Call for Scholarly Program Submissions:          Public and Nonprofit (PNP) 

Program Chair: Deborah Blackman, UNSW Canberra; pnpaom@unsw.edu.au 

The Public and Nonprofit (PNP) Division of the Academy of Management brings together organizational scholars worldwide dedicated towards creating and disseminating knowledge about how to improve the effectiveness of government and nonprofit organizations. We pay special attention to how the distinctive qualities of the public and nonprofit sectors influence the behavior, management and organizational processes of government and nonprofit organizations.

Many pressing challenges in the 21st century are directly or indirectly related to public policy, organizations and management, including climate change, conflict, economic opportunity and inequality, inclusion, democratic institutions and citizen engagement. Research that can help  overcome  such challenges has to be not only academically rigorous, but also accessible to both the academic and the practice communities.  In choosing the theme for the 2020 Conference, i.e.,  “20/20 Broadening our Sight”, the academy is asking its members to explore the impact of  “and” rather than ”or” in developing both research agendas and the methods used to achieve them.  We are asked to question whether our self-imposed choices restrict our sight, creating narrow and often incomplete views of the phenomena we study, often not focusing on the problems that seem too complex or insurmountable.

“Broadening our Sight” requires asks us to reconsider what is possible and thus we encourage our members to submit papers and proposals that address questions such as:  What else do we need to do for better public and non-profit research? How would a broader view add value? How can we develop new approaches and/or methods to broaden our study and understanding of the public and non-profit phenomena? How can government and non-profit organizations balance sustainability and accountability? Who needs to work with whom for better public service delivery? How can policy formulation and implementation be studied together? How can we develop more holistic approaches in our field?

Papers that bridge the fields of public policy and public and nonprofit management and focus on the role of government, nonprofit, and business organizations in broadening our sight to give solutions for  organizations, communities, and society will be given a higher priority.

All topics relevant to the PNP Division’s core mission are also welcome. Our members study a variety of important topics including, but not limited to, bureaucratic politics and decision making, cross-sector collaboration and networks, design and delivery of public services, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, government procurement, human capital management, innovation and organizational change, leadership, management of humanitarian and international organizations, motivation and performance of employees, strategic planning and management, social entrepreneurship, and transparency and accountability of public and nonprofit organizations.

The PNP Division encourages and welcomes diverse research methods and approaches including the use of ethnographic studies, laboratory and field experiments, survey research, simulation and systems dynamics modeling, and textual/natural language processing.

AS another part of Broadening our Sight we would like to encourage you to submit and also to act as reviewers – this is a great way to not only support our community but also to learn about great new research before anybody else.

Instructions for Submission.  Complete papers and proposals for panels and symposia must be submitted by Tuesday, 14 January 2020 at 5:00 PM ET (NY time). Only electronic submissions through the AOM Submission Center will be accepted.  Submissions that do not follow the AOM guidelines will not be accepted. The Submission Center will open early December.