Re-orientation through Humanistic Management? The promotion of dignity, well-being and flourishing in tourism contexts.

Tourism arguably stands at a crossroads: on one hand, it has been heralded as a global industry and one of the world's powerhouses of economic growth, providing employment and income to millions of people while it helps fulfill holiday dreams and travel desires (e. g. Comerio & Strozzi, 2019; Holloway & Humphreys, 2020; [15], 2011). On the other hand, many experts and stakeholders voice substantial doubts regarding tourism's (future) viability and legitimacy if continued on recent pathways (e. g. Ioannides & Gyimóthy, 2020). In academia as well as in public spheres there are accounts drawing our attention to tourism as a phenomenon – or an industry – that is essentially characterized by morally and ethically questionable practices, detrimental structures, and harmful consequences for people and planet (e. g. Büscher & Fletcher, 2019; [7], 2020; [17], 2019).

In this regard, tourism has become part of wider debates reflecting concerns about global capitalism (despite variations in different parts of the world) and the contemporary lifestyle it has shaped. Despite the undoubted potential of capitalism to enable wealth creation through business activity and to catalyze progress for humanity (e. g. [3], 1999; [20], 2015), its destructive forces, exacerbated through large-scale 'corporate social irresponsibility' (e. g. Riera & Iborra, 2017) have reached levels that a large audience around the world is not willing to accept any longer. Particularly the ongoing exploitation of labor even in versions of modern slavery, soaring income inequality, the undermining of community and common good, and the depletion of natural resources forming the basis of life on Earth feature in the public critique (e. g. [1], 2010; Boltanski & Chiapello, 2018; [14], 2017; [18], 2014; [22], 2014; [23], 2010). Even the World Economic Forum – an insititution that is widely perceived as capitalist elite forum – has announced 'The Great Reset' initiative to improve the state of the world (WEF, 2020).

Humanistic Management could lead the way and devise alternative paradigms of 'organizing' applicable to the world of business as well as other institutional settings. It draws on famous philosophical pillars that emphasize human dignity, embeddedness and the pursuit of a meaningful life. Key thinkers inspiring the concept are Immanuel Kant with his propositions of unconditional dignity and human freedom; Hannah Arendt with her view of humans as social animals who crave meaning; and Amartya Sen with his ideas on capability promotion enabling human beings to achieve a life they have reason to value. Furthermore, the notion of qualitative freedom comprising the responsibility to use it in socially and ecologically sustainable ways provides fertile ground ([10], 2011; 2016; [16], 2016; Pirson, 2017).

"In a nutshell, the idea behind humanistic management is to bring the notion of dignity (back) to management theory and practice. We argue that the function of organizing is not only wealth creation but well-being creation in a way and form expressive and supportive of human dignity. We clearly acknowledge the importance of wealth as a factor in well-being and human flourishing but underline that a good and dignified life requires more than financial wealth" (Pirson , 2016, p. 2).

Hence, the Humanistic Management community is committed to business, management (beyond business), and entrepreneurship as a powerful force for a meaningful market economy in service of both the individual and the common good in a healthy natural environment.

With regard to tourism, tourism management, and tourism studies, the search for new narratives (e. g. [24], 2018) and a transition towards Humanistic Management-inspired practice has just begun. Whereas there are countless contributions in the realms of sustainable tourism, responsible tourism and tourism ethics, explorations of Humanistic Management and/or its interconnections with those realms are still at an early stage. There are noteworthy pioneer works (Della Lucia & Giudici, 2021a; 2021b; Winchenbach et al., 2019) following first philosophical elaborations on how to foster humanist(ic) perspectives in tourism ([5], 2016). We are convinced that Humanistic Management provides huge potential for both theoretical concepts and practical applications shaping the future. Therefore, we initiated this special issue, which turned out to be only a partial one. The community daring to publish non-mainstream contributions along these lines still appears to be weak, despite an overwhelming resonance palpable at workshops, symposia, and roundtables dedicated to this alternative arena at conferences such as the Academy of Management annual meetings or the European Group for Organizational Studies colloquia. Furthermore, the (increasingly unbearable) pressures of contemporary academic life suffocated many promising leads we had pursued to make this special issue a much richer, and a much more international one.

Nevertheless, the three articles featured in this partial special issue illustrate the range of (potential) Humanistic Management-related topics in tourism. They represent key areas worth further inquiry, respectively. The first article contributes philosophical grounding and guidance for policy-making in tourism. It contrasts Hegelian and Kantian approaches, with a plea for the pursuit of the latter to derive a more meaningful and more inclusive understanding of freedom that ultimately widens collective scope of action as well as spheres of individual well-being. The second article features case studies of family-owned businesses with missions consequently incorporating Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and driving transformation towards an economy for the benefit of people and planet. It thus adopts an application-oriented lens illustrating how mainstream sustainability themes can align very well with principles of humanistic management – and that it might take non-corporate pioneers to lead change. The third article invites us to identify potential for humanistic thought in unexpected fields, even in domains that hitherto have been associated with rather 'hardcore' capitalist principles than with a search for responsible approaches – such as professional football leagues. It portrays the organisation of team and fan travel in Germany to foster sustainability, showing how reforms can bring about incremental change to re-orient business practices across larger industries. This context is particularly interesting, considering that issues at the core of humanistic management thought (such as human dignity and flourishing) have become much more visible in the public eye in the guise of diversity, inclusion, and tolerance debates around the recent football world championship in Qatar.

We would like to thank the ZfTW editors for their patience and commitment, and we are grateful to the contributors to this – albeit reduced – special issue for their submissions. We hope that the articles featured under this Humanistic Management umbrella topic will serve as appetizers for further research and application along the presented lines and well beyond. May the debate unfold and encourage a lot more productive, inspiring and fruitful work to foster human dignity and well-being in tourism, and to promote a more viable future for all.