Call for Papers: Sub-theme at the 43rd EGOS Colloquium, to be held at the University of Liverpool, July 8–10, 2027:

Sub-theme 53: Playing with Complexity: QCA and Organizational Games [Hybrid]

Convenors:

Joanna T. Campbell (University of Cincinnati)

Peer C. Fiss (University of Southern California)

Johannes Meuer (KLU Hamburg)

Organizations increasingly operate in settings that resemble complex games rather than stable systems—from innovation tournaments, digital platforms, and AI races to regulatory sandboxes, experiments, and simulations. Our sub-theme explores how configurational thinking and set-analytic methods such as QCA can help us understand these settings and, more broadly, how organizations and their members experiment with configurations of strategies, structures, technologies, identities, and institutional arrangements.

We welcome empirical, conceptual, and methodological contributions from across organization and management studies. Papers may use QCA as a core method, combine QCA with qualitative or quantitative approaches, or engage with configurational thinking more broadly. Topics include organizational configurations and design, individuals and identities, institutional complexity, experimentation and learning, and methodological innovations involving set-analytic approaches, processes, simulations, or other methods.

The sub-theme will be organized in a hybrid format, with presenters attending in person and online participation incorporated into the discussion.

Short-paper submission deadline: January 15, 2027, 12:00 CET. The submission system will open in early October 2026.

The full Call for Papers and further information are available here: EGOS 2027 – Sub-theme 53: Playing with Complexity

We hope to receive your submissions. Please feel free to share the call with colleagues and others who may be interested.

All the best,

Joanna Campbell
University of Cincinnati

Peer Fiss
University of Southern California

Johannes Meuer
KLU Hamburg