Electronic Markets (EM) is a leading academic journal that offers a forum for research on all forms of networked business. EM recognizes the transformational role of information and communication technology (IT) in changing the interaction between organizations and customers, which is present in social networks, electronic commerce, supply chain management, or customer relationship management. Electronic markets, in particular, refer to forms of networked business where multiple suppliers and customers interact for economic purposes within one or among multiple tiers in economic value chains. As a broad concept, there are many forms of electronic markets: In a narrow sense, electronic markets are mainly conceived as allocation platforms with dynamic price discovery mechanisms involving atomistic relationships. Popular examples originate from the financial (e.g., CBOT, XETRA) and energy markets (e.g., EEX, ICE).    

In a broader sense, price discovery is not critical for Electronic Markets. These solutions emphasize longer-term relationships and processes for enabling business transactions (e.g., electronic procurement solutions) and/or knowledge management (e.g., product development, problem and incident management). EM covers diverse aspects of networked business and welcomes research from a technological, organizational, societal, and/or political perspective. Since EM is a methodologically pluralistic journal, quantitative and qualitative research methods are both welcome as long as the studies are methodologically sound. Conceptual and theory-development papers, empirical hypothesis testing, and case-based studies are all welcome.
More information on EM's scope as well as some examples are provided in Editorial 24/3, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12525-014-0163-9.

Officially cited as: Electron Markets

Special Issue on Digitalization for responsive and circular supply chains
Submission Date: 2026-02-01

Theme

The economic environment in which companies create value today is characterized by greater vulnerability, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity than ever before. Natural disasters, geopolitical conflicts and other disruptions are affecting global supply chains and presenting great changes to established supply chain management models, processes and tools. In the meantime, Planet Earth has reached its limits; climate change and shortages of raw materials are forcing companies and supply chains to transition to more sustainable operations. The commoditization of high-tech products, which is evident in many sectors, is driving the servitization of the manufacturing industry. This presents a golden opportunity for companies to cope with the above-mentioned challenges with greater responsiveness and sustainability.

Tomorrow's supply chains must be able to react quickly to disruptions and changes. The concepts of resilience and responsiveness (Richey et al. 2021) are key, as are flexibility, agility, adaptability and improvisation. The renewed battle for natural resources requires economic growth to be decoupled from the extraction of raw materials, ultimately forcing a transformation of established 'take, make, waste' supply chains into circular systems (Papert et al. 2024). R-strategies such as reduce, reuse, remanufacture and recycle play a special role in doing so (Potting et al. 2017). The ultimate aim is to increase resource efficiency in existing value chains, extend the service life of products, and close the loop. Scientific literature agrees that digital technologies are key to realizing the responsive, servitized and circular supply chains of tomorrow (Alcayaga et al. 2019; Bressanelli et al. 2022; Jabbour et al. 2019; Khan et al. 2021; Kristoffersen et al. 2021; Stank et al. 2019; Yu et al. 2022; Berg & Wilts 2018; Zeiss et al. 2021). Important building blocks include the internet of things, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, digital twins for products and supply chains, blockchains and digital platforms. However, insufficient research has been conducted into how these building blocks support responsiveness, servitization and the transition to sustainability and circularity as a triple transformation.

Central issues and topics

This Special Issue on Digitalization for Responsive and Circular Supply Chains continues Electronic Markets’ earlier special issue on sustainability (Jabłoński et al. 2020) and seeks contributions that exemplify technology- or data-driven solutions for implementing resilient and circular supply chains, as well as the associated business models. Therefore, we welcome research papers including but not limited to the following aspects:

- Contribution of digital technologies to responsiveness, agility, flexibility, adaptability, improvisation, and resilience, sustainability, circularity, and regeneration
- Increasing supply chain visibility based on digital technologies
- AI methods supporting forecasting, planning, decision making and optimization
- Division of labour and interactions between humans and machines in AI-supported supply chains
- Virtualization and simulation of supply chains based on digital twins
- Blockchain and smart contracts in logistics and supply chain management
- The role of digital platforms in supply chain management
- Effects of smart product-service-systems on supply chains and supply chain management
- Ecosystems and federated data ecosystems enabling new data-driven R strategies
- Models, methods and tools enabling the triple transformation of supply chains
- Barriers and challenges hindering digitalization, servitization and transition to sustainability and circularity
- Data security and cyber security challenges in digital supply chain structures
- Legal aspects within the digital, servitized, circular supply chain
- Potential of digital technologies for ensuring compliance with legal requirements in the context of sustainability and circularity
- Relationship management mechanisms and governance structures in the era of digitalized supply chains.

This special issue aims to emphasize topics related to the context outlined above. We therefore invite contributions that explore digital technologies in supply chain management within today's challenging business environment or specific industry contexts, such as automotive, chemicals, food, life sciences and healthcare, logistics service providers, manufacturing, or mining. We are particularly interested in contributions that address the challenges and opportunities associated with digitalization, servitization and transition to sustainability and circularity across multiple supply chain tiers or at least in dyadic relationships.

Special Issue on Digital influence in the platform economy: Governance, value creation, and market dynamics
Submission Date: 2026-03-01

Theme

Digital platforms have evolved beyond real-time price negotiation (Alt & Zimmermann, 2014). Contemporary electronic platforms now function as infrastructures supporting sustained interorganisational processes, enabling strategic sourcing, digital procurement, and collaborative knowledge exchange (Alt & Zimmermann, 2014; Alt, 2020).

The platform economy, an encompassing ecosystem (Hein et al., 2020), generates value from digital marketplaces (Tan et al., 2024), social media networks (Fu et al., 2024), and platform-based entrepreneurship (Cutolo & Kenney, 2021), becoming central to global economic activity (De Reuver et al., 2018). Within this economy, digital influence (Backaler, & Shankman,2018) influencers - has become a significant mechanism for value creation, consumer engagement, and brand strategy. Social media platforms (Dolbec & Smith, 2025; Saternus et al., 2024; Waltenrath, 2024) and the rise of the creator economy have enabled scalable, platform-mediated relationships between content creators, consumers, and firms. Despite this model’s rapid growth, the governance, monetisation, and platformisation of influencers remain underexplored, particularly in terms of how value is distributed and how different stakeholders (UGC platforms, creators, consumers) negotiate control, authenticity, and trust (Gu et al., 2024).

The evolution of influencers from endorsers to entrepreneurial co-creators, via equity partnerships and collaborative product development, raises key questions about power redistribution, financial sustainability, and brand authenticity in the platform economy (Pradhan et al., 2023; Libai et al., 2025). Similarly, the increasing adoption of community-driven monetisation, like subscriptions and crowdfunding, redefines the creator-user relationship and requires deeper exploration of creator autonomy and user dynamics (Cartwright et al., 2022).

Simultaneously, the platform economy presents increasing ethical and socio-economic concerns requiring scholarly scrutiny. Platform-driven monetisation often favours larger influencers, exacerbating financial inequalities in the creator economy (Leung et al., 2022). Unclear regulations and inconsistent sponsorship disclosures (Cao & Belo, 2024) further complicate ethical issues, as influencers face pressure to align with potentially incongruent values. Deceptive advertising (De Veirman & Hudders, 2020), inadequate transparency, and the spread of misinformation erode consumer trust and pose significant regulatory challenges (European Commission, 2024).

Finally, the increasing sophistication of AI-generated content, blurring authenticity and fabrication, alongside the rise of virtual influencers, necessitates a critical re-evaluation of trust and identity. In addition, the long-term implications for labour, ethics, and platform governance remain under-theorised (Leung et al., 2022). These shifts require reconfiguring value creation in the influencer ecosystem, offering new avenues for sustainable growth while raising urgent theoretical and practical questions that warrant rigorous academic investigation within the platform economy, making it a timely and compelling focus for this special issue.

Central Issues and Topics

This special issue welcomes contributions exploring key tensions and transformations within the platform economy, particularly through influencers and platform-based commerce. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

- Disruption and market dynamics for influencers on digital platforms
- Future of digital influence on digital platforms
- Influencer entrepreneurship and creator-economy business models
- Design of platforms in the influencer and creator economy
- Role of artificial intelligence and algorithms in the influencer economy
- Value creation and revenue models in the influencer economy
- Impact of influencers on pricing in electronic marketplaces
- Authenticity, ethics, and influencer trust in the influencer economy
- Power asymmetries between platforms and influencers during brand collaborations
- Emotional costs of platform culture and influencer well-being
- Regulatory and policy challenges, transparency, disclosures, and consumer protection