Call for Papers – 42nd EGOS Colloquium (Online)
Sub-theme 46: Reframing Inter-Organizational Relations in the World of the Fourth Industrial Revolution:
From Technological Partnerships to Digital Ecosystems
July 9–11, 2026 | Deadline: January 7, 2026
Are you studying how organizations collaborate across boundaries?
Are emerging technologies - AI, blockchain, big data, IoT, digital platforms - shaping your research on partnerships, networks, ecosystems, or cross-sector collaboration?
If so, we would be delighted to receive your submission to Sub-theme 46 at EGOS 2026 (see the full call here )
A timely moment for a crucial conversation
Inter-organizational relationships (IORs) are being reshaped in real time by the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
AI agents coordinate across firms, blockchain infrastructures automate trust, IoT sensors and digital twins synchronize operations across organizations, and platform ecosystems orchestrate vast networks of actors that never collaborated before.
Yet, as these technologies expand possibilities for coordination and innovation, they also introduce new tensions: governance conflicts, opaque decision-making, data-sharing dilemmas, institutional misalignments, and novel power dynamics.
How, when, and with what consequences are digital technologies transforming collaboration across organizational boundaries?
This is the puzzle our sub-theme aims to explore.
We welcome submissions that engage with themes such as:
• How emerging technologies reshape traditional IORs, including coordination, knowledge sharing, negotiation, and joint decision-making.
• Governance in technologically embedded collaborations, from contractual and relational mechanisms to new forms of automated or data-driven governance.
• Trust and transparency across boundaries, including shifts in technological, interpersonal, and institutional trust; data sharing; automation; and their trade-offs.
• The rise of digital ecosystems, including when and how traditional IORs evolve into platform-mediated or blockchain-based networks.
• Power, ethics, and institutional dynamics in digitally mediated collaboration, including accountability, fairness, and dependency structures.
• Material and digital dimensions of collaboration, and how emerging technologies shape place-based, virtual, or hybrid modes of organizing across organizations.
• Cross-sector collaborations for societal and sustainability challenges, enabled or constrained by digital infrastructures.
(see full list on the sub-theme's page)
⭐ Why submit?
Sub-theme 46 offers a welcoming space for scholars working in organization theory, strategy, innovation, information systems, institutional theory, organizational sociology, organizational behavior, technology and entrepreneurship studies, and related fields. We embrace qualitative, quantitative, conceptual, historical, comparative, and mixed-method approaches.
⭐A more accessible EGOS experience
The 2026 EGOS Colloquium will be held online, offering an inclusive opportunity for colleagues around the world - especially those facing travel, budget, visa, or care-related constraints - to participate in one of the most important annual events in organization studies.
This format also makes EGOS less expensive, less time-consuming, and more environmentally friendly, creating a unique chance to join the community in a flexible and sustainable way.
We warmly invite you to submit your short paper by January 7, 2026 (12:00 CET).
We look forward to your contributions and to rich conversations in July!
For information please reach out to one of us:
Convenors:
• Maria Carmela Annosi – Wageningen University and Research, Netherlands – maria.annosi@wur.nl
• Paula Ungureanu – University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy – paula.ungureanu@unimore.it
• Wenqian Wang – Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong– wenqianwang@hkbu.edu.hk
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Wenqian Wang
Assistant Professor
Hong Kong Baptist University
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