Guest Editors:
Simon Fietze, Martin Senderovitz, & Jesper Raalskov, University of Southern Denmark

Special Issue
SMEs play a significant role in economic development. They stimulate competition and create jobs by developing new technologies and products. However, SMEs’ are often prevented from realising their potential due to internal and external constraints. To deal with these constraints, on the one hand, international, national and regional policies support a number of initiatives to assist SMEs’ growth and development. On the other hand, the dynamic competitive landscape of the twenty-first century is highlighting an increased need for SMEs to emphasis on the managerialization of their organizational structure and processes as well as the professionalization of individuals involved in the organization to ensure long-term survival and growth.

Research on managerialization has shown, that SMEs are characterized by a lower adoption of managerial processes, because of the strong linkages between manager and company. In addition, there is a lack of management knowledge at different levels. It is commonly highlighted that the management in these firms is characterized by some degree of informality and that individual and social control systems are more suited to these enterprises, due to common shared values and languages, informal relationships etc.

In addition, decisions in SMEs are also determined by the institutional and contextual factors and in consequence how much of their potential is realised (e.g. innovation). The Nordic context and their countries’ business systems have during the last few years served as exemplary models for practitioners from business, politics and research. The Northern European countries are among the most competitive economies, have a well-developed welfare system and a large public sector. These qualities have raised an increased interest both among practitioners and scholars alike to understand the “success” mechanisms of the Nordic business systems.

Based on these considerations, the purpose of this special issue of management revue – Socio-Economic Studies is to enhance our understanding of management practices in  SMEs from a Nordic and comparative perspective. Topics may include, but are not limited to the following issues:

• What institutional conditions determine management practices in SMEs?
• What is the role of managerial mechanisms and professional managers in SMEs and family firms’ development and growth?
• How does social- and environmental considerations influence management practices in SMEs in a Nordic context?
• What is the role of HR in developing management practices in SMEs?
• How do talent management impact SMEs development and growth?

This is not an exhaustive list.

21^st Nordic Conference on Small Business Research (NCSB) 2020
Since its inception in 1980 the NCSB conference has been a biannual event in the Nordic tradition characterized by an open atmosphere that encourages the exchange of ideas between researchers with research interests in the field of small business and entrepreneurship. The 2020 NCSB conference in Kolding, Denmark will continue this tradition and welcomes papers from all areas of the small business and entrepreneurship.

Special Issue of management revue – Socio-Economic Studies
management revue – Socio-Economic Studies is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary European journal publishing both qualitative and quantitative work, as well as purely theoretical papers that advances the study of management, organization, and industrial relations. Management Revue publishes articles that contribute to theory from a number of disciplines, including business and public administration, organizational behavior, economics, sociology, and psychology. Reviews of books relevant to management and organization studies are a regular feature.

All contributors to the 21^st NSBC conference are invited to submit their paper for the special issue of management revue – Socio-Economic Studies. Full papers for this special issue must be submitted by September 30^th, 2020. All contributions will be subject to double-blind reviews. Papers invited to a ‘revise and resubmit’ are due March 31^st, 2021. The publication is scheduled for issue 3/2022. Please submit your papers electronically via the online submission system using ‘SI Management in SMEs’ as article section.

Manuscript length should not exceed 10,000 words (excluding references) and the norm should be 30 pages in double-spaced type with margins of about 2.5 cm on each side of the page. Further, please follow the guidelines on the journal’s homepage.

Hoping to hear from you!
Simon Fietze (simonf@sam.sdu.dk)
Martin Senderovitz
Jesper Raalskov

Guest Editors:

Simon Fietze, University of Southern Denmark
Sylvia Rohlfer, Colegio Universitario de Estudios Financieros (CUNEF), Spain
Wenzel Matiaske, Helmut-Schmidt-University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Germany

Special Issue

Over the past four decades, scholars from employment relations, human resource management, organisational behaviour and labour economics have published a vast body of literature concerning employee voice (Wilkinson & Fay, 2011). Employee voice is thereby understood as the opportunity to participate in organisational decision-making and to have a say to influence the own work and the interests of managers and owners (Barry &Wilkinson, 2016) or – in the case of employee silence – to withhold these views and concerns (Morrison & Milliken, 2003). Employee voice and silence have been linked to organisational performance and the development of competitive advantage (Barry & Wilkinson, 2016) and are a key ingredient for the positive relationship between strategic human resource management and organisational performance (Wood & Wall, 2007) which also implies a link between employee voice and innovation. Employees with the opportunity to communicate individual ideas to management and to participate in decision-making give them the possibility to express ‘creative ideas and new perspectives, increasing the likelihood of innovation’ (Grant, 2013, p. 1703; Zhou & George, 2001).

Recently, scholars are paying more attention to current topics and relate them to employee voice. One stream of research is addressing the advancing technologies and consider the digital revolution and its impact on employee voice. There is no doubt that digital technology is fundamentality changing the way we do business (Mennie, 2015) and in consequence forms, tools and channels ‘voice’. The few studies on employee voice and digitalisation are mainly dealing with social media at work and its opportunities for management to get in dialogue with employees. Holland, Cooper, and Hecker (2019), for instance, discuss conceptual issues and opportunities social media provides in the development of employee voice. In a similar vein, Barnes, Balnave, Thornthwaite, and Manning (2019) show how a union’s use of social media might facilitate greater member participation and engagement. However, more empirical evidence and conceptual considerations are needed to better understand and explain digitalisation and employee voice (or: ‘e-voice’).

Therefore, the aim of the special issue of management revue – Socio-Economic Studies is to focus on digitalisation at work and its challenges and opportunities for employee engagement, voice and silence in cross-disciplinary discussions. We welcome empirical studies as well as theoretical papers. Some context to discuss are listed below:

• To what extent do technologies impact employee voice and silence?
• To what extent do employees make use of technology to ‘raise their voice’?
• What role do trade unions play when it comes to electronic (e.g., social media) employee voice?
• What is the impact of electronic (e.g., social media) voice on traditional mechanisms of employee voice?
• What is the effectiveness of electronic (e.g., social media) voice? How does it compare to the outcomes of traditional mechanisms?
• Why do electronic (e.g., social media) employee voice systems fail?
• What is the ‘dark side’ of electronic (e.g., social media) employee voice/silence?

These are just some ideas and not an exhaustive list.

Deadline
Full papers for this special issue of management revue – Socio-Economic Studies must be submitted by 31 October 2020. All contributions will be subject to double-blind review. Papers invited to a ‘revise and resubmit’ are due 31 March 2021. The publication is scheduled for issue 1/2022. Please submit your papers electronically via the online submission system at http://www.mrev.nomos.de/ using ‘SI Employee Voice’ as article section.

Manuscript length should not exceed 10,000 words (excluding references) and the norm should be 30 pages in double-spaced type with margins of about 3 cm (1 inch) on each side of the page. Further, please follow the guidelines on the journal’s website (http://www.mrev.nomos.de/guidelines/).

Hoping to hear from you!
Simon Fietze
Sylvia Rohlfer
Wenzel Matiaske