The 18th Digital Sourcing, Platforms and Ecosystems Workshop

March 29th - April 1st, 2027

Obergurgl, Austria

Call for Papers

Following the success of past workshops (formerly known as the Global Sourcing Workshop), we are pleased to release this Call for Papers for the 18^th Digital Sourcing, Platforms and Ecosystems Workshop, to be held March 29th -April 1st, 2027, in Obergurgl, Austria. Now in its eighteenth edition, the workshop serves as a leading forum for researchers studying digital sourcing, platforms, ecosystems, and governance, providing a collaborative environment for discussing both early-stage ideas and mature research.

The workshop explores how organizations source and govern digital technologies and work, and how they design, participate in, and govern digital platforms and ecosystems. It continues the workshop’s long-standing tradition of advancing research on both digital sourcing—including outsourcing, multisourcing, offshoring, and related sourcing arrangements—and digital platforms and ecosystems. At the same time, it engages with developments such as generative and agentic AI, cloud services, data infrastructures, and new regulatory frameworks, which create opportunities for novel research at the intersection of digital sourcing, platforms, ecosystems, and governance.

The workshop aims to bring together viewpoints from Information Systems, International Business, Strategy, Organization Studies, Operations Management, and related disciplines to explore both established and emerging research questions relevant to digital sourcing, platforms, ecosystems, and governance.

We invite research articles and ‘focus on practice’ papers that investigate topics relating to digital sourcing, platforms, and ecosystems. Some of the specific themes that are of interest in this workshop are:

•     Digital sourcing and sourcing configurations (e.g., outsourcing, multisourcing, offshoring, cloud sourcing, crowdsourcing, platform-based sourcing)
• Platform design, governance, and strategy
• Digital platforms, labor platforms, and digital ecosystems
• Governance of digital platforms, ecosystems, and digital infrastructures
• Data sourcing and the role of data in digital platforms and ecosystems
• Agentic AI and AI-based delegation from a sourcing, platform, or ecosystem perspective
• Knowledge integration, coordination, and learning across organizational and technological boundaries
• Emerging technologies in sourcing, platforms, and ecosystems (e.g., generative AI, blockchain, low-code/no-code)
• Sustainability, resilience, and societal implications of sourcing, platforms, and ecosystems
• Regulation and policy (e.g., AI Act, Digital Markets Act) and their implications for platforms, sourcing, and governance
•      Critical perspectives on sourcing, platforms, ecosystems, and governance

We are interested in both empirical and conceptual papers.

Since 2010, we have been publishing selected papers as book chapters in Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing (by Springer). We plan to publish another book to include selected papers from this workshop. 

In addition, excellent papers will be selected for a fast-track option in the journal Electronic Markets.

Important Dates

Paper Track

Extended abstracts should be between 600-800 words and should include contact details of all authors. Extended abstracts must be submitted through the submission system (https://www.conftool.net/dspeworkshop2026). Participants from last year’s workshop can log in with their existing account.

The Workshop

As in past years, we will hold paper presentation sessions over 3 days, with about 30 min per paper for the author presentation, discussant feedback, and a Q&A session. Each full paper will undergo a double-blind review, with the expectation that each paper will receive at least 2 review reports. All co-authors of accepted papers are expected to serve as reviewers, and some will be asked to serve as discussants during the workshop.

The Workshop Venue and Accommodations

Universitätszentrum Obergurgl in Obergurgl, Austria, is the workshop venue and hotel. Attending the workshop requires a stay at the Universitätszentrum Obergurgl for the duration of the Workshop (3 nights) unless they are sold out. At the moment, we have reserved 25 rooms for workshop participants, which will be booked and paid for through the workshop registration as a single amount covering conference fees and accommodation costs. You should not approach Universitätszentrum Obergurgl for accommodation matters.

Registration and Accommodation Fees

Authors of accepted abstracts will receive an invoice to register and pay for their accommodation.

The cost for accommodation (single occupancy) and the workshop registration fee is 950 EUR, including three nights (February 8-11, 2026) at Universitätszentrum Obergurgl on a bed & breakfast basis and three workshop dinners.

Should you wish to bring a guest (not participating in the workshop) to stay with you, you will need to pay an extra 110 EUR per night (330 EUR in total), including three workshop dinners for your guest. In this case, please contact us, and we will arrange the guest’s stay with the conference venue. They will issue a separate invoice to pay for your guest. Please note that we cannot book rooms outside the workshop period. Should you wish to stay longer, you will need to make arrangements with a local hotel in Obergurgl.

Information about Obergurgl: https://www.uibk.ac.at/uz-obergurgl/index.html.en

Workshop Organizers

Maximilian Schreieck

Oliver Krancher

Thomas Huber

Advisory Co-Chairs

Leslie Willcocks

Julia Kotlarsky

Ilan Oshri 

Prior Workshops

The 17^th Digital Sourcing, Platforms and Ecosystems Workshops (2026)

The 17th Digital Sourcing, Platforms and Ecosystems Workshop was held in Obergurgl, Austria, from February 8th-11th.

The 16th Digital Sourcing, Platforms and Ecosystems Workshops (2025)

The 16th Digital Sourcing, Platforms and Ecosystems Workshop was held in Obergurgl, Austria, from March 4th-7th.

For workshops before 2025, continue here.