Conference Tracks

Submissions should relate to one of the conference theme tracks:

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Track 1 Co-chair dr. Monika PETRAITE, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

Track 1 Co-chair dr. Neringa GERULAITIENE, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

Innovation pace and directions over the past few years have undergone an important shift as the level of uncertainties has grown in multiple directions, shaping the new conditions that require firms to innovate around all domains at once – digitalization and integration in value chains, greening and circularity, and opening of innovation networks as a response to the increasing scope of global challenges, changing business models, and disruption of international supply chains.

As firms face the complexity of innovation decision-making, the ambidexterity of circular, digital, and open innovation management needs to be addressed all together at the level of the firm and ecosystem (s) to provide managerial and policy-level implications for firms and policy decisions. The track welcomes theoretical, conceptual, and empirical papers, including case studies, addressing the following issues but not limited to:   

  • Building sustainable innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems for the circular and digital economy;   
  • Managing innovation toward digital, green, and open ecosystems;   
  • Orchestrating and managing open innovation networks;   
  • Innovating decision-making for sustainable growth under ambidexterity and uncertainty conditions;   
  • Developing innovation competencies for a sustainable and digital future (including deep tech and arts);   
  • Embedding entrepreneurship education in local ecosystems and stakeholder networks;   
  • Leadership and teams management for circular and digital innovation, including women in tech issues;   
  • Creativity for innovating in global borderline situations and art-driven innovation (climate change, supply chain disruptions, war, security, etc., in association with Grand Challenges);
  • Resilient family business in a rapidly changing business environment;
  • Family business entrepreneurial opportunities and challenges. 

Track 2 Co-chair dr. Agne GADEIKIENE, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

Track 2 Co-chair dr. Lina DAGILIENE, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

Aiming to achieve sustainable growth requires systemic transformation across multi-level perspectives. Considering that sustainability transitions are too slow, this track aims to discuss the active role of organizations and consumers in this regard. Particularly how organizational practices link to system-level sustainability transitions in society and what sustainable consumption-related issues and priorities are emerging. We are keen to understand sustainability-based changes in the levels of products, product-service systems, business models, and consumer decisions. We seek to debate how organizations may shift to the circular economy through innovation processes and related ecosystems and how consumer behavior in various fields of consumption (energy, fashion, food, mobility, etc.) may be influenced by sustainability-related consumer attitudes, technologies and corporate marketing decisions.  

The track invites submissions in the following most welcomed, but not limited, topics:  

  • Environmental management: strategies, performance, and reporting;   
  • Sustainable and circular business models;   
  • Product-services systems, oriented on circularity;   
  • Digital technologies and eco-innovation for a circular economy;   
  • Collaborative circular value chains and ecosystems;   
  • Impacts of sustainability policies;  
  • Consumer decisions shaped by sustainability-related attitudes;  
  • Collaborative and circular consumption;  
  • Consumer psychology and lifestyles;  
  • Sustainable consumption patterns;  
  • Digital transformation in corporate marketing decisions.  

Track 3 Co-chair dr. Mantas VILKAS, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

Given the disruptive potential of a cluster of digital technologies, digital transformation currently constitutes a significant stream of research. The variance approach, which deals with the covariation among dependent and independent variables, dominates the field of digital transformation. This research provided important knowledge about the interdependence and effects of digital technologies. At this stage, processual accounts of digital transformation could effectively complement our understanding of how companies, regions, and countries cope with digitalization processes. The section welcomes research and presentations on roadmaps, scenarios, and other processual accounts of digital transformation. It draws attention to stages, precedence, and patterns of events and activities that constitute digital transformation. It welcomes research on events that facilitate or inhibit transformative efforts and are consequential for digital transformation scenarios and alternative futures. It can provide more insights into the emergence and development of national and regional digital ecosystems and inform on Industry 4.0 road mapping practices. It may enhance knowledge of digitalization strategy scenario building, capability development pathways, digitalization, pace, and rhythms. Therefore, this section welcomes both conceptual and empirical papers with qualitative and/or quantitative methodologies that theorize digital transformation beyond the variance approach. We encourage contributions that address issues related (but not limited) to the following areas: 

  • The processes driving or constituting digital transformation; 
  • Digital transformation, digitalization scenario building; 
  • Digital transformation, digitalization road mapping; 
  • The precedence of activities, events, and stages of digital transformation; 
  • Longitudinal accounts of diffusion of digital technologies; 
  • Capability development processes and pathways. 

Track 4 Co-chair dr. Taeho PARK, San Jose State University, United States

Track 4 Co-chair dr. Iris XIAOHONG QUAN, San Jose State University, United States

After several decades of developing innovative technology, which changed our life patterns a lot, there is still a new wave of astonishing innovation introduced to the business market. Startups with such technology develop market-driven products and endeavor to enter a startup’s unicorn club. Thus, high technology-based entrepreneurship is getting more important to startups, but not limited to only startups.

It recently focused on innovation-intensive business opportunities in the areas of AI, robotics, IoT, healthcare, VR/AR, supply chain, blockchain, etc. In addition, after the pandemic, workplaces have been more virtualized and digitalized. In such newly emerging technology and a more virtual workplace environment, there’s demand for entrepreneurship that will fit to the new business environment.

This track is to provide audiences with innovative technology-based entrepreneurship research that explores the role of entrepreneurs in the emerging innovative technology business, covering marketing, funding, business governance, operations, supply chain, and so on.  We encourage contributions that address issues related (but not limited) to the following areas: 

  • Technology opportunities and challenges in startups; 
  • Entrepreneurship opportunities with AI, Big data, and other emerging technologies; 
  • Venture financing for technology entrepreneurship; 
  • Different business sector applications enabled by IoT, AI, and Robotics; 
  • Innovative business models using emerging technologies; 
  • Resilient Supply Chains. 

Track 5 Co-chair dr. Asta SAVANEVICIENE, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

Increasing economic competition, rapid technological changes, and a constantly changing labor market assume the challenge of sustainable development while emphasizing the necessity for a new way of relationship with the internal and external stakeholders. Bridging Sustainable Human Resource Management and Organizational Sustainability depends on the organization’s ability to create greater financial value in line with positive societal and environmental impact and to design human resources management sustainably, eliminating harmful HRM practices.    

This track aims to gain theoretical knowledge and empirical evidence for bridging Sustainable Human Resource Management and Organizational Sustainability. This emerging field of research encourages scientists from different scientific fields to contribute to bringing together their ideas and insights on a wide range of issues. We encourage contributions that address issues related (but not limited) to the following areas:   

  • Organizational sustainability measurement;   
  • Barriers to organizational sustainability;   
  • Relationship between the Human Resource Management function and organizational sustainability;   
  • Main characteristics of sustainable HRM; 
  • Characteristics of sustainable HRM in terms of its content;   
  • Impact of emerging technologies on work processes and tensions caused by their application;   
  • The linkage between sustainable HRM characteristics and organizational performance;   
  • Role of leaders in designing sustainable HRM;   
  • Measurement of sustainability in human resource management. 

Track 6 Co-chair dr. Matilda SEA BEZ, University of Montpellier, France

Track 6 Co-chair dr. Christopher MATHIEU, Lund University, Sweden

Healthcare is one of the most significant business sectors in terms of market size and its impact on individual and societal well-being. However, digital transformation through the use of platforms still needs to improve.

Furthermore, the speed of adoption of digital healthcare platforms, which was gaining some momentum during Covid-19, was reported to be rapidly slowing down in 2022. Many factors hurdle the sufficient pace of adoption of digital platforms in healthcare. First, specifics of the sector. It is a highly regulated industry that must comply with ethics and safety  standards, data privacy, liability, and high-quality requirements.

Second, sustainable technological solutions. Digital  technologies are connected by nature, thus, lack of interoperability, high-quality data sets, and compliance with medical  standards can be a significant drawback in adopting digital healthcare services.

And third, lack of relevant competence  to adopt, maintain and constantly renew digital healthcare solutions. We encourage contributions that address issues related (but not limited) to the following areas: 

  • Digital platforms business model innovations; 
  • Digital healthcare ecosystems development; 
  • Application of advanced technologies (AI, IoT, VR/AR, etc.) in healthcare; 
  • Barriers and drivers of digital healthcare adoption.  
  • The hurdles and outcomes of the platform adoption; 
  • Advancements of connected healthcare innovations.