McLaren Vale, Adelaide (Australia) | November 24 - 26, 2025

2025 Organization & Society Network Conference

 
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For more information on this event, please contact Maree Withers – m.withers@unsw.edu.au

Purpose and goal

The 2025 Organization & Society Network Conference will take place in McLaren Vale, Adeliade on November 24-26, 2025. As in all O&S Network events, the main purpose is to bring together academics (and practitioners) to discuss big ideas – and to bring those ideas into action. The conference uses several formats, including keynotes, idea development workshops, project presentations, and other interactive discussions, offering both the time and the space for in-depth discussion of ideas to be developed, and for collaborative bonds to be created or strengthened.  

At our conference, no idea is too grand or too bold. We discuss the most pressing societal issues that organizations face, and critically examine the role of organization(s) in tackling these issues, including, for example, addressing climate change, poverty alleviation, overcoming polarization and divides in society, harnessing artificial intelligence, ongoing urbanization, preparing for aging populations, and many more.

Organizers

Senior Lecturer Melodie Cartel
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Headshot of David Grant
Professor of Management | Senior Deputy Director, UNSW Institute for Climate Risk and Response
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Lecturer Jaco Fourie
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Call for Papers

The Organization & Society Network (O&S Network), initiated by the School of Management and Governance at UNSW Business School, Sydney, aims to build a vibrant international community of scholars studying organization and society to contribute to research, teaching, and engagement that creates positive societal impact. For the third time, the O&S Network will organize a conference that brings together academics (and practitioners) from across Australia, New Zealand, and around the world to discuss how to advance our understanding and impact on the relationship between organization(s) and society. 

The 2025 Organization & Society Network Conference will take place in McLaren Vale – Adelaide, South Australia, on November 25-26th, with a welcome dinner planned on 24th November.  As in all O&S Network events, the main purpose is to bring together academics (and practitioners) to discuss big ideas – and to bring those ideas into action. To achieve this the conference uses several formats, including keynotes, idea and paper presentations, and other interactive discussions, offering both the time and the space for in-depth discussion of ideas to be developed, and for collaborative bonds to be created or strengthened.   

The Conference seeks to act as a platform for lively exchange between and among established and early career scholars. In keeping with this objective, we welcome and encourage doctoral students to attend and present.  They will also be invited to attend a doctoral forum offering them the opportunity to meet prominent scholars in the field and to network with peers. The forum format will enable participants to raise and debate key research, publishing and early career issues of their choosing that are of particular interest to them.  

Keynote speakers

Prof. Gili S. Drori

Professor Gili S. Drori

Professor

Professor Gili S. Drori is a sociologist, faculty member at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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  • We welcome all ideas and papers that explore the dynamic and complex relationship between organization(s) and society. Example topics include, but are not limited to:  

    • Dynamics of societal impact on organization(s) 
      • How are changes in the cultural, political, legal, economic, technological, or physical environmental sphere (e.g., wars, pandemics, AI, climate change, populism) (re)shaping the significance and purpose of contemporary organizations and their relationships with society?  
      • How are these changes similar (or different) across space and time – at local, national, and global levels of analysis? 
      • How do recent societal trends force us to rethink existing organizational theories? 
    • How do organizations co-create ‘change-for-good’ in the environment? 
      • Why are organizations assuming new responsibilities?  
      • How do organizations address these responsibilities? 
      • Who is responsible/accountable?  
      • Where and why do organizations and organizational networks fail to create positive societal impact?  
    • What conceptual lenses can we use to examine the relationship between organizations and society?  
      • Organizational theories (e.g., institutional theory, organizational ecology, paradox theory, discourse theory, performativity, practice theory, etc.).  
      • Insights from other disciplines (e.g., economics, geography, politics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, IT, communications, the natural and physical sciences, etc.). 
    • Methodological trends and innovations for the study of organization and society 
      • Qualitative interpretive research, case studies, ethnographies 
      • Mixed methods, QCA, etc. 
      • Quantitative and qualitative AI-enabled methodologies 
      • How to measure impact? Why measure, and does measuring improve outcomes? 
  • To apply to present at the 2025 Organization & Society Network Conference, please submit one of the following for consideration:

    (a) an idea for a study or for a theoretical paper (max. 500 words) that directly or indirectly addresses a relevant topic.

    (b) a paper abstract of an unpublished manuscript (max. 500 words) related to any of the topics above.

    Submissions should be uploaded as a single pdf file using the online form on the conference site: https://conference.unsw.edu.au/en/2025-organization-and-society-network-conference

    Please ensure your submission includes an Idea or Abstract title as well as contact details for all authors (i.e. names, affiliations, and email addresses). Notification of acceptance will be provided by August 11th, 2025.