INFORMS Open Forum

"Environmental and Social Responsibility" -- a new Department of Service Science Journal

  • 1.  "Environmental and Social Responsibility" -- a new Department of Service Science Journal

    Posted 07-13-2021 11:31
    Dear Colleagues -   

    Hope all of you are having an enjoyable and productive summer.

    The Service Science Journal Editor-In-Chief (Saif Benjaafar) has kindly invited me to serve as a Department Editor.  Through our discussion, we agreed that the journal should have a new department that focuses on "Environmental and Social Responsibility" issues in Services.   I am excited about this new assignment because I do believe that, in the wake of climate change, social injustice, income inequality, inequitable access to services, etc., corporations go beyond the traditional financial measures by taking various  Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) measurements into consideration.   

    It is an honor to serve as the founding Department Editor for the Environmental and Social Responsibility (ESR) department of Service Science.  I have draft the statement of the department for your consideration. 

    As always, I shall rely on your support and I shall continue to seek your advice. 

    Together, we can build a bigger and stronger learning community.   At the same time, we can shape the future.   

    Sincerely yours, 
    Chris Tang
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    Environmental and Social Responsibility

     The Environmental and Social Responsibility (ESR) department of Service Science seeks papers that: (1) explore the relationship between ESR and various Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) measurements established by GRI (Global Reporting Institute), SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board), TCFD (Task Force on Climate-retailed Financial Disclosures), etc.;  or (2) investigate how various ESG measurements affect the design, the operations, and the delivery of a private (or a public) service organization providing services in financial, information, accounting, health, education, housing, food, logistics, transportation, retail, utility, sports, tourism, gaming, or entertainment. 

    Instead of focusing on a single financial performance metric, our goal is to encourage researchers to include other measures such as reduction in air and water pollution, reduction in solid waste, improvement in diversity, improvement in equable access to services, improvement in the number of innovative solutions for addressing certain environmental or social problems, etc.  Also, we welcome other performance measures such as "social values" for the society at large. 

    The ESG movement is creating unprecedented pressure for firms to collect and report data about how they perform according to different reporting standards such as GRI, SASB, TCFD, etc.  At the same time, ESG investing (an investment strategy that influence positive changes in society) is providing incentives for private firms to change the way they operate to support environmental sustainability and social responsibility (which includes diversity, equity, and inclusion).  We welcome papers that examine relevant environmental and social responsibility issues arising from a service organization, and we encourage papers that: (i) explore new theories; (ii) evaluate new policies; (iii) span across different fields; or (iv) embrace multi-research methods such as field experiments, lab experiments, empirical analysis, analytical model, etc.

     



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    Christopher Tang
    Professor
    University of California-Los Angeles
    Los Angeles CA
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