Rethinking Management Education in Sri Lanka: History, Market Dynamics and Decolonial Futures

Introduction 

Management arguably exerts one of the most influential ‘disciplinary effects’—both in organising everyday life and in shaping the future of organisations across the globe. Yet this far-reaching influence neither renders Management a fixed phenomenon nor conceals its clichéd nature (Fournier and Grey, 2000), thereby prompting a provocative question: Is Management (education) a cliché?

Despite this clichéd identity—and its apparent banality—, being largely associated with Western doctrines and practices, the processes of ‘standardisation’ in Management Education remain intact. Consequently, this has cast a long shadow over the field, particularly within the higher education landscapes of the Global South, producing a ghostly effect. As a result, what is typically encountered under the label of ‘Management Education’ tends to reflect a dominant Global North narrative—one shaped, and at times obscured, by Western intellectual traditions and institutional norms (Faria, 2025; Jammulamadaka et al., 2021; Śliwa et al., 2025).

Yet neither Western dominance nor the clichéd identity renders the (re)emergence of Management Education in any geopolitical context—including peripheral locations in the Global South, such as Sri Lanka—an ahistorical process, detached from specific trajectories. On the contrary, the development of Management Education in Sri Lanka, which dates back to the 1960s, has been profoundly shaped by two interrelated histories of the Global South: European colonisation and the rise of neoliberal global capitalism in the region (Jayawardena, 2017; Nanayakkara, 2000).

Against this backdrop, this special issue seeks to foreground alternative histories and lived experiences of Management Education, focusing on how the field is shaped, negotiated, and experienced within the evolving landscape of higher education in Sri Lanka. It welcomes papers that critically reflect on the discipline in an era marked by neoliberal reforms, technological disruptions, and shifting social realities, situating these dynamics within the broader context of the Global South. In doing so, the issue aims to rethink Management Education—not only to challenge the expanding Western dominance of the field but also to envision its decolonial futures.

List of topic areas

• Decolonising management education in the Global South.
• Ethics, management education and corporate social responsibility.
• Gender dynamics in Sri Lanka's higher education landscape and management education.
• Generative AIs and the evolving role of management education in the Global South.
• Management education and (im)possibilities of entrepreneurial innovation in Sri Lanka.
• Management education and sustainable economic development.
• Neoliberalism, marketisation of education and public universities in Sri Lanka.
• Pedagogical dynamics in management education in post-pandemic Sri Lanka.
• Quality regimes, accreditation and the future of management education in Sri Lanka.

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available here. 

Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see here. 

Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to ““Please select the issue you are submitting to”.

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.

Key deadlines

Opening date for abstract submissions: 15/08/2025

Email for abstract submissions: dhammika@sjp.ac.lk 

Opening date for manuscript submissions: 28/10/2025

Closing date for manuscript submissions: 31/03/2026

Guest editor

Dhammika Jayawardena, Department of Business Administration, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, dhammika@sjp.ac.lk 

References

Faria, A. (2025), ‘A decolonizing historicization of our pedagogy as a possibility for rehumanizing management education and educators’, Journal of Management History, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 562–581.

Fournier, V. and Grey, C. (2000), ‘At the critical moment: Conditions and prospects for critical management studies’, Human Relations, Vol. 53 No. 1, pp. 7–32.

Jammulamadaka, N., Faria, A., Jack, G. and Ruggunan, S. (2021), ‘Decolonising management and organisational knowledge (MOK): Praxistical theorising for potential worlds’, Organization, Vol. 28 No. 5, pp. 717–740.

Jayawardena, D. (2017), ‘The “MacBurger”, non-state universities and the changing landscape of higher education in Sri Lanka’, Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 213–240.

Nanayakkara, G. (2000), ‘Management studies in Sri Lanka’, in Tilakaratna, S. and Gunasena, H.P.M. (eds) University education since independence. Colombo: University Grants Commission, pp. 111–138.

Śliwa, M., Decker, S., Barros, A.N.D., Omeihe, K. and Prasad, A. (2025), ‘Decolonising the business and management curriculum: An ontological modesty perspective’, Management Learning, Vol. 56 No. 2, pp. 153–159.