Influencer Relations: Detailing the Concept and Broadening the Perspective

Call for Papers

Influencer Relations: Detailing the Concept and Broadening the Perspective

JOURNAL NAME: Journal of Communication Management

PUBLISHER: Emerald Publishing

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 30 April 2026

FULL PAPER SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 15 November 2026

About This Special Issue

Influencer Relations is continuously gaining ground as an important field in communication management and public relations. Modelled as a distinct instrument of communication management that parallels Media Relations, Influencer Relations is imagined as a valuable addition — and even a counterweight — to a dominant influencer marketing approach. Despite conceptual impulses that have been around for some time, the concept of Influencer Relations remains in a draft stage and is both undertheorized and empirically underexplored.

While a detailed understanding of influencer-triggered persuasion processes exists, surprisingly little is known about how influencers can support communication managers in fulfilling their functions for organizations. Furthermore, research on influencers in PR and communication management has predominantly adopted a functional perspective, leaving critical-cultural, social-reflective, and co-creational paradigms largely unexplored.

This special issue of the Journal of Communication Management aims to tackle these limitations by gathering both conceptual and empirical works that head in at least one of the following directions:

• Conceptually elaborating the concept of Influencer Relations

• Applying core concepts and theories from PR and communication management — from dialogue and reputation to relationship management, issues management, public opinion, and public affairs — to Influencer Relations

• Exploring Influencer Relations from non-functional perspectives, including critical-cultural, social-reflective, and co-creational approaches

Scope & Theme Areas

We invite submissions addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Conceptual Development — Theoretical frameworks and conceptual elaboration of Influencer Relations as a distinct field

• PR Theory Applied to Influencers — Dialogue theory, reputation management, relationship management, and issues management in the context of Influencer Relations

• Critical-Cultural Perspectives — Examining power dynamics, cultural implications, and societal impacts of Influencer Relations

• Social-Reflective Perspectives — Reflexive approaches to how influencers shape and are shaped by organizational communication

• Co-Creational Perspectives — Collaborative and participatory dimensions of Influencer Relations

• Influencer Relations and CSR — Leveraging influencers to enhance corporate social responsibility initiatives

• Crisis Communication — The role of influencers in organizational crisis communication

• Listening and Dialogue — Influencers as organizational listening agents and dialogue facilitators

• Campaign Management — Strategic planning, organization, and evaluation of influencer communication

• Political and Non-Profit Contexts — Influencer Relations beyond commercial settings

Topic Areas at a Glance

• Social Media Influencers

• Communication Management

• Public Relations Theory

• Co-Creation

• Critical Research

Guest Editors

Nils S. Borchers University of Tübingen, Germany ✉️ nils.borchers@uni-tuebingen.de

Hanna Reinikainen

Key Deadlines & Dates

Submission Guidelines

Two-step submission process: This special issue follows a two-step process. Authors must first submit an abstract for review by the guest editors, following which selected authors will be invited to submit a full paper.

Abstract submission: Abstracts of approximately 500 words (excluding references, tables, etc.) must be submitted by 30 April 2026 directly via email to nils.borchers@uni-tuebingen.de

Full paper submission: Invited full papers must be submitted via ScholarOne Manuscripts at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jocm strictly following the journal's author guidelines.

Selection step: Authors must select the special issue title from the drop-down menu at the appropriate submission step — in response to "Please select the issue you are submitting to."

Eligibility: Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication elsewhere while under review for this journal.

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