The ongoing war in Gaza and Ukraine has brought international attention back to the virtues of peace, which since the turn of the millennium has been explored in business and society scholarship through the field of business for peace (also termed ‘peace through commerce’). The work of Tim Fort and Cindy Schipani (2007) was formative in the ‘peace’ focus of the UN Global Compact (UNGC), the UNGC’s guiding principles for business in conflict zones (UNGP, 2010), and the subsequent establishment of the PRME Working Group on Business for Peace (PRME, 2014). Concurrently, AACSB commissioned a Peace through Commerce task force to understand how peace could be integrated into business school education (AACSB, 2005), while the Business for Peace Foundation (Oslo) has been issuing the annual Business for Peace Award since 2009—a recognition selected from a committee of ex-Nobel Peace Prize Winners and given to top businesspersons and scholars worldwide.

These moves attracted the attention of scholars, with business for peace special issues featured in the Academy of Management Perspectives (2015), Journal of Business Ethics (2009, 2024), Conflict, Security and Development (2019), and Business Horizons (2016, 2024). Although much of the work in business for peace is practitioner-driven, advanced scholarship in management studies is on the rise; with business for peace research featured in the Academy of Management Review (Ganson et al., 2022), Journal of Management Studies (Joseph et al., 2024), and Academy of Management Perspectives (e.g., Forrer and Katsos., 2015). Peace is an important element in business and society research, with business for peace scholars holding a consistent presence in the Journal of Business Ethics (e.g., Oetzel et al., 2009; Katsos and Alkafaji, 2019), with a growing number of contributions found in Business & Society (e.g., Joseph et al., 2023; Joseph and Van Buren III, 2022; Miklian and Medina Bickel, 2020).

On this basis, the current proposal seeks to establish a business for peace workshop at IABS 2025, with the intention of making this workshop a consistent feature of future IABS conferences. The objectives of the workshop are as follows:

1. Establish a consistent space for business for peace scholars to meet on an annual basis.
2. Introduce and integrate peace scholars into the broader business and society community.
3. Drive high-quality business for peace research through: a) authors receiving developmental feedback on research ideas, b) establishing working relationships between peace researchers, c) establishing working relationships between peace, and general business and society researchers.