Call for Papers – Hybrid Platformization: Exploring Configurations, Contingencies, and Innovation Outcomes

Call for Papers – Hybrid Platformization: Exploring Configurations, Contingencies, and Innovation Outcomes

Journal: Technovation
Publisher: Elsevier
Submission deadline: 31 January 2027

This special issue introduces “hybrid platformization” as a lens to examine how platforms combine multiple logics—functional, architectural, role, governance, and business‑model hybridity—within the same organisation, ecosystem, or platform trajectory. It invites work that explores how hybrid forms emerge, how they are configured, and how they shape innovation outcomes for platforms, complementors, and ecosystems.

Types of research this SI invites

Guest editors

Dr Haiyan Lu, Newcastle University Business School, UK, Email: Haiyan.Lu@newcastle.ac.uk
Dr Luca Mora, Edinburgh Napier University, Business School, UK, Email: L.Mora@napier.ac.uk
Dr Daniel Trabucchi, Politecnico di Milano, School of Management, Italy, Email: Daniel.Trabucchi@polimi.it
Dr Tommaso Buganza, Politecnico di Milano, School of Management, Italy, Email: Tommaso.Buganza@polimi.it
Dr Marin Jovanovic, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, Email: mjo.om@cbs.dk

List of suggested topic areas

• Emergence and evolution of hybrid platform forms (functional, architectural, role, governance, and business‑model hybridity)

• Interactions among different hybridities and design trade‑offs (openness vs. control, multi‑sidedness, orchestrator–reseller balances)

• Contingencies: when and why hybridity becomes necessary or advantageous (incumbents vs. born‑digital platforms, regulated vs. less regulated sectors)

• Innovation outcomes at the platform, complementor, and ecosystem levels (exploration vs. exploitation, diffusion, complement diversity)

• Platform‑driven transformations in commerce, work, healthcare, finance, industrial IoT, and crowd‑based innovation

Submission information

The special issue opens for submissions on 1 June 2026. All manuscripts must be submitted via the journal’s Editorial Manager system by 31 January 2027 and are expected to be original and not under review elsewhere:
https://www.editorialmanager.com/technovation/default2.aspx

When submitting, select article type “VSI: Hybrid Platformization” to link your paper to the special issue.
Follow the journal’s Guide for Authors:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/technovation/publish/guide-for-authors

An optional Special Issue Paper Development Workshop will be hosted as a special track at the SymPlatform conference (September 3–4, 2026; details at www.symplatform.com).

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