#emmaSweden2020 postponed to June 2021
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The safety and well-being of all conference participants is our priority. Based on information from the World Health Organization (WHO), and recommendations from the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Public Health Agency of Sweden, we have decided to cancel this year’s emma conference in Jönköping, Sweden and delay it to June 2021.
The postponement does not mean, however, that all activities are cancelled- We are still awarding our annual emma Best Paper Award and will publish a Journal of Media Business Studies (JOMBS) special issue featuring emma conference papers. In addition, JOMBS will host an online paper development workshop for authors who would like to receive feedback on their emma conference paper to support them in developing it to enhance chances of subsequent publication in the journal.
Contextualizing Media Management Research
The field of Media Management research is growing and developing, sharpening its ambitions and opportunities. Media management research can benefit from a better understanding of the different dimensions of contexts relevant in media. Contextualizing our research offers potential to not only account for specific circumstances and boundary conditions in our findings, but also to increase theories of media relevance beyond current industry definitions and managerial issues.
Current developments in strategic management, organization studies and entrepreneurship (e.g. Johns, 2006, 2017; Welter, 2011; Wright et al., 2014; Zahra & Wright, 2011) call for more contextual research. These calls stress the need to capture environmental boundary conditions and the role of context in the studied phenomena. Importantly, they also suggest the need to develop theories of context. It is in the development of such contextual theories that media management can fruitfully demonstrate its uniqueness and justification versus general management studies. Contextualizing media management research also implies building bridges to the very diverse scholarly traditions and perspectives that have addressed media-related phenomena, such as creativity, communication, marketing, journalism, economics and information technology studies.
Similarly, accounting for and understanding the particular contexts of media may direct our scholarly attention to significant practice and policy struggles, problems and challenges related to media management issues and even extending beyond them. An enhanced focus on these issues compels us to explicitly consider how different societal actors can benefit from our discoveries and insights. It is in these topics where we can become more engaged scholars (e.g. Van de Ven, 2007; Bartunek, 2007), creating applicable knowledge to help media organizations and policy makers to better deal with relevant societal implications of media (e.g. Mutz, 1992; Curran & Hesmondhalgh, 2019).
All topics related to dimensions of context relevant for media management research are welcome at the conference. They include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Internal context, such as:
- Ownership issues (e.g. family, public, state ownership, equity holdings)
- Human resources, employment and professional conditions and practices
- Organizational capabilities and innovation
- Organizational climate, culture and identity
- Venture cycles (e.g. startup vs mature; incumbent vs newcomers…)
- External context, such as:
- Informal and formal institutions (e.g. legal and regulatory; dominating norms and ideals; political)
- Technological, social and environmental jolts
- Media systems and geographies
- Sector and ecosystem dynamics
- Consumer behavior and practices
- Stakeholder groups and social movements.
- Temporal aspects such as
- System-wide processes of stagnation and change
- Organizational inertia and change in relation to technological and demographic trends
- Organizational dynamics that unfold in time affecting various outcomes
- Individual processes of decision making and organizational behavior
All these dimensions provide arrays of theoretical frameworks within which today’s most pressing issues to media practitioners and policy makers can be addressed. Capturing contexts will also provide a great opportunity to improve the dialogue between media management and general management as well as among the different scholarly perspectives interested in media.
We welcome paper, poster and panel sub-theme proposals that address either the specific conference theme or other issues regarding the management of media organizations.
Call for papers
Submissions for the emma conference are invited as paper proposals in the form of extended abstracts (350-750 words) followed by a full paper (6000 words maximum), if the abstract is accepted. The extended abstract should address the following evaluation criteria:
– Problematization, research purpose, anchoring in previous research, and relevance to the academic field of media management
– Research methodology
– Summary of (expected) results/findings
– Intended contributions to the field’s knowledge
– Practical implications (for business and/or policy)
All submissions will go through the process of double peer review by experts nominated to the conference’s Scientific Committee.
Full papers will only be considered for the Best Paper Award (€300) if they are submitted before May 15, 2020. The submission information can be found here.
Call for posters
Similar to the Call for Papers, we welcome poster proposals that address either the specific conference theme or other topics relevant to the field of media management. Different from the papers (which participants will present orally), posters should introduce on-going and future research projects. The focus is less on the results of such projects than the research question(s) and methodology. Ideally, participants will use the posters to look for collaboration and partners. The posters will be exhibited in a prominent place at the conference venue throughout the conference. Those interested in presenting a poster, should submit an extended abstract (350–750 words) addressing the following:
– Relevance of research gap
– Goals of the ongoing or intended research project
– Research questions, working hypotheses, propositions
– Research methodology and description of the empirical data used
– Description of the project team and collaboration partners
– Intention: why you want to present your project at the emma conference
– Expected outcomes: what you want to gain from this presentation at the emma conference
If the poster proposal is accepted, participants will receive clear guidance in terms of poster size, format, etc.
Important dates
Early December 2019
Submission System Opens
6 February 2020
Deadline for abstract submissions (papers, posters and panels)
End of February 2020
Notification of acceptance (papers, posters and panels). Opening of conference registration.
Mid March 2020
Opening of full paper submissions
May 15, 2020
Deadline for full paper submissions to be considered for the emma 2020 Best Paper Award
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