Most academic journals seem to focus on arcane topics and business ethics journals have apparently gone in that direction. Henry Mintzberg, the highly respected management scholar, suggests that most academic articles published in journals do not pass the "Bill and Barbara Test." (Note: Bill and Barbara are two practitioners to whom he referred academic papers and asked them to comment as to whether those papers had any practical value. See the attached.)
The Journal of Business Ethics used to publish many papers about applied business ethics but under the new editors that journal seems to be more elitist and theoretical in its focus.
Do we need a new Journal of Applied Business Ethics? The Gallup Survey data indicates that trust in leaders of all types is low and that employees rarely have confidence in their leaders anymore.