The Evolution of Research on Organizational Compassion Capacity: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda

Abstract

The study of compassion at the organizational context is gaining momentum as the need for other-serving behavior increases in todays’ global crises and social trauma environment. Compassion which is commonly defined as a social process consisting of noticing, feeling, and responding to the suffering of others, is a concept that is as ancient as the history of humanity. Today, compassion is a promising and timely research area attracting researchers as well as practitioners from a wide range of disciplines including philosophy, psychology, neuropsychology, social policy, and health care. However, despite the awakening interest in compassion particularly after Frost’s call in 1999 to bring a “compassion lens” to organizational studies, the importance of compassion is still underemphasized in organization research. Specifically the literature on organizational compassion capacity lacks a systematic and extended review which sheds lights on its roots, evolution, influential avenues and underexplored issues in order to build a platform for the future development of the field. Based on this, our purpose is 1) to provide a systematic and extensive literature review on compassion covering various research streams, 2) to conceptualize organizational capacity for compassion on the grounds of compassion theories from different disciplines, and 3) to provide a research agenda for future research avenues related to both theoretical and methodological issues. This systematic review provides valuable insight into the conceptualization and operationalization of organizational compassion as a collective, dynamic and interpersonal process which in turn contributes highly to the agenda of organization studies.

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Author Information
Halit Keskin, Yildiz Technical University, Turkey
Ali Ekber Akgun, Gebze Technical University, Turkey
Ipek Kocoglu, Gebze Technical University, Turkey
Tuba Etlioglu, Yildiz Technical University, Turkey

• Category: ECP2017, Oral Presentation
• Tag: Industrial Organization and Organization Theory,

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

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