Climate social science—Any future for ‘blue sky research’ in management studies.pdf.pdf

Scandinavian Journal of Management (2015) 31, 147—157

Available online at
ScienceDirect

j ournal homepage: ate/scaman
RESEARCH NOTE

Climate social science–—Any future for

‘blue sky research’ in management studies?
Annika Skoglund *

Uppsala University, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management and University of Essex Business

School, Essex Sustainability Institute, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, Essex, United Kingdom

KEYWORDS Summary The environmental humanities call for post-disciplinary approaches to meet the

vexing problem of climate change. However, scholars have not scrutinised how management and
Blue-sky research;

organisation studies (MOS) could contribute to such an endeavour. This research note explores
Climate change;

common surfaces of contact between the natural and social sciences, with the goal of unravelling

Climate social science;

Environmental the legitimate positions to speak from about climate change. The findings suggest that scholars in

humanities; MOS are exposed to ecological reasoning, which undergirds underdog heroism, disciplinary

Management; confusion and a debasement of political subjectivity. As a counter strategy, I suggest that we

Post-disciplinary affirm a ‘blue-sky research’ approach that would support alternative research paths and a more

traditional will to know–—to advance ‘climate social science’.

# 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under BY-NC-

ND license (/licenses/by-nc-nd//).

‘one of the most dynamic fields in the human sciences’ that

could help meet global challenges (KTH, 2013). The World

‘Blue days, all of them gone

Social Science Report (ISSC, 2013), moreover, ‘issues an urgent

Nothing but blue skies from now on

call to action to the international social munity

Blue skies smiling at me

to collaborate more effectively with each other’.