What is it about?
This introduction explores “response-ability” as an ethical approach to research: the ability to respond to others and to make others capable of responding. Drawing on feminist posthumanist scholarship, it shows how knowledge emerges through embodied and situated relationships rather than being produced by detached observers. It considers what this approach means for fieldwork, writing, peer review, teaching, public engagement and academic activism, while introducing the contributions collected in the volume.
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Why is it important?
Research ethics is often understood mainly in terms of rules, formal procedures and individual accountability. The concept of response-ability broadens this perspective by directing attention to relationships and to the consequences of research practices: whose knowledge is recognized, who is included or excluded, and what possibilities are created or constrained. It encourages researchers to cultivate attentiveness, reciprocity and care throughout the research process, contributing to more inclusive and socially engaged ways of producing knowledge.
Perspectives
We wrote this introduction to bring feminist theories of care and posthumanist thinking into closer dialogue with research in organization and management studies. We wanted to present research ethics not as a separate requirement applied to a project, but as an ongoing practice that shapes every stage of knowledge production. For us, becoming response-able means recognizing that researchers are always part of the relationships they study and must remain attentive to how their choices affect participants, colleagues, students and wider communities.
Prof. Barbara Poggio
University of Trento
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Introduction. Ethics of Engagement in Research Practices, September 2024, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.4324/9781003452485-1.
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