Aims and scope

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 Regulatory competition and global governance in digital markets
Submission Date: 2025-04-01

In recent years, the European Union has famously started to regulate digital markets, in particular by taking the reins on data, digital platforms, and artificial intelligence (Fast et al., 2023; Johnson et al., 2023; Paul, 2023; Peukert et al. 2022). The General Data Protection Regulation (Dorfleitner et al. 2023; Engelmann et al. 2018), the Data Governance Act, the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, the Data Act, and most recently the AI Act will significantly impact whether and how companies do business in Europe. Regulations of digital technologies and markets (De Vaujany, 2018; Easley et al. 2018) have also been implemented in China and the United States or are expected to be implemented there (e.g., Li & Wang, 2024). This emerging global governance landscape for the digital economy raises the question of how competition among private and public regulators (Kokshagina et al., 2023) and entire jurisdictions will affect the strategic choices of companies, the development and diffusion of innovative technologies, and thus ultimately the welfare and wellbeing of societies.

Diverging regulatory rules and standards can allow companies in digital markets to strategically choose their location in regions in order to benefit from better regulations or to engage in regulatory arbitrage. A highly illustrative example of regulatory arbitrage is corporate law, where companies may choose the limited liability status in a jurisdiction with the lowest minimum capital requirement. Other traditional areas in which firms are allowed to choose from a variety of different legal regimes include contract law, bankruptcy law and the rules governing the proceedings of an arbitration court. As of today, it is largely unclear which regulation attracts digital businesses and how governments will then adapt their regulations. The special issue invites conceptual, theoretical, and empirical contributions that address, but are not limited to, the mentioned topics below. Submissions should provide novel insights and contribute to the academic discourse on regulatory competition and global governance in the digital economy, offering both theoretical depth and practical relevance.

Central issues and topics

Possible topics and exemplary questions of submissions include, but are not limited to:

+ How does regulatory competition affect digital technologies, digital markets, and the well-being of societies?
+ Does competition among regulators leads to a "race to the top" or "race to the bottom" in digital markets (Smuha 2021)?
+ What drives legal arbitrage in data, digital platforms, and artificial intelligence business models?
+ How does regulatory competition affect data-driven innovation and the diffusion of digital technologies?
+ When developing artificial intelligence, do companies actually choose locations where AI systems require less protection or liability is laxer? Do digital platforms and their users benefit from stricter content regulations and more stringent neutrality obligations?
+ Which institutions can facilitate the development of standards and governance mechanisms in a global digital economy with diverging interests and values?
+ What forms of governance and (self-)regulation can promote data sharing (Otto & Jarke, 2019)? Is there empirical evidence for a Brussels effect when it comes to the regulation of digital technologies?
+ How does regulatory competition affect the enforcement of data protection and privacy rules?

Submission

Electronic Markets is a Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)-listed journal (IF 8.5 in 2022) in the area of information management and information systems. Submissions should be original, unpublished, and not under consideration at any other journal. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods are welcome, provided the research exhibits strong methodological rigor. Contributions can take the form of conceptual and theoretical development papers, empirical hypothesis testing, position papers, case-based studies, and more. All papers which pass the desk-reject phase will undergo a double-blind peer-review process. Submissions must be made via the journal's submission system and comply with the journal's formatting standards. Authors should clearly indicate that their submission is intended for the special issue on Regulatory competition and global governance in digital markets. The preferred average article length is approximately 10,000 words, excluding references. Instructions, templates, and general information are available at www.electronicmarkets.org/authors/general-information. If you would like to discuss any aspect of this special issue, you may either contact the guest editors or the Editorial Office.

Important deadlines

+ Submission deadline: April 1, 2025
+ Planned publication of special issue: Autumn 2025

In addition, an optional paper development workshop (PDW) will be organized at the Technical University in Dresden, Germany:

+ Submission deadline for PDW: October 31, 2024
+ PDW at TU Dresden: January 31, 2025