Enrico Battisti, University of Turin

Francesco Schiavone, University Parthenope

Digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and sustainability pressures are reshaping how entrepreneurs access capital and how value is created and financed. These changes have created new financing mechanisms while raising questions about equity and access to funding for small businesses and startups, particularly regarding collateral, legitimacy, and institutional visibility.

The special issue addresses emerging financing channels such as crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending, and tokenized assets, while emphasizing that financial decisions are influenced by behavioral, social, institutional, and sustainability factors beyond technical considerations. Artificial intelligence is a key focus, as it transforms credit evaluation, investment screening, and venture creation, affecting SMEs' access to finance and requiring interdisciplinary approaches.

Appel publié par Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development. Lire l'appel complet sur le site de l'éditeur. Fiche de l'appel sur kerostig.

Potential topics

• Environmental and Social Disclosure in SMEs: Implications for Access to Capital, Investor Relations, and Financial Performance
• Access to Capital and Financing Decisions in SMEs: Behavioral, Cognitive, and Psychological Determinants
• Entrepreneurial Finance and Social Inclusion: Gender, Ethnicity, and Geography as Structural Barriers to Capital Access
• Financial Reporting, Intangible Assets, and Creditworthiness in Innovative Small Businesses
• Regulatory Frameworks and Institutional Conditions for Entrepreneurial Finance Across National Contexts
• Alternative Financing Mechanisms: Crowdfunding, Peer-to-Peer Lending, and Tokenized Assets: Financial Performance and Social Implications
• AI-Driven Financial Decision-Making: Credit Scoring, Risk Modeling, and Investment Screening for Small Businesses
• The Financial Implications of AI-Powered Venture Creation: Resource Mobilization, Capital Structure, and Legitimacy in Platform-Based Startups

Timeline

• January 4, 2027: Opening date for manuscript submissions
• April 30, 2027: Closing date for manuscript submissions

Rui Torres de Oliveira, Deakin University

Agnes Toth-Peter, University of Queensland

Martie-Louise Verreynne, University of Queensland

David Audretsch, Indiana University

Domenico Dentoni, MBS School of Business

Andrea Chiarini, University of Verona

This special issue explores how systems thinking tools and methodologies can address interconnected challenges of sustainability, digitalization, and resilience, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. The collection seeks to move beyond superficial adoption of systems thinking toward genuine systemic change that integrates digital technologies, circular economy principles, and collaborative multi-stakeholder approaches to tackle complex, wicked problems.

The special issue invites theoretical and empirical research demonstrating real applications of systems thinking frameworks such as causal loop diagrams, system dynamics models, and participatory methods. Contributions should illuminate how holistic, systems-level perspectives can uncover hidden leverage points and foster innovative solutions that align digital transformation with sustainability goals while building organizational resilience.

Appel publié par Journal of Small Business Management. Voir l'appel sur le site de l'éditeur. Fiche de l'appel sur kerostig.

Potential topics

• Applications of systems thinking tools, such as causal loop diagrams, system archetypes, and system dynamics modeling, in addressing sustainability challenges
• Development and validation of systems-level frameworks and methodologies for sustainable development
• Case studies demonstrating the impact of systems thinking on real-world sustainability and/or digitalisation initiatives
• Use of group model building and participatory system dynamics to support interdisciplinary and ecosystem solutions
• Exploration of system archetypes and system dynamics models to identify leverage points for driving transformational change and to investigate levers in cross-boundary settings
• The role of digital technologies, including IoT, AI, big data, and blockchain, in enabling systems-level insights and solutions in the circular economy and sustainability initiatives
• Integration of digitalisation with circular economy strategies and Industry 5.0 principles and potentials
• Innovative approaches to digital transformation that promote sustainable development
• Cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary research to foster collaboration in bridging sustainability and digitalisation, using systems thinking
• The role of ecosystems in sustainable business models and the boundaries of entrepreneurial ecosystems
• Methodologies for recognising, assessing and addressing the interconnectedness of environmental, economic, and social systems
• Open innovation in new sustainable businesses, considering distinct institutional contexts and economic systems, such as emerging and developed economies

Timeline

• October 1, 2026: Rolling submissions open
• May 31, 2027: Manuscript deadline

Nicola Cucari, Sapienza University of Rome

Guanglei Zhang, Wuhan University of Technology

Jintao Lu, Shanxi University of Electronic Science and Technology

Hua Fan, Shanghai International Studies University

Eric Liguori, Florida State University

This special issue examines how artificial intelligence is transforming small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across three interconnected dimensions: technological transformation, inclusive innovation, and territorial ecosystem development. The special issue seeks to move beyond simple technology adoption perspectives to explore how AI reconfigures organizational capabilities, entrepreneurial cognition, stakeholder relationships, and value creation mechanisms in SMEs. The call welcomes both theoretical and empirical studies that provide novel insights into how SMEs can leverage AI to achieve sustainable growth while addressing challenges related to investment capacity, skills gaps, cybersecurity, and unequal access to digital infrastructure.

Appel publié par Journal of Small Business Management. Lire l'appel complet sur le site de l'éditeur. Fiche de l'appel sur kerostig.

Potential topics

• AI-driven business model innovation in SMEs
• Digital transformation pathways under technological turbulence
• AI and sustainable competitive advantage in resource-constrained firms
• AI-enabled work redesign and organizational reconfiguration in SMEs
• Inclusive AI ecosystems for minority, women, migrant, and informal entrepreneurs
• Algorithmic Bias and transparency in AI-assisted SMEs
• AI-enabled territorial innovation and smart regional development
• Public policies supporting equitable AI adoption among SMEs
• AI, cybersecurity, and risk governance in small businesses
• Human–AI collaboration and entrepreneurial decision-making
• Data strategies and knowledge management in SMEs
• Data ownership and territorial digital autonomy in AI-driven SME development
• Ethical, social, and governance implications of AI adoption
• AI platforms and SME participation in digital value chains
• AI for local resilience, crisis response, and adaptive entrepreneurship

Timeline

• September 25, 2026: Colloquium Extended Abstract Submission Deadline
• October 1, 2026: Colloquium Invitations Issued
• October 26, 2026: Colloquium Dates
• January 1, 2027: Full Paper Journal Submissions open
• March 31, 2027: Full Paper Journal Submissions deadline

Christina Theodoraki, IAE Aix-Marseille Université

Lynda Saoudi, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1

Mathilde Aubry, EM Normandie

Jean-Michel Sahut, IDRAC Business School

Appel publié par Revue internationale P M E Économie et gestion de la petite et moyenne entreprise. Voir l'appel sur le site de l'éditeur. Fiche de l'appel sur kerostig.

Potential topics

• Digitization of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs): Impact of digital transformation on EEs, new relationships and governance possibilities within entrepreneurial ecosystems
• Relationships between ecosystems: Infra/international cooperation and coopetition
• Digital challenges for entrepreneurial ecosystem actors: incubators, accelerators, financial actors, SMEs, etc.
• Consequences of digitization: dehumanization, environmental impact, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), inequalities (gender, emerging countries)
• Behavior and strategy of stakeholders in Digital Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (DEEs): impacts on startups and SMEs
• Relational approaches within DEEs: network structures between EEs and entrepreneurs, intra and inter DEEs
• Inclusion and openness to social, territorial, gender and ethnocultural diversity through DEE development
• Boundaries between EEs and DEEs for entrepreneurial stimulation
• Conceptual proximity and diversity, overlaps between concepts? Substitution and/or complementarity?
• Public policy issues, entrepreneurial processes and innovation practices in the context of DEEs
• Economic models and digital transformation for SMEs and EEs
• Interactions between digital platforms and EEs
• Ecosystem for supporting entrepreneurs and SMEs in their digital transformation
• Digital maturity of companies and entrepreneurial ecosystems in digital transformation

Timeline

• February 1, 2020: Submission of complete articles conforming to journal standards on the RIPME digital platform
• October 22, 2024: Presentation of the call for papers at the CIFEPME conference
• March 15, 2025: Decision on rejection or send for evaluation
• May 20, 2025: First evaluation decision transmitted to authors
• September 20, 2025: Return of second version and send for evaluation if necessary
• October 1, 2025: Decision transmitted to authors
• December 20, 2025: Return of third version and final evaluation by editorial committee
• February 20, 2026: Reception of final versions

Guillermo Antonio Dávila, Universidad de Lima

Susanne Durst, Bangkok University

Organizations in resource-constrained and institutionally weak contexts face significant challenges in maintaining competitiveness and innovation amid political uncertainty and technological change. This special issue addresses the underexamined role of knowledge management in enabling these organizations—including SMEs, NGOs, and entities in developing regions—to overcome financial constraints, limited technological access, and skilled workforce shortages.

Knowledge management has demonstrated capacity to enhance innovation, strengthen organizational resilience, and foster learning even under severe resource limitations. While empirical evidence from emerging economies supports these benefits, research remains concentrated on stable, well-developed environments, leaving underrepresented contexts insufficiently studied despite their numerical significance and potential for theoretical contribution.

Appel publié par Knowledge Management Research & Practice. Lire l'appel complet sur le site de l'éditeur. Fiche de l'appel sur kerostig.

Potential topics

• KM as an enabler of organizational performance under conditions of resource scarcity
• Knowledge risk management as crucial function in environments characterized by internal and external constraints
• KM in underrepresented organisational settings, including SMEs, family businesses, informal organisations, low-technology firms, social organisations or geographically isolated regions
• Organisational learning processes in contexts characterised by institutional and resource constraints
• The role of KM in strengthening organisational resilience during internal and external crises and disruptions
• Necessary conditions and bottlenecks for organizational development empowered by KM
• The interplay between artificial intelligence and KM in overcoming organisational and institutional constraints
• The role of institutional ecosystems and inter-organisational networks in enhancing the effectiveness of KM
• Novel methodological approaches for studying KM in constrained and underrepresented contexts

Timeline

• March 15, 2027: Manuscript deadline