Managing Operational Tensions in Scaling Emerging Technologies
DETAILS
Call for Papers
Managing Operational Tensions in Scaling Emerging Technologies
Journal: International Journal of Operations & Production Management
Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Manuscript Submission Opens: 8 January 2027
Manuscript Submission Deadline: 8 April 2027
The International Journal of Operations & Production Management invites submissions for a Special Issue examining the operational tensions that emerge and intensify when organizations scale artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies across processes, organizational units, supply networks, and wider operational systems.
About the Special Issue
Emerging technologies promise improvements in efficiency, forecasting, coordination, transparency, and operational performance. However, moving technologies from pilot projects to organization- and network-wide deployment can create persistent trade-offs involving efficiency versus flexibility, autonomy versus control, centralisation versus decentralisation, and sustainability versus profitability.
This Special Issue seeks to advance operations and supply chain management research by explaining how these tensions emerge, interact, and evolve as technologies such as AI and blockchain scale. Particular attention is given to how organizations manage competing demands across organizational, inter-organizational, and system levels while addressing resilience, governance, cybersecurity, sustainability, infrastructure, and resource constraints.
Topics of Interest
Submissions may address, but are not limited to:
Intra-Organizational Level
Emerging technologies and operational process redesign
Changes in organizational routines and decision rights
Technology scaling and resource allocation
Performance measurement for technology-enabled operations
Human-technology interaction
AI-enabled operational decision-making
Autonomy versus managerial control
Experimentation versus operational reliability
Capabilities required for technology scaling
Managing emerging and legacy technologies simultaneously
Integration and phase-out of legacy systems
Inter-Organizational, Network and Platform Level
Technology scaling across supply networks
Digital technologies and supply chain coordination
Technology-enabled ecosystem collaboration
Data sharing and governance
Platform-based operations
Trust, power, and dependency in digital supply networks
Transparency versus confidentiality
Decentralisation versus strategic control
Local optimisation versus network-wide performance
AI-enabled ecosystems
Intelligent intermediaries and algorithmic brokers
Algorithmic orchestration of supply networks
Digital maturity differences among supply chain partners
Digital exclusion and inequality
Operational-System Level
Technology scaling and operational resilience
Cybersecurity risks in technology-enabled operations
Regulatory constraints on emerging technologies
Infrastructure capacity and technology expansion
AI-related energy consumption
Technology scaling and sustainability
System-level resource constraints
Distribution of risks and costs across supply networks
Implications for workers, suppliers, and customers
Technology-enabled operations during disruptions and crises
Resource-constrained operating environments
Healthcare and humanitarian operations
Speed versus control
Improvisation versus standardisation
Risk-taking versus accountability
Local responsiveness versus system-wide coordination
Research Focus
The Special Issue particularly encourages research explaining how organizations can manage operational tensions arising from emerging technologies at three interconnected levels: intra-organizational, inter-organizational/network, and wider operational-system levels.
Research may explore AI, blockchain, and other emerging technologies while considering their implications for operational processes, governance structures, supply networks, resilience, sustainability, cybersecurity, resource consumption, and long-term system viability.
Submission Information
Submission Opens: 8 January 2027
Submission Deadline: 8 April 2027
Manuscripts should be submitted through the International Journal of Operations & Production Management ScholarOne Manuscripts system.
Authors should follow the journal's submission and formatting requirements and select the relevant Special Issue during the submission process.
Guest Editors
Dr Minhao Zhang
University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Email: minhao.zhang@bristol.ac.uk
Dr Yuanzhu Zhan
University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Email: y.zhan@bham.ac.uk
Dr Iana Jackson
University of Arkansas, United States
Email: ijackson@walton.uark.edu
Professor Zhijun Yan
Beijing Institute of Technology, China
Email: yanzhijun@bit.edu.cn
Posted on ServiceSetu Academics — Premier Platform for Academic Opportunities & Research Collaboration.
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