Individual choice of management research agendas: ethical guidance from Islamic prioritization heuristics

Purpose: The main research attempts guiding questions about management research agendas had been relevance questions versus rigor questions. Researchers have also attempted to set management research agendas in particular sectors. No research, however, has addressed the infrastructural and foundational questions of what moral priorities and ethical principles should guide the future development of management research. Since the Islamic theological approach is a “transcendental values integration” approach, it presents a viable source of reference particularly for scholars interested in ethical philosophical paradigmatic approaches. Islamic literature has presented guiding principles as to how to balance priorities through the Jurisprudence of Priorities (Fiqh Al-Awlawiyyat). The aim of this conceptual paper is to synchronize the Islamic background literature on jurisprudence of priorities with management research development and agendas. The research is exploratory in nature. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper is conceptual merging Islamic literature with management research for the development of a framework to guide management researchers in prioritizing their research agendas. Findings: The research resulted in the conceptualization of a framework aiding researchers in the prioritization of their research agendas. Originality/value: Our paper addresses the unique and foundational question of what moral priorities and ethical principles should guide the future development of management research. We build on a religious philosophical approach, drawing on the Islamic jurisprudence of priorities as a literature base. We, therefore, address the key principles of responsible research regarding how it can be relevant on the infrastructural level to society, and how the benefit to key stakeholders should be tackled. This was not done in previous literature.