today is widely understood as exceeding long-term ecological limits. By and large, a ‘growth ethic’ dominates, both in the economic sphere and in the larger social context of demographics and technological infrastructure. This Special Issue aims to understand and outline an alternative: a ‘sufficiency ethic’, one in which limits, boundaries, optimums, enoughness, and ‘not toomuchness’ take center stage.

Much of the story of the global environmental crisis is well-known. By nearly all measures, humanity currently lives well beyond the planet’s matter-energetic limits (Richardson et al., 2023; see also Bonnedahl et al., 2023). Climate change will continue, and crises that arise in connection with this—such as increased migration and refugee situations, hunger, wars, flooding, lack of arable land, extinction of species and natural disasters—will become more prevalent (Heikkurinen, 2017). In this situation, business as usual, conventional stakeholder thinking, growth-driven business models, and market-based solutions no longer suffice (Heikkurinen and Bonnedahl, 2013; Bocken and Short, 2016; Bocken et al., 2022; Gossen et al., 2019; Heikkurinen et al., 2019). Traditional ethical norms and value systems, and even large-scale aspects of society itself, will need to be reorganized to meet the pressing demands of the planet (Skrbina, 2013; 2016; Heikkurinen et al., 2016).

Furthermore, contemporary societies live under assumptions that have prevailed for centuries: namely, that endless economic affluence, endless population growth, and endless technological advancement are inherently good and desirable things, and ought to be pursued by corporate and other actors in the economic sector (Bonnedahl and Heikkurinen, 2018). Evidence, however, suggests that these assumptions no longer apply, and that they may even perpetuate the problem. This requires fundamental changes in organizations and calls for business managers to act on a fundamentally different playing field, and to participate in the creation of a new ethic capable of questioning and offering solutions to current social—and even ‘civilizational’—standards and norms.

In this Special Issue, we propose a focused and intensive discussion of the concept of sufficiency. Sufficiency is about the idea that there exists sufficient (e.g., optimal) scales of production and consumption, social complexity, technological infrastructure, or demographics, and that such sufficient levels ought not be exceeded (Princen, 2005; Salleh, 2009; Spengler, 2016; Niessen & Bocken, 2021). In lay terms, sufficiency is a concept of ‘enoughness’—of enough but not too much (Jungell-Michelsson and Heikkurinen, 2022, see also Alcott, 2008; Kanschik, 2016). Applying sufficiency includes identifying acceptable and sustainable processes or ranges with various socio-political-economic metrics (e.g., Speck and Hasselkuss, 2015; Fuchs, 2019; Lorek and Spangenberg, 2019; Callmer and Bradley, 2021; Persson and Klintman, 2021; Bärnthaler and Gough, 2023). Sufficiency stands in contrast to the conventional and age-old strategies of endless growth in human affluence, population, and technology, etc.

We note here that sufficiency is not synonymous with sustainability (Princen, 2003; Lehtonen and Heikkurinen, 2021). We conceive of sustainability as the long-term flourishing of both human society and non-human life, and as being concerned with, amongst other things, ensuring that the economy does not create irreversible losses that eventually undermine itself and the systems that support it. Whilst sufficiency and sustainability are not strictly synonymous, we believe that sufficiency, can provide a fundamental strategy and means by which to achieve sustainability in the strong and genuine sense of the term (Princen, 2005; Bonnedahl and Heikkurinen, 2018; Jungell-Michelsson and Heikkurinen, 2022).

The field of business ethics, including related management and organization theories (and kindred disciplines), has a key role to play in the disclosure and development of social and economic sufficiency. It is well known that businesses are important players in the current and future development of societies and that strategic choices matter, as do situated, local, and place-based practices (Heikkurinen and Mäkinen, 2018). The field’s overall focus on the management of resources and organizations and their role in society, and existing theories associated therewith, provide a useful starting point from which to address matters of sufficiency. Nevertheless, additional perspectives, questions, and approaches are needed for the shaping of a fundamentally different—and what we consider to be a much more promising—future.

In sum, we hope to further explore and articulate the philosophy entailing a sufficiency ethic; to develop a critical yet constructive examination of business and social organization; and to further illuminate the various (often conflicting) moral concerns at play. Given the far-reaching economic, political, and social changes associated with a sufficiency ethic, we believe that such a philosophical perspective is required. Consequently, we encourage works that raise fundamental questions regarding human relations to nature, and that examine how humans organize themselves relative to how nature organizes itself as a whole.

More specifically, and further to other possibilities, we welcome submissions on the following themes and questions:

• How can perspectives from business ethics, as well as from organization and management studies at large, and other related academic fields, contribute to addressing the challenges of sufficiency?

• What are the philosophical and social implications of implementing a sufficiency economy or sufficiency society?

• How can and should we realize various forms of business management and public governance in relation to the new rules of the game that arise from sufficiency demands, and how society should be organized to avert, or deal with future crises?

• What values are at stake, how should they be prioritized, and what needs to be left behind when dealing with a new era of sufficiency?

• What does it mean for business ethics scholars to conduct research in a sufficiency-ethical context?

• How should we engage with stakeholders in our research about a sufficiency ethic?

• How can we create more favorable conditions for sufficiency-ethical organizing?

• How can sufficiency in business be understood in a global context, taking into account the complex dynamics between the Global South and North?

Submission Instructions

Submission to this Special Issue must be made through Editorial Manager® by 1st February 2025, and authors must indicate that their submission is for this Special Issue of the Journal of Business Ethics. The online submission system will start accepting submissions 60 days before the call for papers submission deadline. We strongly encourage authors to refer to the JBE’s submission guidelines for detailed instructions. Any questions regarding this Special Issue, please address them to Professor Pasi Heikkurinen at pasi.heikkurinen@lut.fi.

Additional Information

Peer Review Policy, Process and Guidance

Peer Reviewer Selection

References

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Bärnthaler, R., Gough, I. (2023). Provisioning for sufficiency: envisaging production corridors. Sustainability : Science, Practice and Policy, 19(1), 2218690.

Bocken, N. M., Niessen, L., & Short, S. W. (2022). The sufficiency-based circular economy—an analysis of 150 companies. Frontiers in Sustainability, 3, 899289.

Bocken, N.M.P., Short, S.W. (2016). Towards a sufficiency-driven business model: experiences and opportunities. Environmental Innovation and Social Transitions, 18, 41–61.

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