Sustainability in Organizational Change and Leadership Development

Dear Colleagues,

We are currently living in a context of sudden and unprecedented disruptions that continue to challenge the sustainability of small entities, large corporations, and state-led institutions all over the world [1]. Global pandemics, credit crunches, and financial distress, political instability and social inequality, acts of violence and civil unrest, disasters triggered by natural hazards [2], and widening development gaps characterize the new era of major socio-economic disturbances and extreme environmental jolts. The entirety of humanity is witnessing the emergence of distinct realities and novel paradigms of being, thinking, doing, and behaving [3] that call into question the applicability and viability of previously adopted models of leadership and management. Nowadays, decision makers increasingly recognize that systemic change is imminent, necessitating new modi operandi and approaches to leading that are more dynamic, inclusive, accountable, and transformative to better prepare actors to embrace change and face the constantly evolving and unpredictable future [4].

This Special Issue aims to ignite provocative research questions, encourage meaningful conversations, share best practice advice, and offer preliminary reflections on recent experiences of people, teams, businesses, and nations in leading change to achieve sustainable outcomes. We encourage submissions from a wealth of theoretical and methodological traditions that address various aspects related to sustainability in organizational change and leadership development. Scholarly contributions that tackle this intriguing and thought-provoking subject from a cross-disciplinary vantage point are particularly welcome. Among the topics that could be of particular interest to the academic and industry readership are leadership and change-related issues that generate sustainable implications for growth and development at the micro and/or macro levels, such as knowledge management practices [5], talent management and future leadership skills, big data and data-driven transformation [6], business model innovation, organizational development and restructuring, novel business processes, and digital transformation and workplace outcomes [7]. 

Sample topics for this Special Issue

The contributions to this Special Issue may be related, but are not restricted, to the following research topics:

• Organizational development, restructuring and change;
• Digitalization, innovation, and data-driven approaches to growth;
• New leadership skills needed to create a more sustainable future;
• Novel management approaches to closing the gap in future leadership skills;
• Non-traditional workplace arrangements to embrace digital realities;
• Leading and managing people in times of extreme disruption;
• Boosting employee engagement and openness to change;
• Innovative business processes and sustainable organizational outcomes;
• Creativity, innovation, and design thinking in a constantly changing world;
• Business model design for new non/technological ventures;
• Contemporary knowledge management and talent management practices.

References

1. Bodolica, V.; Spraggon, M. Leadership in times of organizational decline: A literature review of antecedents, consequences, and moderators. Int. J. Organ. Anal. 2021, 29, 415–435.
2. Battikh, J.; Bodolica, V.; Wood, M. Disasters triggered by natural hazards and terrorism: A bibliometric network analysis into the intellectual structure of a cross-disciplinary research field. Int. J. Disaster Risk Reduct. 2022, 77, 103045.
3. Ponomareva, Y.; Uman, T.; Bodolica, V.; Wennberg, K. Cultural diversity in top management teams: Review and agenda for future research. J. World Bus. 2022, 57, 101328.
4. Bodolica, V.; Spraggon, M.; Khaddage-Soboh, N. Air-travel services industry in the post-COVID-19: The GPS (Guard-Potentiate-Shape) model for crisis navigation. Tour. Rev. 2021, 76, 942–961.
5. Spraggon, M.; Bodolica, V. On the heterogeneity and equifinality of knowledge transfer in small innovative organizations. Manag. Decis. 2021, 59, 1421–1441.
6. Chang, S.-Y.; Bodolica, V.; Hsu, H.-H.; Lu, H.-P. What people talk about online and what they intend to do: Related perspectives from text mining and path analysis. Eurasian Bus. Rev. 2022, in press.
7. Mustafa, G.; Solli-Saether, H.; Bodolica, V.; Havold, J.I.; Ilyas, A. Digitalization trends and organizational structure: Bureaucracy, ambidexterity or post-bureaucracy? Eurasian Bus. Rev. 2022, in press.

Prof. Dr. Virginia Bodolica
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.