We are pleased to invite submissions for a forthcoming Journal of Management Studies Special Issue on:
Organizational Practices for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in Institutionally Contested Times
Special Issue Call for Papers: Organizational Practices for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in Institutionally Contested Times - Journal Of Management Studies
Across many institutional contexts, organizational practices related to equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are increasingly being challenged, reinterpreted, and reshaped by evolving political, legal, and societal dynamics. This Special Issue seeks to advance organization and management research by examining how organizations design, implement, sustain, adapt, translate, or rethink EDI practices under contested institutional conditions.
We welcome conceptual and empirical contributions from a broad range of theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches that investigate EDI at the micro, meso, macro, and cross-national levels of analysis. The Special Issue particularly encourages work that bridges organizational theory, strategy, international business, HRM, organizational behavior, institutional theory, political science, sociology, and critical management studies.
Illustrative topics include (but are not limited to):
- Organizational responses to political and institutional contestation surrounding EDI
- Leadership and managerial decision-making under conflicting institutional demands
- Translation and reverse translation of EDI practices in multinational enterprises
- HRM, compliance, and governance responses to anti-EDI pressures
- Symbolic versus substantive changes in EDI initiatives
- Employee fairness perceptions, identity, voice, and resistance
- Cross-national regulatory divergence and institutional complexity
- Organizational legitimacy, stakeholder expectations, and political polarization
- Processual, longitudinal, comparative, and multilevel studies of EDI practices
Important Dates
๐ Registration deadline for the Online Pre-submission PDW
25 September 2026
๐ Online Pre-submission PDW
1 October 2026 (12:30 GMT)
๐ Submission Window
15 March โ 31 March 2027
๐ Post-submission Developmental PDW (for invited R&Rs)
October 2027
University of Palermo, Italy
Guest Editorial Team
- Eddy Ng โ Queen's University, Canada
- Pasquale Massimo Picone โ University of Palermo, Italy
- Yi-Ren Wang โ Asia School of Business, Malaysia
- Cristina Leone โ University of Palermo, Italy
Primary Contact
For informal inquiries regarding the fit of potential submissions or the Special Issue, please contact the Primary Guest Editor:
Pasquale Massimo Picone
๐ง pasqualemassimo.picone@unipa.it
We would greatly appreciate it if you could share this Call for Papers with colleagues, doctoral students, and researchers who may be interested in contributing. We look forward to receiving submissions and to fostering an engaging scholarly conversation on the future of EDI research in institutionally contested times.
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Pasquale Massimo Picone
Professor of Management
University of Palermo
Palermo (Italy)
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