Sustainability in Organizations and Supply Chains: Technology-Enabled Transformation, Governance, Strategic Management and Accounting — And Beyond
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Sustainability in Organizations and Supply Chains: Technology-Enabled Transformation, Governance, Strategic Management and Accounting — And Beyond
Journal: IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies
Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Submission Deadline: 30 June 2026
Expected Publication: June 2027
Background & Motivation
Sustainability has become a defining agenda for organizations, regulators, investors, and communities. Firms are expected to demonstrate credible progress on decarbonization, resource stewardship, circular economy ambitions, biodiversity protection, and social sustainability — while navigating uncertainty, competing stakeholder expectations, and evolving information demands. Yet the translation of sustainability aspirations into measurable outcomes remains uneven, particularly where implementation depends on dispersed actors, contested metrics, and weak accountability across organizational boundaries.
Digital technologies are frequently positioned as accelerators of sustainable transformation — offering promise through AI, digital transformation, optimization, forecasting, and decision support — while also presenting constraints related to governance, adoption barriers, and unintended consequences. Crucially, sustainability should not be equated with technology adoption alone. Some of the most consequential sustainability dynamics concern governance, incentives, organizational culture, and institutional contexts.
Marketing and consumer behavior influence whether sustainable products and practices diffuse at scale. Governments and supranational institutions set enabling and constraining conditions through climate agreements, regulation, and policy instruments. Finance plays a pivotal role as capital providers increasingly price climate risk, stewardship expectations, and transition credibility into firms' cost of capital and access to funding.
This Special Issue explicitly invites work where technology is central, peripheral, or absent — provided the manuscript offers a clear theoretical contribution and robust empirical insight into sustainability strategy, implementation, measurement, governance, and outcomes.
Objectives & Scope
This Special Issue aims to stimulate high-quality debate and evidence on:
How sustainability is strategized, implemented, and governed within organizations and across supply chains
How sustainability is measured, controlled, assured, and made decision-useful — including the roles of accounting, controls, and internal governance
When and how technology contributes to sustainability outcomes — including benefits, constraints, and unintended consequences
Contextual heterogeneity — including SMEs, Global South settings, sectoral dynamics, and varied institutional and regulatory environments
How market-facing strategies, public policy, and finance mechanisms shape sustainability adoption, accountability, and outcomes
Thematic Areas & Research Questions
Theme 1 — Sustainability Strategy, Business Models & Organizational Change
How do organizations embed sustainability into strategy, capital allocation, and operating models?
What organizational designs and cultural arrangements support sustained sustainability performance?
What are the dynamics of trade-offs such as growth vs. emissions reduction or efficiency vs. decent work outcomes?
Theme 2 — Corporate Governance, Accountability & Ethics
How do boards and executives oversee sustainability commitments, trade-offs, and risk exposures?
How do governance arrangements shape sustainability credibility?
How can organizations reduce symbolic compliance risks through stronger control environments?
Theme 3 — Accounting, Performance Measurement & Management Control
How do management accounting systems incorporate sustainability into planning, budgeting, costing, and performance evaluation?
How do organizations develop decision-grade sustainability information and internal control systems?
How do carbon-related phenomena reshape strategic cost management and investment appraisal?
Theme 4 — Supply Chain Sustainability & Inter-Organizational Coordination
How is sustainability governed across supply chains through standards, contracting, supplier development, and monitoring?
What mechanisms enable credible upstream and downstream sustainability management including Scope 3 in practice?
How do IoT, blockchain, and digital twins reshape monitoring, coordination, and sustainability decision-making in supply chains?
Theme 5 — Technology as Enabler or Constraint of Sustainability
How do AI systems influence sustainability outcomes and through which organizational mechanisms?
What social sustainability risks accompany digitalization and automation — such as job quality, inclusion, and inequality?
How do organizations translate Industry 5.0 pillars — human-centricity, sustainability, resilience — into concrete governance and investment decisions?
Theme 6 — SMEs, Inclusion & Practical Pathways to Measurable Sustainability
How can SMEs develop sustainability practices that are measurable, decision-relevant, and feasible under resource constraints?
What is the role of impact-oriented accounting approaches in supporting SME decision-making and stakeholder communication?
How can advisory ecosystems and data systems support SMEs in moving from reporting to action?
Theme 7 — Marketing, Consumer Behavior & Demand-Side Sustainability
How do marketing strategies, pricing, labeling, and choice architecture influence consumer adoption of sustainable alternatives?
Which communication approaches reduce greenwashing risk while effectively shifting attitudes and behaviors?
How do firms manage trade-offs between sustainability, convenience, and perceived product performance?
Theme 8 — Public Policy, Regulation & Sustainable Finance
How do government policies and multi-level governance arrangements shape organizational sustainability strategy and performance?
Which policy instruments are most effective in driving measurable decarbonization and plastic reduction?
How do sustainable finance mechanisms influence firms' investment decisions, organizational processes, and longer-run performance?
List of Topic Areas
Manuscripts are invited on themes including, but not limited to:
Sustainability strategy and organizational change
Corporate governance, accountability, and ethics for sustainability
Management accounting and performance measurement for sustainability
Supply chain sustainability and inter-organizational coordination
AI, IoT, blockchain, and digital twins as sustainability enablers
Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0 — sustainability implications
SME sustainability — measurable and resource-feasible approaches
Marketing, consumer behavior, and demand-side sustainability transitions
Public policy, regulation, and climate governance
Sustainable finance, green finance, and climate-risk pricing
Carbon trading, carbon compliance, and carbon cost management
Social sustainability tensions in digitalization and automation
Circular economy models and reverse logistics in supply chains
ESG measurement, assurance, and reporting credibility
Global South contexts and institutional heterogeneity in sustainability
Guest Editors
Prof. Kashi Balachandran 📧 (contact via journal submission platform)
Prof. Paolo Taticchi 📧 (contact via journal submission platform)
Dr. Alessandro Merendino 📧 (contact via journal submission platform)
Key Deadlines
⏰ Manuscript Submission Deadline: 30 June 2026
📖 Expected Publication: June 2027
Manuscript Types Accepted
This Special Issue welcomes two types of submissions:
1. Full-Length Articles
Maximum 7,500 words — including all text, references, and appendices
Allow 250 words per figure or table within the total word count
Quantitative, qualitative, mixed-method research, and systematic literature reviews are all welcome
2. TRACKS Papers
Thought-provoking contributions reflecting on the present status and future prospects of the topic
May be speculative, philosophical, and conceptually bold — while remaining well grounded
Maximum 5 pages in length
Subject to the same double-blind peer review process as full-length articles
The editors particularly encourage manuscripts that explicitly articulate the sustainability outcome of interest, the organizational or supply chain boundary, and the governance, accounting, or control mechanisms that shape implementation and credibility.
Submission Guidelines
Submissions should be made through the journal's online submission system, selecting the Special Issue "Sustainability in Organizations and Supply Chains: Technology, Governance, and Accounting — And Beyond" at the appropriate step in the submission process.
⚠️ Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication elsewhere while under review for this journal.
For author guidelines and to submit your manuscript, visit the official IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies page on the Emerald Publishing website.
About the Journal
The IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies, published by Emerald Publishing, is a peer-reviewed journal committed to advancing high-quality research in management, strategy, governance, and organizational studies. It provides a platform for scholars and practitioners to contribute rigorous, policy-relevant, and practice-oriented insights across diverse organizational and institutional contexts.
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