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CfP Electronic Markets: "Generative AI and the tension between automation and human agency"

  • 1.  CfP Electronic Markets: "Generative AI and the tension between automation and human agency"

    Posted 21 days ago

    Dear colleagues,

    Electronic Markets is inviting submissions for a Special Issue on "Generative AI and the tension between automation and human agency". Please find further details below.

    Call for Papers: "Generative AI and the tension between automation and human agency"

    Submission deadline: August 31, 2025

    Theme

    Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) represents a significant advancement in AI, enabling the creation of new, meaningful content such as text, images, and audio from training data (Feuerriegel et al., 2024, Bahn & Strobel, 2023). Technological advancements in AI promise to impact service provisioning, experience, and systems in general (Huang & Rust, 2021; Weritz et al., 2024), with GenAI integrations affecting both front-end and back-end operations (Vassilakopoulou et al., 2023), augmenting human capabilities and facilitating automation across industries and shifting service ecosystems where human and AI agents co-create and interact (Banh & Strobel, 2024). With a shift towards intelligent user assistance systems and platforms (Schmidt et al. 2023), GenAI can enhance user interaction and satisfaction by offering more personalized, effective services (Maedche et al., 2016).

    This, however, creates a crucial tension, as AI no longer simply assists human processes but often competes or collaborates with human intelligence, which raises concerns about the potential erosion of human roles in various domains. This special issue invites critical perspectives on how GenAI integration within platform-based service ecosystems redefines roles, collaboration, and value creation within organizations across industries in multi-tier economic value chains. It extends or challenges previous developments on hybrid intelligence (e.g., Dellermann et. al. 2019; Li et al. 2024) and provides new questions on value capture in value networks. The tension between AI-driven automation and the potential for human-AI collaboration gives rise to several critical questions: How do we navigate a world where automation increasingly takes over traditional roles? At the same time, AI also enables the re-skilling and up-skilling of workers to meet the demands of future industries and markets. How will human creativity, long regarded as a domain of superiority, evolve in the presence of AI that can replicate human artistic capabilities? What are the ethical, social, and organizational implications of this shifting landscape? How will the shift in agency affect value creation in (non-) human-centric markets? How will the tension between automation and human agency impact networked businesses?

    Automation, often viewed to increase efficiency, can diminish the need for human labor by optimizing or "replacing" it. However, the rise of agentic IS that actively engages with human agents in collaborative settings, opens new opportunities for enhancing human capabilities and has implications across multiple industries, reshaping everything from customer service to decision-making. We encourage scholars to engage with these issues by contributing to the growing conversation around the intersection of GenAI, automation, and human agency. This special issue aims to create a platform for discussing the theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of this ongoing transformation in how we understand the role of humans and AI in collaborative and creative settings within and across organizations.

    Central issues and topics

    Electronic Markets is a Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)-listed journal (IF 7.1 in 2023) in the area of information management and information systems. All papers should fit the journal scope (for more information, see www.electronicmarkets.org/about-em/scope/

    We welcome submissions from a wide range of methodological and theoretical backgrounds, including but not limited to:

    • Tensions between automation and human agency in generative AI-driven service (eco)systems and business networks
    • The impact of AI-driven systems, including GenAI platforms, on workforce development, resilience, and the future of work-exploring their potential to enhance or diminish human agency, creativity, and emotional labor in the age of automation 
    • The Human-AI collaboration and co-creation in creative industries with impacts, opportunities, and ethical considerations
    • Innovative platform or system designs that provide insights into the role of human agency in automation
    • The interaction of platform and ecosystem dynamics with AI in transforming the workforce and service systems
    • The linkage of GenAI platforms and platforms in the area of work automation (e.g., crowdsourcing, agentic AI platforms)
    • GenAI's influence on professional knowledge, practices, and human agency in various sectors, such as financial and energy markets or multi-sided markets like in the retail or travel sector
    • Human-AI hybrids: design, orchestration, decision-making, and the changing nature of professional expertise
    • AI literacy and workforce resilience with the building foundational skills, re-skilling, and up-skilling frameworks

    This call for papers complements the AI and the Future of Work in Digital Platforms call (Fjermestad et al. 2024) by focusing specifically on the tensions between automation and human agency within GenAI-driven service ecosystems, where AI and human roles are increasingly intertwined. While both calls examine the future of work in the context of AI, this special issue expands on the dual roles of AI in augmenting human agency and enabling new forms of human-AI collaboration, particularly within platform-based service ecosystems. It aims to critically examine how GenAI redefines our relationship with work, creativity, and human intelligence.

    Submission

    Submissions should be original, unpublished, and not under consideration at any other journal. Please also consider position papers and case studies for this special issue. We encourage contributions that explore the impact of GenAI technical dimensions on both individual and organizational levels, which includes the broader social, ethical, and organizational implications of AI integration within social networks, electronic commerce, supply chain management, service management, or customer relationship management. We particularly welcome submissions that study its impact on networked businesses and are open to all methodologies. Empirical, conceptual, technical, design-oriented, and critical research are all welcome, not favoring any particular research paradigm or methodology.

    Authors are welcome to submit an extended abstract (max. 1500 words) via email to the guest editorial team to receive informal feedback on the suitability of their contribution for the special issue. Please note that a positive response to the abstract does not guarantee acceptance of the full paper. All submissions will undergo the standard review process, including the possibility of a desk reject.

    Submissions must be made via the journal's submission system (elma.edmgr.com) and comply with the journal's formatting standards. The preferred average article length is approximately 10,000 words, excluding references. Instructions, templates and general information are available at www.electronicmarkets.org/authors/general-information/. If you would like to discuss any aspect of this special issue, you may either contact the guest editors or the Editorial Office.

    Keywords

    generative AI; agency; value co-creation; human-ai collaboration; platform-based service ecosystems; agentic IS

    Important deadline

    * Submission Deadline: August 31, 2025

    References

    Banh, L., & Strobel, G. (2023). Generative artificial intelligence. Electronic Markets, 33, Article 63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-023-00680-1

    Dellermann, D., Ebel, P., Söllner, M., & Leimeister, J. M. (2019). Hybrid intelligence. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 61(5), 637-643. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-019-00595-2

    Feuerriegel, S., Hartmann, J., Janiesch, C., & Zschech, P. (2024). Generative AI. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 66(1), 111-126. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-023-00834-7

    Fjermestad, J., Shin, S.I., & Yun, H. (2024). CfP special issue on "AI and the Future of Work in Digital Platforms". https://www.electronicmarkets.org/call-for-papers/single-view-for-cfp/datum/2024/08/30/cfp-special-issue-on-ai-and-the-future-of-work-in-digital-platforms/

    Huang, M. H., & Rust, R. T. (2021). A strategic framework for artificial intelligence in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 49(1), 30-50. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-020-00749-9

    Li, M. M., Reinhard, P., Peters, C., Oeste-Reiss, S., & Leimeister, J. M. (2024). A Value Co-Creation Perspective on Data Labeling in Hybrid Intelligence Systems: A Design Study. Information Systems, 120, 102311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.is.2023.102311

    Maedche, A., Morana, S., Schacht, S., Werth, D., & Krumeich, J. (2016). Advanced user assistance systems. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 58, 367-370. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-016-0444-2

    Pappas, I. O., & Giannakos, M. N. (2021). Rethinking learning design in IT education during a pandemic. Frontiers in Education, 6, Article 652856. Frontiers Media SA. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.652856

    Schmidt, R., Alt, R., & Zimmermann, A. (2023). Assistant platforms. Electronic Markets, 33, 59. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-023-00671-2

    Vassilakopoulou, P., Haug, A., Salvesen, L. M., & Pappas, I. O. (2023). Developing human/AI interactions for chat-based customer services: Lessons learned from the Norwegian government. European Journal of Information Systems, 32(1), 10-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/0960085X.2022.2096490

    Weritz, P., Wache, H., & Hönigsberg, S. (2024). How digital readiness relates to the intention to use generative AI in workplace service systems. AMCIS 2024 Proceedings. https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2024/incl_sustain/incl_sustain/5 

    Best regards,

    Rainer Alt, Mathias Klier, Maria Madlberger, Hans-Dieter Zimmermann, Ramona Coia

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    Electronic Markets - The International Journal on Networked Business

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    Editor-in-Chief: Rainer Alt, Leipzig University

    Co-Editors: Mathias Klier, Ulm University; Maria Madlberger, Webster Vienna Private University; Hans-Dieter Zimmermann, Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences

    Executive Editor: Ramona Coia, Leipzig University

    Editorial Office:

    c/o Information Systems Institute

    Leipzig University

    04109 Leipzig, Germany

    Mail: editors@electronicmarkets.org

    Phone: +49-341-9733600

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    Electronic Markets
    Leipzig University of Applied Sciences
    Leipzig
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