Enis Elezi, University of Westminster

Knowledge-intensive organisations face mounting complexity from resource constraints, digitalisation, accountability demands, and geopolitical pressures. Existing research on these challenges remains fragmented across disciplinary silos and often lacks systemic understanding of how these institutions observe, interpret and respond to complexity.

This special issue integrates typically isolated scholarly conversations about leadership, governance, risk, knowledge and entrepreneurship within a cybernetic framework. It explores the interconnected processes of observation, communication, decision and learning that enable organisations to adapt and remain viable across sectors including universities, health systems, research institutes and public agencies.

Appel publié par Kybernetes. Lire l'appel complet sur le site de l'éditeur. Fiche de l'appel sur kerostig.

Potential topics

• Leadership and governance as systemic architectures of observation, decision and learning
• Enterprise-wide risk management, knowledge management and entrepreneurship as interconnected cybernetic processes
• Cross-sector analyses of universities, health systems, research institutes, public agencies and professional service firms as complex learning systems
• Reflexive and second-order perspectives on how organisations construct and revise their own governance arrangements
• Theory-as-method applications using cybernetics, systems thinking or complexity frameworks

Timeline

• January 26, 2026: Opening date for manuscripts submissions
• December 26, 2026: Closing date for manuscripts submission

Surajit Bag, Excelia Business School

Amélie Clauzel, Université Paris-Saclay

Peter Naudé, Manchester Metropolitan University

Rasem Qudaih, University of Suffolk

The polycrisis—a convergence of overlapping crises including climate change, pandemic disruptions, geopolitical conflicts, and economic volatility—challenges management practice and theory. This special issue argues that sustainability rooted in environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and economic resilience is not a luxury but essential for organizational survival and legitimacy when facing systemic turbulence.

Organizations must maintain legitimacy and adapt strategy amid multiple simultaneous crises. This issue seeks scholarship examining how sustainable management approaches enable resilience, how supply chains can be redesigned for both sustainability and continuity, and what governance structures support long-term commitment during short-term crises. Contributions should draw on diverse theoretical perspectives—systems theory, institutional theory, ethics, and resilience science—to illuminate how sustainability principles guide decision-making under radical uncertainty.

Appel publié par Thunderbird International Business Review. Lire l'appel complet sur le site de l'éditeur. Fiche de l'appel sur kerostig.

Potential topics

• Redefining Sustainability Under Volatility: What does 'sustainability' mean in an era of permanent crisis? How are definitions and scope of corporate sustainability evolving?
• Organizational Legitimacy in Polycrisis Conditions: How do organizations maintain trust and legitimacy when multiple crises unfold simultaneously?
• Narratives, Institutional Logics, and Culture Shifts: What new narratives and institutional logics are emerging to address polycrisis and how do they influence organizational behavior?
• Strategic Management and Corporate Governance: How should corporate strategy and governance adapt to radical uncertainty and frequent disruption?
• Supply Chains, Operations, and Technologies for Resilience: How are supply chains and operations management evolving to ensure sustainability and resilience under compounding crises?
• Cross-Sector Collaboration and Institutional Responses: What collaborative approaches are emerging to tackle interlinked crises and what role do businesses play alongside governments and civil society?
• Human and Leadership Dimensions: What types of leadership, organizational learning, and human resource approaches support sustainability in turbulent times?
• Metrics, Accountability, and Measurement: How do we measure success for sustainability in a polycrisis and what accountability mechanisms ensure sustainability commitments are maintained?
• Systems Theory and Complexity: How might systems thinking and complexity science guide managers in designing holistic interventions that account for system-wide consequences?
• Resilience and Adaptive Capacity: How do sustainable practices contribute to organizational and supply chain resilience and what does it mean to thrive amid disruption?
• Institutional Theory and Legitimacy: How do firms maintain or regain legitimacy by committing to sustainability when short-term temptations arise in crisis contexts?
• Moral Philosophy and Ethics: What ethical duties do businesses owe to stakeholders and future generations when managing trade-offs between survival and long-term sustainability?
• Power and Inequality: How do power dynamics influence whose interests are prioritized in crisis responses and what implications does this have for sustainable development?
• Temporality and Future Orientation: How do organizations balance urgent short-term crisis management with the long-term thinking that sustainability demands?
• Risk, Uncertainty, and Sensemaking: What new approaches to integrated risk assessment and scenario planning help organizations navigate interconnected crises?

Timeline

• August 30, 2026: Call for Papers Released
• March 30, 2027: Final Revisions Deadline
• April 28, 2027: Manuscript Submission Deadline
• October 30, 2027: Review Process Completion

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

Guoqing Zhao, Swansea University

Samuel Fosso Wamba, TBS Business School

Maciel M. Queiroz, FGV EAESP

Recent large-scale disruptions including pandemics, geopolitical conflicts, and climate disasters have revealed how disturbances cascade across supply chain levels, causing systemic failures. While supply chain resilience has become prominent in research, existing literature remains fragmented, typically examining single analytical levels without comprehensive systemic perspective.

This special issue advances systemic understanding of supply chain resilience by examining cross-level interactions and building multi-level frameworks. The issue seeks research treating resilience as a dynamic capability emerging from interactions across individual, organizational, supply chain, and environmental levels, exploring how factors at different levels influence each other, applying theoretical frameworks like systems theory and panarchy theory, investigating technology's mediating role, and developing practical tools for managers.

Appel publié par The International Journal of Logistics Management. Voir l'appel sur le site de l'éditeur. Fiche de l'appel sur kerostig.

Potential topics

• Supply chain resilience as a multi-level framework
• Individual, organizational, supply chain, and environmental levels
• Socio-ecological resilience
• Socio-technological resilience
• Cross-level interactions and dynamics
• Contextualized understanding of supply chain resilience
• Individual-level factors and leadership
• Mechanisms of resilience influence across levels
• Theoretical innovations in supply chain resilience
• Systems theory applications
• Socio-technological theory
• Panarchy theory
• Middle-range theory
• Emergent system properties
• Technology as cross-level enabler
• Digital platforms and resilience
• Artificial intelligence and resilience
• Internet of Things and resilience
• Blockchain and resilience
• Digital twins
• Managerial practices for systemic resilience
• Tools and frameworks for cross-level alignment
• Balancing efficiency, flexibility, and redundancy

Timeline

• June 1, 2026: Opening date for manuscripts submissions
• October 15, 2026: Closing date for manuscripts submission

Social marketing has long been positioned as a discipline capable of improving societal wellbeing by applying marketing principles to influence behaviour in socially beneficial ways. Early contributions that imagined marketing being used beyond the commercial realm laid the foundation for the field's formal emergence in the early 1970s. Over the decades, social marketing has advanced its understanding of how to encourage and sustain behaviour change, yet the contemporary landscape presents challenges of a fundamentally different scale.

Increasing environmental degradation, climate instability, resource pressures, and persistent social inequities highlight the need for social marketing approaches capable of addressing system-wide issues. While behaviour remains a central concern, scholars have argued that meaningful progress requires attention to macro-level structures and the dynamic interactions among actors, networks, institutions, and infrastructures. Social marketing is therefore being called upon not merely to promote individual behaviour change, but to support the creation of sustainable futures through coordinated, multi-level forms of change.

Appel publié par European Journal of Marketing. Lire l'appel complet sur le site de l'éditeur. Fiche de l'appel sur kerostig.

Potential topics

• Critical reviews of social marketing's development and its relevance to sustainability
• Conceptual and theoretical contributions linking social marketing to sustainable futures
• Social marketing and its application to addressing environmental and social challenges
• Systems social marketing and multi-actor, multi-level approaches to sustainability
• Social marketing models and frameworks for climate action, circular economy, waste reduction, and resource stewardship
• Social marketing interventions promoting sustainable consumption and production
• Community-based social marketing and collective approaches to sustainable behaviour change
• Social marketing supporting policy development, institutional change, and governance for sustainability
• Ethical considerations in sustainability-focused social marketing, including autonomy, power, and representation
• Social marketing communication strategies for sustainability, including narrative, identity, and social norms
• Digital, AI-enabled, and technology-supported social marketing for sustainable behaviour change
• Segmentation and audience insight for sustainability-oriented social marketing
• Evaluation and measurement of social marketing's societal impact in sustainability contexts
• Social marketing applications in public health that intersect with sustainable futures
• Social marketing for prevention, long-term behaviour maintenance, and resilience-building
• Branding, value creation, and market-shaping activities within social marketing for sustainability
• Cross-cultural and international challenges in social marketing for sustainable futures

Timeline

• October 30, 2026: Closing date for manuscripts submission