“Well-Being in B2B Marketing: Rethinking B2B Marketing for a New Era”

Call for Papers – Special Issue: “Well-Being in B2B Marketing: Rethinking B2B Marketing for a New Era”

Journal: Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing
Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Submission deadline: 30 September 2026

This special issue advances well‑being in B2B marketing by moving beyond performance‑centric and individual‑level approaches to examine how well‑being shapes value creation, inter‑organizational relationships, and sustainable business practices in industrial markets. It invites scholars to build integrative, multi‑level frameworks that connect individual, organisational, network, and societal well‑being to B2B marketing strategy and practice.

Why this issue matters

• While salesperson burnout, stress, and mental health have received attention, B2B marketing lacks a holistic view of well‑being across inter‑organizational networks and ecosystems.

• Contemporary B2B markets are increasingly shaped by sustainability, ESG, and relational governance imperatives; this issue positions well‑being as a core organising construct in how firms co‑create long‑term value in business‑to‑business settings.

• By integrating psychological, organisational, relational, and sustainability perspectives, the SI aims to set a new research agenda for “healthy” B2B markets that balance performance with human and ecological well‑being.

Core themes and topic areas

We encourage conceptual, empirical (qualitative or quantitative), mixed‑methods, and high‑quality literature‑review papers on:

• Well‑being and inter‑organizational trust

  • How trust, fairness, and relational quality in B2B relationships affect psychological and organisational well‑being for buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries.

• Salesperson mental health and relational resilience

  • Drivers and consequences of burnout, satisfaction, and resilience among salespeople and account managers, and their role in maintaining long‑term customer relationships.

• Governance, ESG, and well‑being integration

  • How ESG practices, governance mechanisms, and contracts integrate well‑being into B2B strategies (e.g., fair labour practices, healthy working conditions in supply chains).

• Network stability and ecosystem well‑being

  • How network configuration, power dynamics, and interdependencies influence well‑being across ecosystems (e.g., in industrial clusters, technology platforms, circular‑supply networks).

• Servitisation and sustainable value co‑creation

  • How product‑service systems and servitisation models influence well‑being of employees, customers, and communities while advancing sustainability.

• Measurement of well‑being beyond financial KPIs

  • Development and application of non‑financial indicators (e.g., psychological, social, environmental metrics) to assess B2B marketing outcomes.

• Interdisciplinary frameworks for B2B well‑being

  • Integration of insights from psychology, organisational behaviour, service‑dominant logic, sustainability, and industrial‑network theory into B2B marketing models.

Guest editors

• Dr. Nektarios Tzempelikos, Anglia Ruskin University, UK

• Prof. Pantea Foroudi, Brunel University London, UK

• Prof. Dongmei Zha, Brunel University London, UK

Submission details

• Submission platform: Emerald’s ScholarOne Manuscripts for JBIM:
  https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jbim

• When submitting, select “Well‑Being in B2B Marketing: Rethinking B2B Marketing for a New Era” from the special‑issue dropdown menu.

• All manuscripts must be original, unpublished work, not under review elsewhere.

• Key deadlines:

  • Submissions open: 31 March 2026

  • Submission deadline: 30 September 2026

• Follow the journal’s Author Guidelines:
  https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/jbim

This special issue will appeal to marketing, relationship‑marketing, supply‑chain, and sustainability scholars who wish to re‑theorise B2B marketing through the lens of well‑being and relational sustainability.

ServiceSetu Academics — Premier Platform for Academic Opportunities & Research Collaboration

Visit official website of the publisher