JMO Special Issue Call for Papers

Geopolitics and business management strategies in an uncertain global environment

Guest Editor:

João Leitão, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal, NECE, Research Centre in Business Sciences & CEGIST, Centre for Management Studies of the Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon and ICS, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Submission deadline: 30th September 2025

Introduction

Leaders need to have dynamic and flexible leadership styles in order to handle shifting geopolitical conflicts, technological disruptions, and environmental issues. Theories and methods of adaptive crisis management have emerged as essential resources for leaders facing previously unheard-of challenges. This is the main justification for issuing a call for articles for a special issue that will offer a strong research agenda in addition to basic scoping and systematic reviews on pertinent linked subjects.

In today's rapidly evolving global landscape, the intersection of geopolitics, change management (Ajith et al., 2024), and innovation (Bouncken et al., 2022) has become increasingly critical for organizations navigating complex crises.

As discussed by Knapp et al. (2025), these leadership approaches must not only be agile and responsive but also ethically grounded, balancing the need for swift action with long-term sustainability and stakeholder well-being.

According to Ratten (2024), as leaders grapple with these multifaceted challenges, they must also consider the quality of work life and environmental factors that impact their workforce, recognizing that employees’ well-being is intrinsically linked to organizational resilience and innovation capacity.

In response to these complex dynamics, following Caputo et al. (2024) sustainable business models have also gained prominence, emphasizing the principles of effectuation, pivoting, and business model innovation.

Aims and Scope of the Special Issue

In order to help organisations quickly adjust to shifting geopolitical and market conditions while keeping an eye on long-term sustainability, the current special issue aims to foster the discussion of several complex approaches on change management, leadership, innovation, well-being, and sustainable business models. Effectuation, with its emphasis on leveraging existing resources and networks, allows leaders to navigate uncertainty by creating opportunities rather than trying to predict the future. Pivoting, as a strategic tool, enables businesses to rapidly adjust their models in response to crises or emerging opportunities, while business model innovation encourages a holistic rethinking of how value is created, delivered, and captured. By integrating these concepts with adaptive crisis management and ethical leadership practices, organizations can build resilience, foster innovation, and contribute to sustainable development, even in the face of global challenges and uncertainties.

In this context, the current special issue will first appraise dispassionately the work that has been done thus far in the field, for example with a systematic literature review to organize the field. Or alternatively, towards a scoping review or an umbrella review to integrate isolated pieces or research contributions in a common conceptual framework devoted to the core topic about geopolitics and business management strategies in uncertainty contexts. Exploring what levels of analysis scholars have adopted, what theories have been used to explain effects, where samples have been drawn, what does the current nomological network include and so on.

The special issue will then provide a research agenda for the few pieces that remain, each of which addresses a different aspect of the issue and offers specific recommendations for future (re)development. For instance, by going over on the following topics:

• Geopolitics, change management and innovation
• Adaptive crisis management models and practices
• Dynamic and adaptative leadership in contexts of crisis: Types, styles, and ethical issues
• Quality of work life, well-being, and environmental factors
• Sustainable business models: Effectuation, pivoting, and business model innovation

This outline is meant to be a guide, not a comprehensive list. We will be open to reviewing pertinent manuscripts that examine the special issue's overarching theme—geopolitics and business management strategies in uncertain times—from various angles.

For instance, by applying a behavioural, legitimacy, well-being, effectuation, or pivoting perspective. Each contribution is encouraged to suggest a few interesting directions for further investigation.

There is still much to learn about the intersection of geopolitics and business management strategies, which calls for the creation of both review and empirical contributions. The development of business management practice templates tailored to uncertain environments has not been significantly slowed by critical viewpoints. The motivation behind the publication of this special issue is thought to be opportune, given the geopolitical upheaval that is leading to a new global order. By directing researchers' efforts to recognise and address the issues confronting effectuation theory and change management, this special issue will aid in forming and disseminating future contributions.

Important dates

February 2025 Submissions open
30 September 2025 Submissions close
Early / Mid 2026 Publication

Manuscripts must comply with the Journal of Management & Organization (JMO) paper guidelines, and must be submitted through ScholarOne: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jmo

Featured Methodological Approaches

The special issue is open to research addressing topics focused on the intersection of geopolitics and business management strategies in uncertainty contexts, using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, including systematic literature reviews, scoping reviews, umbrella reviews, meta-analysis, case studies, econometric studies, statistical approaches, machine learning, social network analyses, etc. We also welcome contributions from different scientific backgrounds, including Economics, Management, Information Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Industrial Engineering, Design, Psychology, Sociology, etc. Reviews or empirical studies that address specific concerns or arrange the topics offered from various perspectives and then recommend specific and doable future research directions will be given preference.

Statement of Best Fit to JMO

The Journal of Management & Organisation (JMO), a worldwide recognised and respected publication for management research, is becoming more and more global in its distribution and perspective. There are several discussions taking on at JMO regarding geopolitics and business management strategies in uncertainty contexts, including contributions by Bouncken et al. (2022), Ajith et al. (2024), Caputo et al. (2024), Knapp et al. (2025), and Ratten (2025). Therefore, we encourage submissions to the Special Issue that can draw upon these kinds of timely conversations.

About the Guest Editor:

Prof. João Leitão

João Leitão is associate professor (with habilitation/ Agregação) of economics at the UBI – University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal and a researcher at the NECE – Research Centre for Business Sciences. He is an external researcher at the CEGIST – Centre for Management Studies of the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), and associate researcher of the ICS – Instituto de Ciências Sociais, University of Lisbon. He is a visiting professor at the Università degli Studi di Bergamo, Italy. He was a visiting scholar at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, Germany, and an external research fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena, Germany. He is the President of the APDR - Associação Portuguesa para o Desenvolvimento Regional. He is a member of the ERSAC – European Regional Science Association Committee and of the RIS Policy Council, EIT Food. He contributes to several editorial boards, including Journal of Management & Organization, Journal of Family Business Management, Discover Sustainability, Technological Sustainability and Social Responsibility Journal. He integrates also several reviewer boards, including Small Business Economics and International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research. His research has garnered several awards including Emerald Literati Award, National Award of Innovation research based on Knowledge, and the Stimulus and Recognition Award for Internationalization in the Social Sciences. He was recognized as the best associate editor of the Journal of Management & Organization, and as the best reviewer of the Social Responsibility Journal.

References

Ajith MM, Lux AA, Bentley T, Striepe M. Adaptive crisis management at the operational level: Responses to COVID-19 in the Australian resources sector. Journal of Management & Organization. Published online 2024:1-25. doi:10.1017/jmo.2024.62

Bouncken RB, Fredrich V, Gudergan S. Alliance management and innovation under uncertainty. Journal of Management & Organization. 2022;28(3):540-563. doi:10.1017/jmo.2022.34

Caputo A, Pizzi S, Santini E. Sustainability and SMEs: Opening the black box. Journal of Management & Organization. 2024;30(3):413-420. doi:10.1017/jmo.2024.10

Knapp JR, Namada JM, Dougan W. Dynamic ethical capabilities in place and in time. Journal of Management & Organization. Published online 2025:1-22. doi:10.1017/jmo.2025.1

Ratten V. Modern workplaces, leadership, and knowledge sharing: Productivity paranoia, idea harvesting, and strategy quilting. Journal of Management & Organization. 2024;30(6):1623-1626. doi:10.1017/jmo.2024.66