Towards Marketing Research and Solutions to Actualize Laudato Si' & Fratelli Tutti

The purpose of this special session/roundtable is to begin collaborative field research that explores the awareness and impact of two recent Encyclicals by Pope Francis, and the extent to which businesses and other catalytic institutions can contribute to their actualization. Our planet is under various assaults that pose an existential threat to many life forms, including Homo sapiens. Human choices and behaviors are largely responsible for the degradation of our delicate biosphere and the well-being of billions of people struggling to survive on it. This reality and accelerating trends – e.g., climate change, pollution, extinctions, exploitation, exclusion, hunger, incivility, forced displacement and wars – are so alarming that Pope Francis has promulgated two seminal Encyclicals over a 5-year timeframe, Laudato Si’ (2015) and Fratelli Tutti (2020). The overarching goals of both these encyclicals are sustainable well-being of our planet, social justice, fraternity and well-being for all people. Actualization of these sacred goals will require secular understanding and engagement, particularly from businesses and other catalytic institutions. The initial framing of the conversation will be around two theoretical macromarketing frameworks: facilitating quality-of-life (QOL) and community, societal and global well-being through constructive engagement (e.g., Shultz, 2007, 2015, 2016; Shultz et al. 2012, 2017, 2022) and the integrative justice model (Santos & Laczniak, 2009). The outcome of this session is to excite marketing scholars from Jesuit business schools around the world to embark on this collaborative project and to develop a tentative research design, action plan and timeline. The format is essentially a roundtable discussion administered by the session chairs, following (1) an initial presentation by the chairs regarding the charge from Pope Francis and the Vatican, and (2) a brief introduction to the academic Frameworks that will inform and organize the project(s).