Call for Papers

Advances in technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), intelligent robots, the internet of things, blockchain, and augmented and virtual reality are continuing to have a significant impact on individuals, organizations, and society. Sometimes described as “exponential technologies,” referring to their growth along and beyond the lines of Moore’s Law, these digital and data-driven approaches are reconfiguring the practical, analytical, and spatial dimensions of organizations and shaping new societal, organizational, and individual futures (Chima & Gutman, 2020). For example, ChatGPT, which was launched only a few months ago, is beginning to transform businesses and work, redefining some existing beliefs about individual skills, productivity, and “traditional” organizational processes (Dasborough, 2023).
 
In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is not surprising that businesses are embracing new technologies to improve their effectiveness and resilience (Denicolai et al., 2022). However, while this is encouraging, it is important to recognize that such innovations also pose new risks and threats to employees, organizations, and society at large (Tursunbayeva et al., 2022). For employees, the adoption of such technologies can have significant implications for their privacy, autonomy, opportunities, income, behaviors, and overall well-being (Pereira et al., 2023). The potential for bias or discrimination is also a concern, particularly as new flexible and demand-based working arrangements emerge, and the nature of work and its allocation are being transformed (Alfes et al., 2022). For organizations, the adoption of new technologies can have operational, financial, and reputational implications. This is especially true as the European Union and other global regions seek to regulate the use of data and AI more effectively, which can result in reputational damage. At the societal level, the implications include sustainability, the labor market, and legal consequences, among others.
 
Another obstacle to managing these changes is the difficulty that stakeholders can face in understanding how these technologies actually work, with algorithms and data flows often being opaque. In addition, many individuals often lack the necessary digital skills to fully embrace exponential technologies at/for work. As such, it is unclear what the long-term impacts of such technologies will be, and organizations face managerial and organizational dilemmas as they seek to embrace innovation whilst also avoiding harms and penalties. Much learning has emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic, in parallel with which many governments are investing heavily in the promise of AI for their digital economies.
 
A key question underlying these technologies is how “human-centered” and responsible they are. On the one hand, they are sometimes portrayed as empowering, enabling, and beneficial to employees, yet on the other hand, they provide more power for management to quantify, track, incentivize, and discipline their staff (among others). More knowledge and understanding of how these technologies are evolving and being used for organizing and managing (Leonardi, 2020), as well as their soft (Tursunbayeva & Renkema, 2022) and hard impacts, are therefore needed if the goal of “human-centeredness” in organizations is to be achieved and to ensure a decent future of work for all (United Nations, 2015).
 
We invite submissions from multi-disciplinary practitioners and researchers that critically reflect on and analyze ethical and responsible applications of exponential technologies in organizations and their implications for stakeholders, society, and the economy. We welcome conceptual and empirical contributions, reviews, case studies, and experience-in-the-field reports inspired by interdisciplinary, multi-level, multi- stakeholder, multi-method, and culture-sensitive approaches that could address existing and future challenges and uncertainties, define an agenda for future research, and provide good practice recommendations and instruments for designing and evaluating human-centered, trustworthy, and responsible technologies in organizations.
 
Topics of interest, including but not limited to:

• Conceptualizing responsible development, implementation, and utilization of exponential technologies for employees, groups, and organizations

• Identifying and addressing organizational and managerial dilemmas associated with developing, implementing, and using human-centered and responsible exponential technologies at/for work

• Revealing employee dilemmas connected with recognizing/using exponential technologies at/for work, as well as the potential workarounds they can adopt

• Demystifying the potential and perils of exponential technologies for diversity and inclusion, including the potential for discrimination, bias, or inequalities in organizations

• Developing quantitative and qualitative approaches to understanding, measuring, and managing the impact of implementing or using exponential technologies on individuals, organizations, and society

• Identifying and managing the potential “dark-sides” of exponential technologies, including issues related to privacy or surveillance

• Examining spatial, temporal, and behavioral work boundaries affected by exponential technologies

• Comparing human versus algorithmic decision-making and management

• Exploring existing and imagining the future “new” ways of working that are facilitated by exponential technologies such as gig work or hybrid work

• Identifying how exponential technologies adjust and re-organize professions, job categories, organizational roles, processes, and competencies, and approaches for ameliorating these

• Analyzing trust issues associated with exponential technologies

• Managing human–computer interaction in the workplace

• Studying cases on (ir)responsible uses of AI at/for work in various organizations (e.g., SMEs or multinationals) and sectors (e.g., healthcare, public or private sector companies)

• Identifying critical stakeholders in the responsible and human-centered application of exponential technologies at/for work

• Developing and evaluating new and existing theories, models, methodologies, and frameworks for studying and evaluating exponential technologies for/in organizations

• Examining the sustainability of exponential technologies for organizations and societies that adopt them with respect to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals

Additional information: Outstanding articles will receive invitations to be submitted for a relevant special issue in the European Management Journal.
 

References

• Alfes, K., Avgoustaki, A., Beauregard, T.A., Cañibano, A., & Muratbekova-Touron, M. (2022): “New ways of working and the implications for employees: a systematic framework and suggestions for future research.” The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 33 (22), 4361–4385.
• Chima, A., & Gutman, R. (2020): What It Takes to Lead Through an Era of Exponential Change. Harvard Business Review.
• Dasborough, M.T. (2023): “Awe‐inspiring advancements in AI: The impact of ChatGPT on the field of Organizational Behavior.” Journal of Organizational Behavior, 44 (2), 177–179.
• Denicolai, S., Magnani, G., & Vidal, J. A. (2022): “Competitive renaissance through digital transformation.” European Management Journal, 40 (5), 653–655.
• Leonardi, P. M. (2020): “COVID-19 and the New Technologies of Organizing: Digital Exhaust, Digital Footprints, and Artificial Intelligence in the Wake of Remote Work.” Journal of Management Studies. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12648
• Pereira, V., Hadjielias, E., Christofi, M., & Vrontis, D. (2023): “A systematic literature review on the impact of artificial intelligence on workplace outcomes: A multi-process perspective.” Human Resource Management Review, 33 (1), 100857.
• Tursunbayeva, A., & Renkema, M. (2022): “Artificial intelligence in health‐care: implications for the job design of healthcare professionals.” Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 1744–1794.
• Tursunbayeva, A., Pagliari, C., Di Lauro, S., & Antonelli, G. (2022): “The ethics of people analytics: risks, opportunities and recommendations.” Personnel Review.
• United Nations (2015): Sustainable Development Goals, https://sdgs.un.org/events/2021-sdgs-learning-training-and-practice
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