Jon F. Kirchoff, East Carolina University

Ying Liao, East Carolina University

Shingirai Chris Kwaramba, Virginia Commonwealth University

At its core, supply chain risk management (SCRM) research has focused on identifying and assessing known and unknown risks, and on risk mitigation to derive and implement solutions that ensure supply will continue to meet demand during and after a disruptive event. However, supply chain disruptions have been escalating in recent years and revealed considerable complex vulnerabilities in how firms manage their global operations. Current SCRM strategies, theories, and frameworks are ill-equipped to address these vulnerabilities, despite years of experience and research.

A justified concern in the literature is that the assumptions of risk neutrality and rationality of decision-makers is unrealistic. In reality, supply chain decision-makers fall along a broad spectrum from risk seeking to risk aversion and often make decisions under bounded rationality and are influenced by cognitive biases and other factors that cause them to deviate from optimal or rational choices, especially under conditions of uncertainty, tension, and time pressure. Deviations from rationality influence risk identification, assessment, and mitigation, leading to a gap between theoretical predictions and actual supply chain outcomes. Ignoring behavioral realities leads to suboptimal risk management strategies, reduced operational efficiency and profitability. Thus, the behavioral aspect is crucial in determining whether supply chains recover or remain fragile in the face of disruption.

Research on the behavioral and non-rational aspects of supply chain risk management has been primarily at the individual level such as human cognition, biases, interpersonal relationship, individualism, confidence level, personal wealth and regulatory focus. However, little attention has been devoted to how individual behavior is shaped by organizational and inter-organizational factors such as risk appetite, dependency and power asymmetries, and the adoption of industry 4.0 technologies. Therefore, research on behavioral issues in supply chain risk management needs to be researched across the individual decision making-level (micro), the entity decision making-level (macro), and the supply chain decision making-level (interorganizational).

This perspective also requires investigating how decisions by one actor (individual, team, or organization) cascade systematically influence others, both within an organization and across the broader supply chain network. Drawing on insights from psychology, behavioral theories, decision-making frameworks, organizational studies, and risk management frameworks, this special issue seeks to unpack these behavioral dimensions to advance a holistic understanding of SCRM.

This call for papers focuses on behavioral issues in supply chain risk management, across multiple levels. In line with the journal's aim to advance theoretical concepts and frameworks and given this call's focus on unpacking behavioral issues in supply chain risk management, we are particularly interested in research that explores the limitations of existing theories in the literature and/or research that introduces new and innovative concepts and frameworks that address the complexities of supply chain risk management.

Potential topics

• To what extent does strategic manipulation of information (withholding, distorting, or framing risk signals) affect collective supply chain resilience outcomes?
• How can behavioral theories explain inter-firm risk-sharing under uncertainty?
• How can interdisciplinary (i.e. psychology, sociology) perspectives be used to explain multi-level intention action reaction dynamics in risk situations spanning individuals, organizations and supply chains?
• How do individual decision-making styles aggregate into organizational risk cultures and capabilities?
• How do behavioral dynamics across levels (micro, macro, interorganizational) complement or contradict one another in shaping supply chain resilience?
• What mechanisms explain how individual-level behaviors (e.g., bounded rationality, trust, or opportunism) cascade into network-level collaboration or conflict in supply chain risk management?
• What are the unintended consequences when human intuition and AI recommendations diverge in supply chain risk management decisions?
• To what extent do fear appeals, regulatory pressures, or organizational risk cultures motivate or inhibit proactive cyber risk management?
• How do disruptive technologies impact behavior?

Timeline

• March 15, 2026: Opening date for manuscripts submissions
• April 15, 2026: Closing date for abstract submission
• September 15, 2026: Closing date for manuscripts submission