Call for Papers and Proposals

Call for Papers and Proposals 7th Annual ICGS conference
‘Corporate Governance in Times of Disruption’

The 7th annual conference of the International Corporate Governance Society will take place from Friday to Sunday 8-10 October 2021 at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands). The conference is intended to provide a forum for international academics and policy-makers to showcase and discuss the latest corporate governance research issues and practices.

Recent corporate governance debates have shown that companies face several disruptions. The Corona crisis has severe consequences for firms. Environmental factors, such as climate change, pollution, resource management, and energy consumption, have become critical to corporate decisions. The digital transformation generates opportunities for firms to monetize new technologies, but also threats, for stakeholders, including employees, customers, and society at large, such as unemployment and the misuse of personal data. Climate goals that have not been reached and recent bankruptcies due to missed digital transformations indicate that not all corporate governance (CG) actors, such as board members, investors, and managers, are prepared to cope with these environmental and digital disruptions.

These disruptions put new pressure on corporate governance actors in terms of formulating pro-active strategies to remain competitive. Increased demands for corporate sustainability also increases the risks of corporate fraud, as we have seen in the case of Volkswagen’s attempt to mask the emissions of their cars. Therefore, corporate governance mechanisms and practices must evolve to respond to these challenges. Against this background, the theme of this year’s conference is “Corporate Governance in Times of Disruption.” Therefore, we specifically welcome submissions related to the role of corporate governance in the fast-changing landscape of pandemic, environmental, and digital risks, that is, we would encourage submitting on one of the following themes:

• Do we need new types of board members and executives to tackle these days’ disruption?

• Do we need different compensation models to align executives’ and stakeholders’ interests in times of disruption?

• Which types of owners are best prepared to maneuver their investments through times of disruption?

• Are there optimal governance bundles to best deal with disruption?

Since the overarching mission of the ICGS is to bring together international governance scholars from multiple disciplines, original research on all areas of corporate governance are very much appreciated. Submissions must build upon previously unpublished and not-yet presented original research. You may submit either a full paper or a research proposal for the conference. In both cases, we are looking for research that will advance the field of corporate governance.

A full paper should not be longer than 40 double-spaced pages (including abstract, references, tables, and figures).
A proposal submission should include the following sections: (1) Abstract: 200 to 300 words description that summarizes the overall study; (2) Proposal: Narrative description of the conceptual or empirical study; (3) Supporting material: Tables, figures, and references that support the proposal. Overall, a proposal should not exceed 10 single-spaced pages in length or 3,000 words.
Papers or proposals can be submitted starting on February 1, 2021 and must be submitted by 12 midnight (EST) on June 1, 2021 in order to be considered for conference presentation. All submissions must be done through our online conference management system, which is accessed through the ‘Conferences’ tab of the ICGS website (www.icgsociety.org).

Decisions on submissions regarding their inclusion in the conference program will be communicated to the authors by June 30, 2021. The very best papers and proposals will be considered for the best conference paper award. The author(s) who win(s) this award will be recognized at the conference.

For now, we plan to hold the 7th annual ICGS conference in Groningen. Depending on the Covid-19-situation, we might change this to a blended conference (allowing offline and online participation) or a pure online conference. We will post regular updates about our Covid-19-planning on the conference homepage.

CONFERENCE TRACKS. On the title page, the author(s) should indicate which of the following tracks best fits the submission. The Track Chairs may shift proposals if it is evaluated to better fit another track:

TRACK A:
Corporate Governance in Times of Disruption
Environmental and digital disruptions have posed new challenges for corporate governance and sustainability. This track explores the rapidly evolving changes in firms’ environment and the role of corporate governance to cope with this disruption.
Chair: Dimitrios Georgakakis (University of St Gallen), Swarnodeep Homroy (University of Groningen)

TRACK B:
Board Dynamics and Strategic Leadership
In this track, we explore the roles of boards of directors concentrating in particular on diversity and group dynamics in boards. Studies that examine the role of women and internationals on board are particularly welcome. The track will also feature behavioral studies about board members and their interfaces to CEOs and the executive team.
Chair: Floor Rink and Dennis Veltrop (University of Groningen)

TRACK C:
Ownership
This track explores the antecedents and outcomes of different types of owners. The track also encourages papers on non-traditional means of raising capital that give rise to ownership changes, such as equity crowdfunding and other forms of alternative investment, and their implications for corporate governance.
Chair: Nikos Kavadis (Copenhagen Business School), Patrick Verwijmeren (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Maria Goranova (University of Wisconsin Milwaukee)

TRACK D:
External Corporate Governance Mechanisms
This track seeks to understand how firms’ strategic objectives and outcomes are influenced by external governance mechanisms, including (but not limited to) the role of external auditors, cultural norms, and media. It also welcomes studies that investigate how these external factors are related to the firms’ nexus of contracts and incentive structures.
Chair: Aleksandra Gregoric (Copenhagen Business School), Trond Randøy (Universitetet i Agder)

TRACK E:
Self Governance and Internal Corporate Governance Mechanisms
This track focuses on company goals and the alignment of these goals with managers. Topics can include (but are not restricted to) goals and executive compensation arrangements, particular goals structures or family firms and their consequences for corporate governance, socially-responsible behavior and executives’ internal moral compass that translates into ethically-sound decisions and actions.
Chair: Miriam Flickinger (Free University of Berlin), Marc Deloof (University of Antwerp)

TRACK F:
Comparative Corporate Governance
This track explores corporate governance in a (de)globalizing economy. We want to discuss how transnational non-governmental institutions shape corporate governance across nations. Furthermore, it is interesting and useful to compare governance practices across national economies. Multi-level governance interactions between multiple governance environments are also considered.
Chair: Kees van Veen and Esha Mendiratta (University of Groningen)

Conference program co-chairs:
Niels Hermes, University of Groningen (please direct your inquiry to c.l.m.hermes@rug.nl)
Jana Oehmichen, University of Groningen
Swarnodeep Homroy, University of Groningen