Management Research Paper Topics

This list of management research paper topics provides 100 key issues and topics that managers are confronting in the modern world. New technologies, globalization, and associated ethical implications frame many of these issues like the management of nonprofit, arts, healthcare, sports, and philanthropic organizations.

100 Management Research Paper Topics

Management Research Topics Part 1:

Entrepreneurship

• Organizational Emergence: Business Start-Up Issues
• Corporate Entrepreneurship
• Social Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise
• High Technology Entrepreneurship
• Governmental Impedimentation and Facilitation of Entrepreneurship
• Women Entrepreneurs
• Entrepreneurial Resilience: What Makes Entrepreneurs Start Another Business After Failure?
• Strategic Planning in New Ventures and Young SMEs

Management Research Topics Part 2:

Business and Society: Contemporary Issues

• Fostering Social and Civic Responsibility by Organizations and Their People
• Poverty Alleviation as a Corporate Issue
• Organizational Crisis Management in the Post-9/11 Business Epoch
• Integrating Corporate Social Responsibility in the Management of Supply Chains
• Activist Groups Tactics to Influence Companies
• Global Business Citizenship: A Model of Social Responsibility and Ethical Behavior for the 21st Century
• Excessive Work and Its Business Consequences
• Factors Influencing Women Managers’ Success
• Future Directions in Labor Relations: A 2025 Perspective

Management Research Topics Part 3:

Managing the Global Enterprise

• Global Mind-Set
• Management in Developing Countries
• Internationally Managing in the Face of Terrorism-Induced Uncertainty
• HRM Best Practices and Transfers to the Asia Pacific Region
• Cultural Differences in Perceptions of Fairness in Organizational Contexts
• Winning in Asia
• Language Issues in Multinational Management

Management Research Topics Part 4:

Sustainability and the Natural Environment: Green Management

• Toward Sustainable Organizations for the 21st Century
• Why Do Firms Comply With Environmental Regulations?
• Understanding and Overcoming the Green Wall: Environmental Strategy, Leadership, and Change Management in Business
• Environmental Supply Chain Management

Management Research Topics Part 5:

Strategy in a Fast and Networked World

• Strategic Decisions in High-Velocity Contexts
• Innovation as a Strategy in Network Markets
• Planning Effectiveness for Internet-Based Interorganizational Systems
• The Competitive Advantage of Interconnected Firms
• New Product and Service Development in Strategic Alliances
• The Merger Paradox: Determinants and Effects
• Evolving Aspects of Outsourcing to India
• Holistic Approaches to Business Planning
• Culture-Sensitive Global Strategies
• Co-Opetition: Promises and Challenges
• Business Imitation

Management Research Topics Part 6:

Operations Management with New Technologies in a Global Context

• Supply Chain Management: Integration and Globalization in the Age of e-Business
• Mass Customization
• Improving Supply-Chain Information Velocity, Product Customization, and Cost Through Extended Enterprise Applications
• Business Process Outsourcing Management Issues
• Place and Space Strategies for 21st-Century Organizations
• Ethical Manufacturing

Management Research Topics Part 7:

Organizing in the Post-9/11 World

• Constraints on Strategy of an Organizational Structure
• Global Projects as New Organizational Form
• Artistic Methods and Business Disorganization
• Organizational Security

Management Research Topics Part 8:

Teaming In and Beyond Organizations in the Knowledge Economy

• The Evolving Nature of Work Teams: Changing to Meet the Requirements of the Future
• Collaborative Innovation: Web-Based Tools for Customer Involvement in New Product Development
• Coordination in Global Teams
• Transnational Teams in Knowledge-Intensive Organizations
• Conflict Management in Work Teams

Management Research Topics Part 8:

Human Resources as a Key Strategic Factor

• Human Resources Management in the 21st Century
• Managing in the New Economy: Restructuring White-Collar Work in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan
• Work-Home Interaction: A Challenge to Human Resources Management
• External Competitiveness: Theoretical and Practical Facets of Strategic Pay Level Decision Making
• Flexible Labor
• Employee Wellness Programs
• Career Management
• Careers in Transition
• The Changing Nature of Mid- and Late Careers

Management Research Topics Part 8:

Gender and Diversity in Organizations

• Diversity and Diversity Management in the Age of Globalization
• Ethnic and Minority Enterprise
• Aging and Work Motivation
• Family-Friendly Organizations

Management Research Topics Part 9:

Organizational Behavior

• Motivating Individuals and Groups at Work in the 21st Century
• Intrinsic Motivation in Public Organizations
• Why Self-Set Goals May Sometimes Be Non-Motivating
• Organizational Politics in Management Settings
• Understanding and Managing Misbehavior in Organizations
• Organizational Paranoia: Origins and Dysfunctional Consequences of Exaggerated Distrust and Suspicion in the Workplace
• New Approaches for Cultivating and Nourishing Communications Networks
• Intercultural Communication: Strategies for Managing Intercultural Dimensions of Business
• Emotion in Organizations

Management Research Topics Part 10:

Leadership Without Boundaries

• Leadership Style: Developing a Leadership Style to Fit 21st-Century Challenges
• Remote Leadership
• Leadership in Interorganizational Networks
• Challenges of Implicit Leadership Theories for Management
• Integrating Plurality: Toward an Integral Perspective on Leadership and Organization
• The Global Manager’s Work: Crossing Boundaries of Distance, Countries, and Cultures

Management Research Topics Part 11:

Information and Knowledge with Mobility and Ethics

• Knowledge Management: Strategy, Culture, Intellectual Capital, and Communities of Inquiry
• Facilitating Mobile and Virtual Work
• Balancing the Implications of Employee Telework: Understanding the Impacts for Individuals and Organizations
• Electronic Monitoring of Personal Web Use at Work
• Information Privacy in Organizations
• Multilingual Issues in Global E-Commerce Web Sites
• Managing Intangible Capital
• What Is the Business Case for Adopting RFID?

Management Research Topics Part 12:

Organization Development and Change in the 21st Century

• Change Agency in 21st-Century Organizational Life
• Organization Development in the 21st-Century
• The State of Organization Development
• Managing Creativity and Innovation in the 21st Century
• Organizational Memory: Why Does It Matter?
• Why Catastrophic Organizational Failures Happen

Management Research Topics Part 13:

Non-Business Organizations: New Perspectives

• Arts Management Issues in the 21st Century
• Hospital Planning for Weapons of Mass Destruction Incidents
• Unique Aspects of Managing Sports Organizations
• Managing Philanthropic Organizations for Creativity

The first section of this list of management research topics focuses on entrepreneurship in the modern world. Those entering the labor market today, beyond seeing careers in large enterprises, often find opportunities to join or start new ventures, sometimes even in virtual contexts such as second life. What is important to know about organizational emergence, corporate entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, social enterprise, high-technology entrepreneurship, the role of government in helping and impeding entrepreneurs, the special issues that women must address in starting new businesses, how to go about planning new businesses, and why entrepreneurs keep trying after initial failure of a new venture is covered here.

The second topical area to be addressed by this list of management research paper topics concerns contemporary issues of business, society, and government. The 21st century finds businesses nested in over multiple jurisdictions, where cultures and values are changing and that are increasingly beset by crises such as disasters of the natural environment. Global business citizenship is discussed as not only a socially responsible and ethical way for firms to proceed but as a sensible and effective way of fitting with the requirements of our time. New forms of labor relations are evolving given the robust positioning of competition, both domestic and international, of nonunion and low-wage enterprises. One research paper looks at directions in labor relations with a focus on what they might be in 2025. Excessive work and its business consequences is an issue addressed by a research paper linked in this list. The factors associated with the success of women managers in business are analyzed. Doing well by doing good is a current business buzz phrase. That is, making money by working with people in poorer nations who benefit by the partnership. This was chiefly sparked by Prahalad’s The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid (2006). The multifaceted dimensions of this movement are addressed in a research paper in this section. Another paper discusses organizational crisis management in the post-9/11 business epoch. The proactive management of an organization’s environment including activist groups and other stakeholders is considered at length.

Managing the global enterprise is addressed with a focus on doing business in Asia and developing nations. How firms manage terrorism-induced uncertainty is one of the areas considered. The development of a global mind-set and working in a multilingual business world is covered.

Hurricane Katrina and Al Gore’s movie and book put global climate change on the agenda of leaders of business, government, and management professors and students, and the reference librarians who guide them. The part of our collection of research papers on Sustainability and the Natural Environment, begins with a research paper on Sustainable Organizations for the 21st Century. It is followed by a research paper explaining why firms comply or do not comply with environmental regulations. An applied focus is provided by a research paper on Environmental Strategy, Leadership, and Change Management in Business. The section concludes with a research paper on how many firms collaboratively incorporate environmentalist concerns in supply chain management.

Strategy in a fast and networked world is the theme of 11 research papers. How strategic decisions are made in high-velocity contexts begins the section. Innovation, effective planning, and competition in Internet-based interorganizational systems are covered by three research papers. Evolving aspects of outsourcing to countries such as India is the focus of another research paper. Business partnerships and mergers are discussed with a focus on interorganizational product and service development and deployment.

Six research papers are on operations management with new technologies in a global context. How companies’ boundaries blur in the integrated and globalized context in the age of e-business is one of the focal research paper topics. This is followed by improving supply chain information velocity, product customization, and cost through extended enterprise applications. How information technology and automated processes enable “mass customization” where products can be individualized profitably is the topic of a research paper. Ethical manufacturing is reviewed in a separate research paper.

Organization and disorganization topics are examined through the prism of post-9/11 security concerns. One research paper is on hospital planning for weapons of mass destruction incidents. Global projects as an important new organizational form is discussed in another research paper. The constraints of an organization’s structure on what it does are also covered.

Teaming in and beyond organizations in the knowledge economy is the focus of five research papers. The section begins with the evolving nature of work teams as they change to meet the requirements of the future. Web-based tools for collaborating with customers to develop new products and services are the subjects of a research paper. Transnational teams in knowledge-intensive organizations are discussed, as is the coordination in global teams and the conflict management within them.

The human resources as a key strategic factor topical section covers work-home interaction issues, flexibility in work and scheduling, wellness programs, and career management including the special issues associated with mid- and late careers. Diversity and its management in the age of globalization are covered in four research papers. Family friendly organizations are discussed with a focus on the future.

Managing the behavior of people in 21st century organizations is the subject of nine research papers. Motivating people working remotely is discussed. Also covered is making work in public organizations intrinsically motivating. Understanding and managing misbehavior in organizations is a topic of another research paper. Intercultural communications and strategies for managing the intercultural dimensions of business are treated in a separate research paper. Emotion, trust and mistrust, and organizational politics are covered here as well. The part on Organization Development and Change also has six research papers discussing how change can be most effectively carried out in contemporary organizations.

Leadership is the topic of over six research papers. The section begins with a research paper on developing a leadership style to fit modern challenges. Then, remote leadership in the new and evolving technological context is explained. Leadership across organizational, functional, cultural, and geographical boundaries is discussed.

The part on Information and Knowledge With Mobility and Ethics includes research papers covering knowledge management, communities of inquiry, facilitating mobile and virtual work, the impact of telework, electronic monitoring of person Web use at work, information privacy organizations, multilingual and multicultural issues in global e-commerce, managing intangible capital, and the implications of radio frequency identification technology.