“Leadership and Governance in Complex Learning Systems: Risk, Knowledge and Entrepreneurship”

Call for Papers – Special Issue: “Leadership and Governance in Complex Learning Systems: Risk, Knowledge and Entrepreneurship”

Journal: Kybernetes
Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Submission deadline: 26 December 2026

Overview

This special issue—published by Emerald—seeks to advance a systems-theoretical understanding of leadership and governance within knowledge-intensive organizations (universities, health systems, research institutes, and professional service firms). As these institutions face escalating complexity, resource constraints, and geopolitical volatility, they must act as complex learning systems. This issue invites research that integrates leadership, governance, risk, and entrepreneurship within an integrated cybernetic framework, foregrounding the interdependent processes of observation, communication, and decision-making that enable organizational viability.

Key Research Themes

• Systemic Architectures: Leadership and governance as frameworks for observation, decision, and learning.

• Cybernetic Processes: Enterprise-wide risk management, knowledge management, and entrepreneurship viewed as interconnected system processes.

• Reflexive Inquiry: Second-order perspectives on how organizations monitor and redesign their own governance and learning architectures.

• Contextual Analysis: Cross-sector studies of universities, public agencies, health systems, and professional service firms viewed through a complexity lens.

• Theory-as-Method: Analytical applications of cybernetics, systems thinking, or complexity frameworks to solve organizational challenges.

Submission Details

• Submission deadline: 26 December 2026.

• Submission portal: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/kyb

• Special Instructions: You must select the special issue title from the dropdown menu in response to “Please select the issue you are submitting to” during the submission process.

• Submission Standards: The journal welcomes conceptual papers, theory-led empirical studies, and methodological contributions. All manuscripts must adhere to the Kybernetes Author Guidelines.

Guest Editor Team

• Dr. Enis Elezi, University of Westminster (e.elezi@westminster.ac.uk)

• Dr. Christopher J. Bamber, OLC Europe (cbamber@olceurope.com)

• Dr. Alireza Nazarian, University of Westminster (A.Nazarian@westminster.ac.uk)

• Dr. Gentjan Çera, University of New York Tirana (gcera@ubt.edu.al)

Why This Issue Matters

Knowledge-intensive institutions are central to global progress, including UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 3, 4, 8, 9, 16, and 17). Their success depends on leadership and governance models that can accommodate uncertainty and cultivate resilience. By showcasing research that uses systemic concepts to explain organizational phenomena, this special issue offers a vital platform for conceptual innovation, helping to design more adaptive and responsible institutions for a complex world.

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