ABEN 2024 Annual Conference and Workshop
Thank you for your interest in the 14th Annual Australasian Business Ethics Network Conference.
Our annual conference and HDR workshop is scheduled for 27 -29 November 2024, and is hosted by the School of Business at The University of Adelaide, in Adelaide.
This will be a hybrid event offering face-to-face presentations and networking along with the option of online presentations.
Conference Theme
This year’s theme is: Governance, People and Ethical Decision-Making.
We welcome broad inter-disciplinary and theoretical/conceptual and empirical contributions; the conference offers a forum through which various governance, ethical and sustainability-oriented challenges in business and society can be discussed.
Session Topics
As in all ABEN events, the main purpose is to bring together academics and practitioners to discuss ideas around the common theme of business ethics.
We welcome broad inter-disciplinary and theoretical/conceptual and empirical contributions. The conference offers a forum through which various ethical and sustainability-oriented challenges in business and society can be discussed, allowing for the exploration of early ideas and the creation or strengthening of collaborations.
The 2024 ABEN Conference aims to reflect on governance, people and decision-making, in ethical theory and practice (and the relationships between them).
The Mid-year Discussion, held on 13 June 2024, sparked the following thoughts around this theme:
- Understanding how governance supports the functionality of organisations, and its various forms and impacts on the decision-making process.
- The tension between governance that maintains the status quo and governance that embraces change. Can governance structures be designed to be adaptive and responsive, or must they be rigid?
- The quality of governance is crucial but often overlooked. It is not just about having mechanisms in place, but ensuring they lead to sound decision making.
- How governance is interpreted; governance by whom; and governance for whom.
- What are the tensions between decisions takers and decisions makers?
- Why do corporate decision-makers sometimes fail to consider a broader perspective in their decision-making process?
- What are the potential drawbacks of an expanded decision-making process in governance?
- What is the role of AI in the decision-making process?
- The dark side of governance: governance, when intertwined with AI, can become a form of surveillance, with extensive data collection leading to privacy concerns.
- How can organisations effectively balance formal and informal methods to broaden decision-making perspectives on ethical issues?
- Ethical obligations of people as individuals (e.g. as a whistleblower) within the context of a broader organsiational context.
The three conference themes governance, people and ethical decision making can be treated as independent as well as inter-dependent. This is deliberate to ensure sufficient scope and space for debate and dialogue.
In addition to business ethics, governance, ethical decision making, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability academics and practitioners, the conference invites colleagues and postgraduate students (Masters and PhD) from a variety of disciplinary areas.
This includes, but is not limited to, Accounting, Business Education, Economics, Finance, Human Resource Management, Information Systems, International Business, Law, Management, Marketing, and Operations & Supply Chain Management.
Key Dates
Annual Conference: 28-29th November 2024
HDR Workshop: 27th November 2024
Call for Papers – Now open submissions@aben.org.au
Deadline for submission – 22nd September 2024
Deadline for full paper –22nd September 2024
Deadline for submissions for Jan Schapper Scholarship – 1 October 2024
Deadline for submissions to Postgraduate and HDR Student Workshop – 31 October 2024 (email: chamilaperera@swin.edu.au)
Conference Keynote Speakers
Charlotte Karam, PhD is a professor at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, where she also holds the Ian Telfer Professorship in Inclusive HR Systems. Charlotte’s work as a scholar-activist contributes to overlapping conversations in inclusive HR systems, business ethics, responsible leadership, public policy, and feminist praxis. She is the primary investigator of the SAWI project and multi-year, multi-lingual, and multi-country impact research project focused on mobilizing decision makers Read More
Gazi Islam is Professor of People, Organizations and Society at Grenoble Ecole de Management, and member of the research laboratory IREGE (Research Institute for Management and Economics) at the University of Savoie Mont-Blanc. He is co-Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Business Ethics. His research interests revolve around business ethics and the contemporary meanings of work, including the relations between identity, power and the production of group and organizational cultures.
Industry Lunch with Governance Institute of Australia
Join us at the Adelaide Business School for an industry lunch as part of the 2024 ABEN conference. We are delighted to have Andrew Reed, General Manager at Hender Consulting, who will discuss recent trends in board recruitment and executive performance, aligning with our conference theme, governance, people, and ethical decision-making. Additionally, we will have a representative from the Governance Institute of Australia presenting insights from the 2024 Ethics Index, which is scheduled for release that week.
We are also honored to welcome our international guests, Professors Gazi Islam and Charlotte Karam, who will contribute to the panel discussion.
Post Graduate and HDR Workshop
The Postgraduate and HDR Student Workshop will be held from 9.30 to 12.30pm (ACDT) on Wednesday 27 November, Santos Lecture Theatre, L1 Nexus, the University of Adelaide. There is no cost to attend the Postgraduate and HDR Student Workshop. This will also be offered in hybrid (i.e. face-to-face and online formats).
Expressions of interest, a short biography and/or research summaries should be sent to Chamila Perera at chamilaperera@swin.edu.au by 31 October 2024.
HDR Support for Attending the Conference
To encourage HDR engagement in not only the Postgraduate & HDR Workshop, but also the main conference, ABEN will offer a 50% registration fee subsidy for those students who want to attend the main conference – either in-person or virtually.
Our Guest presenters this year are Dr Melissa Wheeler and Dr Zairul Nurshazana Zainuddin:
Registration
Early Bird Registration by 31 October 2024
It is essential for all participants including delegates, speakers, and guests to register online with payment of the applicable registration fee.
Registration is now open
To register, please click here.
Registration Fees
| Early Bird Before
31 October |
After October 31 | Conference Dinner
|
HDR Workshop Only | |
| In person* – full | $250 | $300 | $70 | |
| In person – student | $ |
$70 | Free | |
| Virtual – full | $100 | $120 | ||
| Virtual – student | Free |
*In-person registration fees include catering (lunches and teas) but excludes the conference dinner.
Submission Requirements
Short abstract
ABEN Members wishing to present at the Annual Conference should submit extended abstracts up to 750 words by 22 September 2024. Abstracts should be emailed to submissions@aben.org.au. Abstract authors will be notified of acceptance by 10 September.
The extended abstract should include a title, author(s) name(s) and their institutional affiliation, contact information (email and telephone), main ideas of the paper, and selected bibliography (optional).
Full paper
It is optional if authors wish to submit a full paper for review by the ABEN Committee. This possibility is available if institutional funding requires a full paper to be submitted for consideration. The deadline for a full paper is 22 September 2024.
Inquiries and further information
Inquiries concerning general information about the conference should be addressed to the conference convenor, Dr Tracey Dodd, Adelaide Business School (Email tracey.dodd@adelaide.edu.au ).
For inquiries concerning registration and other issues please email submissions@aben.org.au.
Jan Schapper Scholarship in Critical Business Ethics
As in previous years, the Jan Schapper Scholarship in Critical Business Ethics is being offered for a PhD student, early career researcher or other worthy recipient. It comprises a $1,000 bursary and the waiving of the ABEN conference registration fee. The Scholarship was founded in 2015 to encourage critical approaches to business ethics at the ABEN annual meeting.
If you would like to be considered for the scholarship, please indicate this when registering for the ABEN conference. Eligible participants should submit a full paper to submissions@aben.org.au by 1 October 2024 with the email subject: Jan Schapper Scholarship. Papers are expected to be 8-10,000 words including references, tables, and figures. A decision on the award will be made by independent judges prior to the Annual conference 2024.
Jan Schapper was one of the founders of ABEN and worked at Monash’s Department of Management for 15 years before returning to La Trobe in 2010. Deeply immersed in feminist, Marxist and psychoanalytic scholarship, Jan’s research interests included higher education, critical approaches to business ethics and CSR, and workplace equality and diversity. She was especially keen that as a scholarly community we pay attention to questions of critical pedagogy, teaching, and learning, and ensure that we provide supportive and friendly environments in which future scholars can develop their work. Jan died surrounded by her family and friends on 24 September 2014. Further information is available at https://aben.org.au/jan-schapper-scholarships/ .
Accommodation Suggestions
The conference venue is in the heart of Adelaide city. Adelaide city offers several accommodation options, including the following:
There are also hotel options on North Terrace, and it is easy to take a tram from there to the conference venue. Hotels on North Terrace include:
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I submit abstracts, extended abstracts, or full papers?
You must submit an abstract of approximately 750 words in length, or longer. You can also submit a full paper, if your organisation requires. Either an abstract or a full paper must be submitted by 1 September.
Do full papers need to be submitted after submitting abstracts (and having that abstract accepted)?
No, if you wish to submit a full paper, please do so by 1 September. Do not submit an abstract, then wait for it to be accepted, before submitting a full paper.
Will the papers presented at the conference be published in a conference proceeding? Or is the conference aimed at discussion of ideas and seeking feedback before submitting them to a journal?
No, it is not currently the plan to publish the papers in a conference proceeding. We may publish a conference proceeding with the abstracts. The conference is aimed at discussion of ideas and seeking feedback before submitting them to a journal.
ABEN 2024 Conference Organising Committee
Dr Tracey Dodd, Conference convener – tracey.dodd@adelaide.edu.au
Dr Alessandro Bressan, Chair – alessandro.bressan@nd.edu.au
Dr Alice Gibson, Deputy Chair – alicemccancegibson@gmail.com
Dr Sanjukta Choudhury Kaul, Secretary – sanjukta.kaul@binus.ac.id
Dr Chamila Perera, HDR Coordinator – chamilaperera@swin.edu.au
Dr Saeed Loghman, HDR Coordinator – saeed.loghman@utas.edu.au
Dr Sitong (Michelle) Chen, External Engagement – michelle.chen@aut.ac.nz
Dr Felicity Small, Marketing coordinator – fsmall@csu.edu.au
ABEN 2024 Advisory Committee
Dr Saima Ahmad
Dr Duncan Brown
Associate Professor Tim Butcher
Dr Alain Neher
Dr Melissa Wheeler