EDITORIAL

Acta Commercii 22nd edition

Geoffrey A. Goldman

Department of Business Management, College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

Correspondence

Reflecting on 2022, it is with a sense of apprehension that you realise that although we would like to think that things are returning 'back to normal' after two and a half years of COVID-19-related disruption, somehow, things will never be the same again. We question what 'normal' means after lockdown, and we find ourselves going about different routines than we were used to in 2019.

As we finalise the 22nd edition of Acta Commercii, one realises that the prevalent zeitgeist is filtering through in the articles published in this edition. As organisations grapple with a post-COVID-19 environment typified by uncertainty in the market, rapid and disruptive change, pressure to conform to a 4IR world, technological advances, social transformation and political upheavals, the research agenda in the management sciences is also starting to reflect a shift towards these pressing issues that concern business and the management thereof.

In this regard, it is interesting to note that five of this edition's articles deal with issues surrounding management in times of crisis, disruption or turbulence, reflecting the relevance of this issue from a management research point of view. Four of the published articles address aspects of employee commitment, work values and motivation. Together with three articles investigating issues of leadership effectiveness and staff selection, this reminds us that in these uncertain, disruptive times, the human element of business and management should not be downplayed or neglected, as it is people who, at the end of the day, determine the longevity of any establishment. In line with South Africa's agenda as a developing nation, six of the published articles focused on entrepreneurship, small business and developing economies. What was, however, strikingly apparent was that no articles were published that directly dealt with 4IR, although almost all of the articles published recognised 4IR as an important factor in the environment in which the study was conducted.

The 22nd edition of Acta Commercii includes 20 articles. I am pleased to announce that, yet again, the scope of these articles covers a wide array of fields within management, including leadership, supply chain management, governance, disruption, small business, strategy, business rescue, employee commitment, internationalisation, resilience and communication. This is in line with the basic scope of the journal, as Acta Commercii welcomes submissions across a broad spectrum of management sciences.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the authors of our published articles for standing by Acta Commercii and submitting interesting, attention grabbing and relevant work to our journal. Also, I wish to express my gratitude to our dedicated team of reviewers. You do this not for any compensation, but for your trust in the integrity of Acta Commercii and out of your own goodwill. A special word of thanks has to be extended to the team at AOSIS in Bellville. Your professionalism, dedication and just plain hard work makes my task as Editor an absolute pleasure.

Correspondence:
Geoff Goldman
ggoldman@uj.ac.za