Accelerating AI adoption, institutional restructuring, and volatile economic conditions have exposed a widening gap between organizational ambition and human capacity to deliver it. This track examines how leadership and management must evolve to close that gap — at the level of the corporation, the institution, and the individual. This track acknowledges the enduring relevance of Edward O. Wilson’s (1929–2021) observation that “the real problem of humanity is that we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology.”
We invite conceptual contributions, empirical studies, and practice-oriented analyses engaging but not limited to the following themes through the lenses of Dynamic Capabilities, Institutional Theory, Human Capital Theory, or Positive Organizational Scholarship.
Key research themes
- Leadership under institutional uncertainty: How do leaders sustain strategic coherence and organizational trust when regulatory, political, and technological environments shift simultaneously?
- AI integration and the reconfiguration of managerial work: As automation increasingly absorbs routine decision-making, which distinctly human capabilities — such as creativity, judgment, and empathy — will define managerial value, and how are organizations cultivating these capacities?
- Individual performance and well-being: What organizational and personal conditions sustain motivation, growth, and resilience in technology-driven workplaces?
- Corporate governance and institutional resilience: How do governance structures in firms and public institutions adapt to sustain legitimacy through disruption?
- How do organizations translate knowledge — including AI-generated knowledge — into sustained competitive and social value?
- Ethics and purpose-driven leadership: How are evolving stakeholder expectations reshaping leadership accountability across corporate and institutional contexts?
Track Chairs: Prof. Emerita Mariana Nicolae, Ph.D. (Bucharest University of Economic Studies) & Huang Xin, Ph.D. (Corvinus University of Budapest)
Email: mariananicolaerei@gmail.com, huangxinn222@gmail.com.