Call for Papers

Call for short papers (pdf)

Management and organization theories are based on empirical work derived from a small fraction of the world, often referred to as the Global North – predominantly the USA and Western European countries (Wickert et al., 2024; Ozkazanc-Pan, 2008; Nkomo, 2011; Jack et al., 2008). Yet, the world’s population resides primarily in what has come to be known as the Global South, projected by 2050 to account for 80% of the world’s population. Societies in the Global South – also increasingly referred to as the “Majority World” (Alam, 2008; Auerbach Jahajeeah et al., 2025) – are thus not only crucial sites where organizational activity unfolds, but also rich arenas of knowledge production. In many ways, the voices, lived experiences, and epistemic cultures of the Global South must be central to any scholarly endeavour.
 
Despite management and organization theories lagging in their reflection of this empirical reality, there are promising developments. Over the past decade, a cadre of scholars has emerged who conduct research in empirical contexts often labelled as underrepresented or “extreme” in management and organization studies. For example, we have seen contributions to our understanding of institutional theories (Barkema et al., 2015; Bothello et al., 2019; Nason & Bothello, 2023), advances in knowledge from entrepreneurship (Assenova, 2020; Dimitriadis, 2024; Ndemo & Weiss, 2017) to organizing in urban informal economies (Dorado & Fernández, 2019; Weiss et al., 2024; Bothello & Weiss, 2024) to relationship-building in emerging markets (Dimitriadis & Koning, 2024) to firm strategies in disadvantaged communities (Pongeluppe, 2022) to indigenous management practices (Bruton et al., 2022), decolonial perspectives (Banerjee, 2022) to military-innovation ecosystems (Abdelnour, 2023) to the complex interplay of upward mobility (Pongeluppe, 2024) to the efficacy of transparency initiatives (Dakhlallah, 2024).
 
While our field is now embracing the opportunity to generate momentum around producing new knowledge (D’Cruz et al., 2021) by developing, expanding, and altogether creating novel theories of organizational life outside of the West, we are still at its infancy. Much theoretical potential remains untapped. This rings particularly true given that scholarship in the Global South represents a wealth of knowledge traditions with its own epistemological and ontological perspectives that are yet to make their inroads into our field. Moreover, as scholars increasingly engage with Global South contexts, we must be mindful of the power dynamics implied in research and avoid extractive research practices (Abdelnour & Abu Moghli, 2021; Soundararajan & Sharma, 2024). Instead, new approaches toward research infusion need to be developed where knowledge creation can benefit both academic discourse and the communities being studied (Bothello & Bonfim, 2025).
 
This sub-theme is designed to amplify and catalyze research in and from the Global South. We aim to bring together a cadre of emerging and experienced scholars to advance scholarship, build academic community, foster activism – and where needed plot radical refusal (Abdallah, 2024). We recognize that meaningful theoretical advancement requires deep engagement with empirical contexts, indigenous knowledge systems, novel ways of seeing and experiencing the world, and community partnerships. This aligns with the “more-than-human” theme of the EGOS Colloquium 2026 which seeks to “reframe existing theories, models, methods, and practices to… pave the way for a more sustainable and equitable world”. The online format of this conference particularly enables broader participation from scholars across the Global South who have historically faced barriers to academic engagement due to visa restrictions and funding limitations. This inclusive approach allows us to bring together diverse voices and perspectives that might otherwise remain unheard.
 
The design of this sub-theme rests on three thematic pillars:
 

1. Bringing in co-convenors

Whereas a conventional sub-theme rests on three convenors, we will broaden the convenor set to ensure broader representation in line with the sub-theme. These scholars will operate alongside the convenors and provide developmental feedback on papers, share advice, facilitate conversations, engage in community building, and participate in short panel discussions to create an inclusive and impactful sub-theme.
 
Specifically, the following ten scholars have already confirmed their participation and contribution to co-convening this sub-theme: Chahrazad Abdallah (Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada), Samer Abdelnour (University of Edinburgh, UK), Pablo Fernandez (IAE Business School, Argentina), Anna Kim (McGill University, Canada), Saurabh Lall (University of Glasgow, UK), S.M. Musa (SMU – Singapore Management University), Subhasis Ray (XLRI Xavier School of Management, India), Tapiwa Seremani (IÉSEG School of Management, France), Garima Sharma (American University, USA), Vivek Soundararajan (University of Bath, UK), and Felipe Symmes (EGADE Business School, Mexico).
 

2. Contributions to scholarship

Accelerating and amplifying research means supporting scholars in the knowledge production process. We recognize barriers to getting novel, empirically-grounded work published in top journals of our field (Tihanyi, 2020). In this sub-theme, we will bring together scholars who have successfully published Global South research in leading journals to share their experiences and insights, and give high-quality feedback on proposals and papers. Through structured dialogue between experienced and emerging scholars, we aim to cultivate an environment in which we nurture and support authors in the publication process by providing them with developmental feedback on their work, whether early-stage or developed. Participants will learn effective approaches for positioning Global South research for top-tier publications, meeting theoretical and methodological expectations. Yet, the goal is to advance these projects by enhancing the insights derived from them without compromising the richness and voice(s) contained within such context-specific work.
 
We are interested in a range of topics. We note that past research in and from the Global South has expanded our understandings of institutions, culture, emotions, indigenous management, social change, entrepreneuring/-ship, urban and rural informal economies, sustainability, grand challenges, multinational corporations, decolonial thinking, and more. We welcome submissions from these domains and encourage submissions that further challenge and expand our thinking.
 
We also welcome epistemological and methodological diversity. We are mainly interested in primary data collection efforts across the qualitative (i.e., interviews and ethnographies) and quantitative (i.e., large-scale databases and experiments) method spectrum where the scholar is embedded in their empirical context. Of particular interest for us are mixed-method approaches, where scholars engage in multi-modal data collection to obtain a richer grasp of the phenomenon (Charman et al. 2020; Nason et al., 2024; Weiss et al., 2024). We also welcome conceptual work around organizational and management phenomena in the Global South. Equally important is what we are not looking for: we seek to avoid work that treats the Global South in instrumental terms (e.g., as a set of novel contexts to produce publishable papers); we are looking for work that engages with these settings in a substantive and respectful manner.
 

3. Research infusion

Several scholars have observed that research in the Global South often leads to knowledge and research extraction, where insights are taken from a context for consumption by a small (academic) elite (Bothello & Bonfim, 2025; Chowdhury, 2017). This practice reinforces existing power hierarchies by treating communities as data sources rather than knowledge partners, thereby perpetuating patterns of marginalization and vulnerability (Pittaway et al., 2010; Smith, 2012; Soundararajan & Sharma, 2024). We want to encourage a sub-theme in which research relationships with these communities are responsible and reciprocal. We seek to draw upon collective experiences, exchange ideas about practices and approaches of infusing research and resources into communities (Auerbach Jahajeeah et al., 2025; Fahlberg, 2023).
 
We solicit work that is beginning to or has engaged in co-designing research with communities and found novel ways to infuse insights into communities, translating research findings into practice that seems meaningful. We also welcome research that requires political reflexivity, e.g. in violent contexts (Abdelnour & Abu Moghli, 2021). We also invite contributions that have evaluated the effectiveness of research translation. Specifically, we are looking to cultivate discussions around pathways to impact that scholars can learn from and implement themselves.
 

References

• Abdallah, C. (2024): “Against mastery: Epistemic decolonizing in the margins of the Business School.” Management Learning, 56 (2), 389–400.
• Abdelnour, S. (2023): “Making a Killing: Israel’s Military-Innovation Ecosystem and the Globalization of Violence.” Organization Studies, 44 (2), 333–337.
• Abdelnour, S., & Abu Moghli, M. (2021): “Researching violent contexts: A call for political reflexivity.” Organization, first published online on July 5, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508421103064.
• Auerbach Jahajeeah, J., Gümüsay, A.A., Salvi, E., von Richthofen, G., & Kekana, L. (2025): “Grand Challenges, Decoloniality and Management Scholarship.” In: E. Fohim (ed.): Decolonizing Management and Organization Studies: Why, How, and What. Emerald Publishing Limited, forthcoming; https://bookstore.emerald.com/decolonizing-management-and-organization-studies-pb-9781836086413.html.
• Barkema, H.G., Chen, X.-P., George, G., Luo, Y., & Tsui, A.S. (2015): „West Meets East: New Concepts and Theories.” Academy of Management Journal, 58 (2), 460–479.
• Bothello, J., & Bonfim, L. (2025): “Marginalized Communities and the Problem of Research Extraction.” Journal of Management Studies, 62 (1), 526–532, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/joms.13027.
• Bothello, J., Nason, R.S., & Schnyder, G. (2019): “Institutional Voids and Organization Studies: Towards an epistemological rupture.” Organization Studies, 40 (10), 1499–1512.
• Bothello, J., & Weiss, T. (2024): “Strengthening Africa’s Urban Informal Economies.” Stanford Social Innovation Review, 23 (1), 46–55.
• Bruton, G.D., Zahra, S.A., van de Ven, A.H., & Hitt, M.A. (2022): “Indigenous Theory Uses, Abuses, and Future.” Journal of Management Studies, 59 (4), 1057–1073.
• Dakhlallah, D. (2024): “Bribery in the Workplace: A Field Experiment on the Threat of Making Group Behavior Visible.” Organization Science, 35 (4), 1203–1223.
• Dorado, S., & Fernández, P.D. (2019): “An institutional framework to the scaling up of inclusive social innovations: The case of La Salada.” In: G. George, T. Baker, P. Tracey, & H. Joshi (eds.): Handbook of Inclusive Innovation. The Role of Organizations, Markets and Communities in Social Innovation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 266–283.
• Jack, G.A, Calás, M.B., Nkomo, S.M., & Peltonen, T. (2008): “Critique and international management: an uneasy relationship?” Academy of Management Review, 33 (4), 870–884.
• Nason, R., & Bothello, J. (2023): “Far from void: How institutions shape growth in informal economies.” Academy of Management Review, 48 (3), 485–503.
• Ndemo, B., & Weiss, T. (2017): Digital Kenya: An Entrepreneurial Revolution in the Making. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Nkomo, S.M. (2011): “A postcolonial and anti-colonial reading of ‘African’ leadership and management in organization studies: tensions, contradictions and possibilities.” Organization, 18 (3), 365–386.
• Ozkazanc-Pan, B. (2008): “International Management Research Meets ‘The Rest of the World’.” Academy of Management Review, 33 (4), 964–974.
• Pongeluppe, L.S. (2022): “The favela effect: Spatial inequalities and firm strategies in disadvantaged urban communities.” Strategic Management Journal, 43 (13), 2777–2808.
• Pongeluppe, L.S. (2024): “The Allegory of the Favela: The Multifaceted Effects of Socioeconomic Mobility.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 69 (3), 619–654.
• Soundararajan, V., & Sharma, G. (2024): “Inequalities in Research Translation: Toward more Equitable Pathways to Impact.” Journal of Management Studies, 61 (7), 3389–3395.
• Tihanyi, L. (2020): “From ‘that’s interesting’ to ‘that’s important’.” Academy of Management Journal, 63 (2), 329–331.
• Weiss, T., Lounsbury, M., & Bruton, G.( 2024): “Survivalist Organizing in Urban Poverty Contexts.” Organization Science, 35 (5), 1608–1640.
• Wickert, C., Potočnik, K., Prashantham, S., Shi, W., & Snihur, Y. (2024): “Embracing non-Western Contexts in Management Scholarship.” Journal of Management Studies, 61 (8), e1–e24.