Social, ecological, and economic sustainability, as a grand societal goal, necessitates cross-sectoral coordination among diverse actors, including firms, NGOs, governments, and local communities (Bansal & Song, 2017). The IONs in which firms and other organizations participate form the relational fabric through which sustainability strategies can be designed, implemented, and scaled (Albino et al., 2012; Parmigiani & Rivera-Santos, 2011; Helfen et al., 2018; Sydow et al., 2022). These relationships are governed through combinations of formal structures (contracts, rules, standards) and informal mechanisms (trust, shared norms, and relational learning), both of which are essential for enabling collaboration on sustainability challenges that are often long-term, uncertain, and systemic (Dacin et al., 2007; Schaltegger et al., 2016; Windsperger, 2013).

Emerging research underscores the pivotal role of ION governance in advancing sustainability objectives, particularly where complex, cross-boundary coordination of more often than not multiple types of organizations is required (Blomberg et al., 2023; Schöggl et al., 2024). Different governance forms—such as participant-governed, lead-organization, or network administrative models—vary in suitability based on levels of trust, consensus, and the need for centralized coordination (Provan & Kenis, 2008; Van Den Oord et al., 2023). These structures influence decision-making authority, accountability systems, and the distribution of sustainability-related risks and benefits. Effective governance in these networks involves developing capabilities such as mutual adjustment, shared information systems, and cross-organizational routines, which together enhance collective environmental action (Wegner & Verschoore, 2022).
Firms can co-create sustainability value through inter-organizational trust, joint sense-making, and knowledge sharing (Dyer & Singh, 1998; Suchek & Franco, 2024). High-trust networks enable deeper collaboration, as seen in circular economy initiatives and regenerative practices, while weak ties often facilitate eco-innovation by exposing firms to diverse sustainability logics (Uzzi, 2018; Vurro et al., 2009). Governance is especially critical in global supply networks (Dimitropoulos et al., 2023), where formal controls like certification must be complemented by relational mechanisms to manage institutional and cultural diversity (Jell-Ojobor & Raha, 2022; Kano, 2018).

As IONs increasingly pursue complex sustainability goals, digital technologies can shape how collaboration unfolds (Zhou et al., 2024). The rise of digital ecosystems, platform-based coordination, and data-driven decision-making requires IONs to adapt their structures, processes, and roles to remain resilient and effective. Accordingly, the interplay between digitalization and ION governance is becoming a critical factor in enabling sustainability transitions.

Amid this shift from the productivity-focused Industry 4.0 paradigm to the more sustainability-oriented Industry 5.0 (Luo & Zahra, 2023), digital transformation can serve as both an enabler and a disruptor of sustainability efforts. Technologies such as AI, big data analytics, IoT, and blockchain offer powerful tools for reducing emissions, increasing supply chain transparency, and advancing circular economy models
(Jell-Ojobor et al., 2025; Zhou et al., 2024).

While digital transformation has received significant attention in the literature, less is known about how digital tools are integrated—or resisted—within multi-actor governance structures aimed at delivering environmental, social, and economic value. Digitalization presents governance challenges for IONs, including decentralized coordination due to a high level of standardization and blurred accountability
-Ojobor & Kramer, 2022; Lumineau et al., 2021). At the same time, it
opens up new forms of inter-organizational collaboration, including cooperation among competitors pursuing shared sustainability goals (He et al., 2020; Windsperger et al., 2025).

Effective ION governance is therefore essential to navigate competing logics, manage power asymmetries, and respond to evolving institutional demands (Pitelis & Runde, 2017; Smith & Lewis, 2011). Yet, despite growing interest, research on how digital transformation influences ION governance and sustainability outcomes remains limited.
This Special Issueamong loosely connected actors (Jellt explore how IONs are governed in pursuit of sustainability and how these governance mechanisms adapt under the pressures of digital transformation.

We welcome both theoretical and empirical papers that can make a strong contribution and address, but are not limited to, the following research questions:
• What existing or emerging theoretical perspectives can best explain IONs whose governance structures are shaped by sustainability imperatives?
• How do existing inter-organizational relations influence the governance and effectiveness of sustainability-oriented networks?
• What governance designs effectively mitigate power asymmetries and promote equitable value distribution in cross-sector sustainability partnerships?
• What role does meta-governance (e.g., orchestration by third parties or institutional intermediaries)
play in aligning fragmented sustainability efforts across diverse IONs?
• Which combinations of formal and informal governance mechanisms are most effective in fostering learning, innovation, and sustainability outcomes across IONs?
• In what ways do trust, reciprocity, and shared values contribute to the resilience and performance of sustainability-focused collaborations?
• How do varying sustainability logics and orientations among network partners influence governance choices and network-level outcomes?
• How do tensions between economic competitiveness and collective sustainability goals manifest and get managed within digitally enabled IONs?
• How do dynamic capabilities support firms in reconfiguring inter-organizational relations in general and IONs in particular in response to evolving sustainability goals and environmental complexity?
• How do inter-organizational governance mechanisms evolve in response to shifting or drifting sustainability agendas, regulatory landscapes, or socio-political pressures?
• In what ways can digital technologies (e.g., blockchain, AI, IoT) enhance transparency,
coordination, and sustainability performance within inter-organizational governance frameworks?
• How does digital transformation reshape governance mechanisms—such as control, monitoring, and more trust-based relationship management—across vertical, horizontal, or concentric dimensions of sustainability-oriented networks? Who benefits, and who may be disadvantaged in digitally transformed IONs?
• What governance risks and unintended consequences does digital transformation pose for sustainability-focused IONs?
• How can inter-organizational governance structures enable or accelerate circular economy transitions within supply chains and broader ecosystems?
• How do cultural and institutional differences across countries shape the governance of transnational sustainability-oriented IONs?
• What roles do external institutions (e.g., governments, NGOs, consumers) play in shaping the governance and legitimacy of IONs pursuing sustainability objectives?
• What metrics or evaluative frameworks are most effective for assessing governance quality and sustainability performance in complex inter-organizational ecosystems?

2. Submission Process
Submission of papers should take place from 15 August 2026 to 30 September 2026. Manuscripts should be prepared following EMR’s author guidelines and submitted via the online system. To ensure that all manuscripts are correctly identified for consideration for this SI, authors must select SI: “Governance of Inter-organizational Networks for Sustainability in the Digital Era” when they reach the “Article Type” step in the submission process. All submitted manuscripts will be subject to EMR’s double blind review process. Submitting for the SI does not preclude submitting a paper for any other conference.
Questions about the Special Issue may be directed to the guest editors Dr. Maria Jell-Ojobor (maria.jellojobor@johncabot.edu) and Dr. Aveed Raha (aveed.raha@univie.ac.at).

3. Guest Editors
The guest editorial team brings substantial research expertise in the thematic areas addressed by the Special Issue. They possess valuable experience as reviewers and have previously served as editors for special issues in leading journals such as the European Journal of International Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Managerial and Decision Economics, Organization Studies, Project Management Journal, and Regional Studies. In addition, they have published several books on network economics and management. The team also plays a key role in the academic community as founding members and organizers of prominent international conferences, including ISOF and EMNet.

Maria Jell-Ojobor (maria.jellojobor@johncabot.edu) is an Associate Professor of International Business at Frank J. Guarini School of Business at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy. Her research focuses on network governance, strategy, and internationalization.

Aveed Raha (aveed.raha@univie.ac.at) is a senior lecturer and research associate at the Faculty of Business, Economics and Statistics at the University of Vienna, Austria. His research centers on corporate sustainability and business ethics, with a particular focus on their application within the context of international business.

Jörg Sydow (joerg.sydow@fu-berlin.de) is a Professor of Management and was Chair for Inter-firm Cooperation at the School of Business & Economics of Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. His research focuses on the governance and practices of interorganizational networks as well as on those of temporary organizing.

Josef Windsperger (josef.windsperger@univie.ac.at) is Professor of International Business at the Faculty of Business, Economics and Statistics at the University of Vienna, Austria. His main research fields are economics and management of networks, theory of the firm, and international market entry.

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The Summer School aims to address some factors of emerging importance which affect the creation, success, survival and effective development of new businesses and ventures, such as: the internal and external decision-making processes, the social and environmental concerns, the entrepreneurial ecosystems, the availability of financial instruments and the changing financial environment. The broadest purpose is to develop an ongoing and constructive dialogue among senior, young and aspiring entrepreneurship, innovation, and finance scholars to conduct research relevant to entrepreneurship theory and practice in the contemporary world.

The school is addressed to doctoral students and early-stage researchers with a research proposal in the areas of entrepreneurship, innovation or finance for a maximum of 15 participants.

The application deadline is the 5th of March, 2026.

To learn more about the school, please visit the website https://seif3.lakecomoschool.org/

For the online application, please visit https://seif3.lakecomoschool.org/application/ and read carefully the call for applications included here.

For enquiries regarding the application procedure and accommodation, please contact:

info@lakecomoschool.org, while for enquiries about the scientific aspects of the school, please contact musasummerschool@unimib.it.

Introduction 

In today’s turbulent global economy, corporate governance cannot be separated from the forces that transform firms, markets, and societies. The evolving purpose of the corporation, the use of artificial intelligence, and heightened geopolitical tensions call for renewed attention to how corporate governance adapts to sustain long-term value creation and societal well-being, a shift toward more purposeful governance.

Each year, the ICGS conference provides a forum for international academics and policymakers to showcase and discuss the latest corporate governance research issues and practices. Bringing together academics from management, finance, accounting, international business, and law, the 2026 conference seeks to promote cross-disciplinary dialogue on how boards, executives, investors, states, and regulators can shape purposeful governance in a rapidly changing and globally interconnected business environment.

The topics include (but are not limited to):

• Behavioral perspectives on executives, boards, investors, and other governance actors, and their roles in shaping the purpose of corporations.
• Institutional and political approaches that examine how legal systems, societal expectations, and geopolitical shifts influence governance practices.
• Implications of AI adoption for internal and external corporate governance mechanisms.
• Evolving forms of activism/engagement from investors and other stakeholders and their impact on corporate governance outcomes.
• Reconfiguration of governance systems under geopolitical crises.
• Governance mechanisms for managing state-firm relations.

We welcome plurality in methods, whether theory-driven, data-driven, case-based, or large-scale empirical, across all conference tracks.

Submitting a full paper or research proposal to the ICGS conference

Since the overarching mission of the ICGS is to bring together international governance scholars from multiple disciplines, original research in all areas of corporate governance is appreciated. Submissions must be unpublished work that has not been presented at an ICGS conference before. You may submit either a full paper or a research proposal to the conference. In both cases, we are looking for research that will advance the field of corporate governance.  

A full paper should include an abstract, a clearly articulated theoretical or conceptual framework, a description of the data and methods, a presentation of the results, and a discussion of the contributions and implications. No maximum number of pages or words is imposed.  

A research proposal is intended for projects at an early stage of development. A proposal should include an abstract summarizing the research question(s), theoretical grounding, and expected contributions, followed by a clear description of the research design and/or empirical strategy. Relevant supporting materials, such as references and, where appropriate, preliminary tables or figures may be included. Research proposals must be at least 3,000 words in length and provide sufficient detail to allow for a thorough scholarly assessment.

On the title page, the author(s) should indicate whether the submission should be considered a full paper or research proposal, and which of the conference tracks best fits the submission. The Track Chairs may shift papers and proposals if they fit better with another track. 

Full papers or research proposals can be submitted starting February 1, 2026, and must be submitted by 12 midnight (EST) on May 31, 2026, to be considered for conference presentation. All submissions must be made through our online conference management system, which can be accessed through the ‘Conferences’ tab of the ICGS website (www.icgsociety.org). 

Decisions regarding the acceptance of submissions in the conference program will be communicated to the authors by June 30, 2026.  The most outstanding papers and proposals will be considered for the Best Conference Paper Award. The author(s) who win(s) this award will be recognized at the conference. 

Conference tracks

TRACK A: 

Purposeful Governance in a Changing World. As the purpose of the corporation evolves, artificial intelligence transforms business practices, and geopolitical tensions escalate, corporate governance becomes a critical force influencing how firms respond to these changes and safeguard long-term value creation and societal well-being. Therefore, this track seeks studies that explore how corporate governance shapes and/or adapts to these shifts to sustain long-term value creation and societal well-being.

Co-chairs: 

Ari Van Assche (HEC Montréal)

Vikash Sinha ( Aalto University School of Business)

Gilbert Kofi Adarkwah (HEC Montréal)

TRACK B: 

Board Dynamics and Strategic Leadership. This track explores the roles of boards of directors, concentrating in particular on diversity and group dynamics in boards. Studies focusing on the role of women and internationals on boards are particularly welcome. The track will also feature behavioral studies on board members and their interfaces with CEOs and the executive team.

Co-chairs: 

Alessandro Zattoni (Luiss Business School)

Seppo Ikäheimo (Aalto Business School)

Jana Oehmichen (Johannes Gutenberg University)

TRACK C:  

Ownership. This track explores the antecedents and outcomes of different types of ownership. The track also encourages papers on non-traditional means of raising capital that give rise to ownership changes, such as equity crowdfunding and other forms of alternative investment, and their implications for corporate governance.

Co-chairs: 

Kurt Achiel Desender (Universidad Carlos III)

Jackie Di Vito (HEC Montréal)

Tomeu (Bartolomé) Fuster (University of the Balears)

TRACK D:  

External Corporate Governance Mechanisms. This track seeks to understand how firms’ strategic objectives and outcomes are influenced by external governance mechanisms, including (but not limited to) the role of external auditors, cultural norms, and the media. It also welcomes studies that investigate how these external factors are related to firms’ nexus of contracts and incentive structures.

Co-chairs: 

Zvi Singer (HEC Montréal)

Peter Oh (McGill University)

Saori Sugeno (Surrey Business School)

TRACK E: 

Corporate Governance and Stakeholders. This track focuses on the role of various stakeholders in corporate governance. Topics may include (but are not restricted to) activist shareholders, institutional investors, blockholders, minority shareholders, interest groups, governments and regulators, suppliers, customers, employees, competitors, and the media, and their interactions with corporate governance.

Co-chairs:   

Till Talaulicar (Universität Erfurt)

Margaret Fong (HEC Montréal)

Josep A. Tribό (Stevens Institute of Technology)

TRACK F:  

Comparative Corporate Governance. This track explores corporate governance in a (de)globalizing economy and discusses how transnational nongovernmental institutions shape corporate governance across nations. Furthermore, it is interesting and useful to compare governance practices across national economies. Multi-level governance interactions between multiple governance environments are also considered.

Co-chairs:   

Rafel Crespi (University of the Balears)

Cuili Qian (The University of Texas at Dallas)

Trond Randoy (Copenhagen Business School)

Conference program co-chairs 

The conference is organized by Professor Eduardo Schiehll (eduardo.schiehll@hec.ca), Professor Zvi Singer (zvi.singer@hec.ca) and Professor Ari Van Assche (ari.van-assche@hec.ca). You may contact any of the co-chairs with your inquiries. 

 

We suggest two broad themes for submissions:

1. Inclusive talent management strategies – exploring barriers to leveraging older workers’ talents and identifying effective mitigation strategies.
2. Tailored approaches for older professionals – focusing on attraction, development, and retention practices adapted to their needs.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

• Barriers to leveraging the full potential of older talent
• Effective talent management strategies to counter age discrimination
• Differences in work values, needs, and career aspirations across the lifespan
• Optimal training, reskilling, and upskilling approaches for older workers

Submission window: June 17 – July 15, 2026
Submit here

For questions: Ksenia Usanova (ksenia.usanova@ucd.ie); Foteini Kravariti (foteini.kravariti@port.ac.uk); Vlad Vaiman (vvaiman@callutheran.edu)

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