Call for Papers:
Special Issue of Business & Society
The Governance of Digital Technology, Big Data, and the Internet: New Roles
and Responsibilities for Business
Guest editors:
Mikkel Flyverbom, Copenhagen Business School
Ronald Deibert, Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of
Toronto
Dirk Matten, Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto
Background
The importance of digital technologies for social and economic developments
and a growing focus on data collection and privacy concerns have made the
internet a salient and visible issue in global politics. Recent
developments, such as the information released by Edward Snowden and
others, have increased the awareness that the current approach of
governments and business to the governance of the internet and the adjacent
technological spaces raises a host of ethical issues. Examples include
states tracking citizens online, governments filtering or turning off the
internet at will, and corporations using personal data for commercial
purposes. The significance and challenges of the digital age have been
further accentuated by a string of highly exposed cases of surveillance and
a growing concern about how states and corporations use digital traces to
do various sorts of tracking and profiling of citizens and users. Despite
this growing focus on digital formations, surprisingly little research has
explored questions about the relations between business, governance and the
internet. This special issue of Business & Society therefore invites
scholars to explore what some have referred to as the ‘internet-industrial
complex’ – the intersections between business, states and other actors in
the shaping, development and governance of the internet.
Relevant topics include, but are not limited to the following aspects:
· The unclear relations between companies and governments in the
internet domain;
· The roles and responsibilities of very visible internet companies
such as Google and Facebook;
· The largely covert operations of state- and private actors in
internet surveillance, data aggregation and profiling;
· Questions of internet governance, such as new policy initiatives
challenging the historical US control over core components of the
internet infrastructure;
· Organizational developments, such as the emergence of
multi-stakeholder forums, where business, governments and civil
society actors seek to shape the internet domain;
The growing importance of large internet companies in advocacy,
policy debates and lobbying efforts. These developments include the
increasingly visible and well-resourced presence of internet
companies and internet-focused think tanks in settings such as
Washington DC and Brussels, and the worldwide spread of policy
directors, research centers and advocacy efforts funded by internet
companies;
· The rapidly growing ecosystem of mobile phones and applications which
allow for new communications and information experiences – even in in
countries that have weak democracies or authoritarian regimes;
· New questions about tracking and data sharing in mobile applications
which can (and sometimes do) give themselves permission to access a
wide range of users’ data contained in their devices, from contacts,
to archives of text messages, to images and videos as well as
geo-location. Whether, how, and how often such data is shared with
governments in particular jurisdictions, and to what extent device
and application manufacturers proactively take steps to either filter
or monitor users, are some of the most important questions of
concerning government-private sector interaction;
· The growing focus on data as a resource for economic, organizational
and regulatory developments. In this area, we see not only widespread
excitement about ‘big data’, but also a growing focus on data
protection and privacy, and an emergent pressure for corporations to
be more transparent about their collection, use and recirculation of
data;
· The potential and real benefits of internet usage and technological
developments for wider society, and reflections on future avenues and
possibilities for the governance of the internet.
Types of Submissions
This special issue seeks to expand our knowledge of the intersections
between business management, global governance and the digital domain. As
such it invites contributions from a broad range of social and political
science disciplines, including business, law, politics, international
relations, sociology, and philosophy.
The Special Issue will feature papers that pave new empirical and
conceptual ground in this emergent field of research. We seek both papers
that deliver in-depth empirical explorations of the topic and papers
providing theoretical conceptualization, analytical vocabularies and
innovative methods for the understanding of the intersection between
business and governance in the internet domain. We particularly encourage
submissions that develop our theoretical understanding of the phenomena by
showcasing relevant conceptual and analytical approaches, such as (but not
limited to) institutional theory, actor-network theory, cultural theory.
This may include a variety of theoretical approaches from various social
science disciplines including media studies, governance, organization and
communication.
Submission process and schedule
· Authors should submit their manuscripts through ScholarOne
Manuscripts by March 1st, 2015 to
http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/bas .
· Be sure to specify in the cover letter document that the manuscript
is for the special issue on “Governance of Digital Technology.”
· Manuscripts should be prepared following the Business & Society
author guidelines:
http://www.sagepub.com/journals/Journal200878/manuscriptSubmission.
· All articles will be double-blind peer reviewed by at least three
anonymous referees.
· The editors welcome informal enquiries related to the proposed
topics.
· Authors of papers selected for publication will be invited for a
manuscript development workshop (time and location TBA) before the
final submission is due.
About the journal
Business & Society is one of the leading journals at the intersection of
business and issues of social responsibility, ethics and governance. It is
published by SAGE and its current two-year Citation Impact Factor is 1.936
(2012). It was ranked 31 out of 116 journals in the Business category of
the 2012 Thomson Reuters Journals Citation Report (ISI). For further
details see
http://bas.sagepub.com .
About the guest editors
Mikkel Flyverbom (
mfl.ikl@cbs.dk) is Associate Professor at the Copenhagen
Business School and founder of the CBS Big Data Forum. Recent publications
include the monograph The Power of Networks: Organizing the Global Politics
of the Internet (Edward Elgar 2011), and articles in journals such as
Organization and Global Networks. His research focuses on internet
governance, transparency, corporate advocacy and sociological questions
about big data.
Ronald Deibert (
r.deibert@utoronto.ca) is Professor of Political Science
and Director of the Citizen Lab and Canada Centre for Global Security
Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto.
Recent publications include Black Code: Surveillance, Privacy, and the Dark
Side of the Internet (Random House 2013), Access Controlled: The Shaping of
Power, Rights and Rule in Cyberspace (MIT 2010), and articles in
International Organization, Global Governance, Review of International
Studies, and others. He was a co-founder and principal investigator of the
OpenNet Initiative and Information Warfare Monitor projects.
Dirk Matten (
dmatten@schulich.yorku.ca) holds the Hewlett-Packard Chair in
Corporate Social Responsibility at the Schulich School of Business, York
University, Toronto. He has published 15 books on CSR and business ethics
as well as numerous articles in journals including Academy of Management
Review, Journal of Management Studies, and Organization Studies. He is
interested in CSR, business ethics and comparative international
management.
Dr Dirk Matten
Professor of Strategy
Hewlett-Packard Chair in Corporate Social Responsibility
Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business
Schulich School of Business
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto M3J 1P3
Canada
Phone: +1 416 736 2100 x20991
Fax : +1 416 736 5762
www.dirkmatten.com