Indigeneity and indigenous peoples around the world: Expanding the intersections of business and society

Abstract

There is increasing acknowledgment of the distinct position of Indigenous Peoples in today’s world. The United Nations has declared August 9th as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples to promote and protect the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which is crucial for attaining the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Historically, however, Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous knowledges have been largely dismissed and silenced in societies as well as business and management scholarship (Kamble & Kumar, 2025; Karlsson & Kikon, 2017; Peredo & McLean, 2013; Price et al., 2021; Walker et al., 2025; Xaxa, 2018). More broadly, scholars have documented patterns of systemic and institutionalized discrimination against Indigenous Peoples (Bastein et al., 2023; Colbourne et al., 2024; Turkina, 2026).

Although the body of business and management literature concerning Indigenous Peoples has grown over the last two decades (Bastein et al., 2023; Cutcher & Dale, 2022; Peredo, 2023; Salmon et al., 2022; Walker et al., 2025), the intersection of business and society remains under-explored in this literature. Furthermore, business and management literature has paid limited attention to the Indigenous Peoples in the Global South,1 many of whom are not recognized as Indigenous Peoples (Doshi, 2026; Kamble & Kumar, 2025). We, therefore, launched this special issue to give further momentum to the growing body of Indigenous research and to expand the research to hitherto understudied contexts and peoples.

Our call for papers for this special issue set out a series of questions that signaled the wide-ranging possibilities for research that recognizes the distinctiveness of Indigenous worlds and reimagines the role of business and society in advancing sustainable futures. Specifically, we asked: how organizations, governments, and communities can work toward the SDGs with Indigenous Peoples; how Indigeneity is understood, represented, and mobilized across varied colonial and cultural contexts; how Indigenous Peoples navigate and transform organizations, entrepreneurship, and leadership; how global disparities, intersecting identities, and regional specificities shape Indigenous experiences; and how appropriate, respectful, and innovative methods can deepen the quality of Indigenous scholarship.

In this essay, we first discuss the conceptual foundations of Indigeneity by reflecting on the meaning of Indigeneity, focusing on its global framings as well as the misrecognition and misuse of the term Indigenous. Next, we introduce the papers in this special issue. To build robust Indigenous scholarship to further advance the aims of this special issue, we discuss what an Indigenous perspective means for business and management; identify future research opportunities; and provide guidance on writing, reviewing, and editing Indigenous research. We conclude with reflections on our experience in editing this special issue to further underscore that Indigenous values of care, collaboration, and community building are integral to building robust Indigenous scholarship.