Timeline

• October 1, 2026: Full paper submission deadline

Lorraine Eden, Texas A&M University

This special issue invites scholars to examine how political ideology influences international business activities in a world characterized by increasing political polarization. As countries become more ideologically divided and nationalism rises globally, understanding the role of political ideology in shaping international business decisions, strategies, and outcomes becomes increasingly important.

We welcome theoretical and empirical contributions that advance our knowledge of the complex relationships between political ideology and international business. Submissions may address the ideological orientations of firms, governments, or individuals (such as CEOs and managers) and their implications for international business.

Papers should offer novel insights into how political ideology affects international business activities at multiple levels of analysis—from individual managers and firms to industries and countries. We encourage interdisciplinary perspectives that bridge international business with political science, economics, and other relevant fields.

Potential topics

• How political ideology shapes international business strategies and operations
• The impact of ideological polarization on foreign direct investment (FDI) decisions
• Political ideology as a determinant of cross-border mergers and acquisitions
• Ideological differences and international business partnerships
• The role of home country political ideology in MNE behavior abroad
• Host country political ideology and its effects on international business entry and expansion
• Ideological distance between home and host countries and international business outcomes
• Political ideology and global supply chain management
• Ideological polarization and international business ethics and CSR
• The influence of political ideology on international trade and tariff policies
• Political ideology and technology transfer in international business
• Ideological factors in international joint ventures and alliances

Timeline

• May 29, 2026: Submission deadline

Carlos Diaz Ruiz, Hanken School of Economics

Sofia Ulver, Lund University

James Pamment, Lund University

The online information landscape is a site for contested ideas, but it is also a marketplace; under the platform economy, every engagement has monetary value. This setup encourages content creators to circulate the kinds of material most likely to capture attention, even if it is incendiary. Central to this business model are the algorithmic recommendation systems, which are designed to monetize attention while simultaneously amplifying disinformation.

The term "Disinformation Economy" was introduced in a report published by the McCain Institute and The Carter Center. It highlights how the sources circulating disinformation extract financial benefits from digital marketing infrastructures, particularly through the architecture of advertising technologies (AdTech). Researchers estimate that 1.68% of digital advertising budgets are redirected to fake news websites, amounting to approximately US$2.4 billion in the US alone and nearly US$6 billion worldwide. This figure suggests that brands are inadvertently funding fake news and disinformation with their budgets.

The special issue aims to extend existing research on how platform architectures monetize and, at times, underwrite the spread of online disinformation, incentivizing the production of fake news websites, and the circulation of incendiary content through the creator economy. Although we know that polarization thrives in the online "conflict markets" designed to reward click maximization, we do not know well whether influencers profiting from radicalizing content is a likely outcome of the system or a regrettable side effect.

Policymakers increasingly recognize that malicious actors exploit digital advertising infrastructures to undermine democratic institutions and divide society, quickly becoming "hybrid threats," which is when state or non-state actors seek to exploit the vulnerabilities of democracies to their own advantage while remaining below the threshold of formal warfare. For instance, the infrastructures of the advertising market allow "dark money" actors to run influence campaigns unchecked. A recent report by the Swedish Psychological Defense Agency illustrates the emergence of a hybrid organization that applies digital marketing tools to conduct state-sponsored influence operations. And yet, we do not know to what extent influence operations co-opt malpractice in digital marketing.

This special issue invites contributions that seek to conceptualize and theorize disinformation research at the intersection of business, marketing, and society. However, we believe that it is insufficient merely to appreciate the problem; instead, we call for research that dares to find solutions that can inform public policy, change managerial practice, and strengthen society. We welcome contributions that can enhance social resilience against the spread of disinformation online.

We approach disinformation broadly, incorporating not just falsehoods but also dual-use technologies (like AI-generated synthetic media like deepfakes), which can disrupt social realities. Critical researchers on marketing and consumer research have shown that the accelerating speed of automation, big data, and algorithmic intensification give rise to new "manufactured consumers", becoming an ever more fragmented, yet controlable, societal formation. Thus, we would need to know more about how disinformation, scams, and fraud have become integral to the ebbs and flows of a digitally mediated consumer culture.

Multidisciplinary research contributions from across business disciplines, media studies, the social sciences, and public policy are welcome. We are particularly interested in research that addresses marketing technologies and practices in connection to disinformation. Other relevant research areas include understanding and countering deceptive online practices such as fake news, enhancing resilience through media literacy, fact-checking, platform governance, platform economies, and critical disinformation studies.

Potential topics

• Whether and how programmatic advertising funds fake news?
• How do the recommender algorithms amplify incendiary content?
• How can AI-generated content be used to spread disinformation?
• Do the monetization schemes of the creator economy reward polarization?
• How do influence operations exploit marketing infrastructures?
• What initiatives and interventions can strengthen societal resilience to disinformation?
• What forms of platform governance can protect liberal deliberative democracies?
• What methodologies, including Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT), can be used to investigate disinformation on AdTech and social media?

Timeline

• September 15, 2026: Manuscript deadline