Guest Introduction Quaker Business, Industry and Commerce: New Critical Perspectives and Pathways

Abstract

This themed edition of Quaker Studies assembles a collection of papers by Quaker and other scholars from the fields of management and organisation to examine Quakerism in business, industry and commerce. These papers arise out of the joint Quaker Studies Research Association/Centre for Research in Quaker Studies conference held at Woodbrooke on 21 June 2018. The themes explored in them cover a wide, and previously under-explored, terrain that encompasses both a retrospective look at the influence and impact of Quaker-owned businesses and practices on society and vice versa and the often uneasy relationship between contemporary management theory and practice and Quaker tradition. Furthermore, the papers I have selected for this themed issue either adopt a critical perspective or elaborate new and interesting ways to understand the interface between Quakerism and business, with the ambition to open new pathways for future research. In other words, it has been the intention both to break new ground in Quaker Studies and to excite and interest management scholars to (re)turn to Quaker practice as a means to interpret contemporary phenomena.