Call for Papers

In response to the multiple crises (Adler et al., 2021) often referred to as “grand challenges” (Ferraro et al., 2015), there is an increasing need for innovative approaches in conceptualizing and shaping our collective futures. This calls for recognizing novel ways of organizing to overcome those challenges and rethink how to shape inclusive and sustainable futures. Organizing based on commons, such as with community-based enterprises, is one of the most dynamic perspectives to generate innovative practices that benefit communities and societies (Peredo & Chrisman, 2006). With the notion of commons expanding beyond natural resources (Hess, 2008; Fournier, 2013; Peredo et al., 2020), the boundaries of a so-called “commons paradigm” are growing and have been pushed to new organizing and governing modes (Bollier & Helfrich, 2014; Meyer, 2020).
 
At the core of this paradigm is the concept of commoning, in which “commoners” come together to collectively organize for sharing resources in a sustainable and equitable manner (Fournier, 2013; Ostrom, 1990). Commoning generates alternative practices and processes of decommodification in society for benefit to communities (Peredo & McLean, 2020). Commoning not only calls for alternative systems (De Angelis, 2017), but also for understanding creativity in designing these new systems. In such contexts, organizing for the commons strongly relies on collective creativity to identify and practice alternative modes of organizing (Borch & Kornberger, 2015). Social innovations are particularly useful in this process since they foster collective action, innovative products and services, shared identities, political projects (Gibson-Graham & Roelvink, 2016), and knowledge (Alexiuk, 2013). In the context of Indigenous peoples, traditional knowledge and practices, distinct worldviews and resulting cultural norms, as well as the struggle for recovery from colonization, play a role in social innovation to overcome social, cultural, and political challenges (Peredo et al., 2019).
 
We posit that there is a need to further explore the connections between the commons and creativity. Creative mindsets are necessary to expand the field of possibilities in given communities (Banerjee & Arjaliès, 2021; Ergene & Calás, 2023). For example, the governance of natural commons requires creative ways to identify shared pathways for collaboration that will enable the creation of new institutions and practices for sharing and using resources sustainably (Ansari et al., 2013). It is not possible to envision solutions to global commons at one scale only but rather necessitate creative, polycentric interventions from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors at the global, national, and local levels.
 
Similarly, human-made commons rely on alternative forms of organizations that require creativity to innovate in terms of collective action mechanisms that tailor solutions to local needs (Daskalaki et al., 2019; Meyer & Hudon, 2017). Knowledge commons are also a source of creativity for knowledge users who can use creative commons to develop new ideas and forms of creativity (Dobusch et al., 2019). However, enclosing the commons can reduce creativity since the privatization of knowledge and the development of patents can limit the possibility of innovating in the cultural, scientific, and economic spaces (Boyle, 2008; Shiva & Holla-Bhar, 1993).
 
In this sub-theme, and in line with the EGOS Colloquium 2025 general theme, we wish to study the potential of commons to design creative solutions for a collective sustainable future. We invite submissions around (but not limited to) the following research questions:

• What is the role of creativity in commons organizing and collective action for the commons?

• How do cultural and social norms impact the use of commons for social innovation?

• How do Indigenous knowledges shape commons-based social innovations?

• How does access to commons foster creativity in the cultural and scientific sectors?

• What is the potential of creativity to design and sustainably organize commons?

• What is the role of creativity in the rebuilding of commons? How can creativity be a defender of commons?

• How does commoning create inclusive governance systems?

• How do different actors creatively adjust and negotiate different perspectives and visions of the commons?

• How do different socio-economic groups and actors negotiate and contest their perceptions of the commons?

• How do different actors, characterized by power asymmetries, creatively decide on the sharing of commons?

• How are commons-related conflicts creatively resolved?

• How are commons lived and valued in different societies and philosophies?

References

• Adler, P.S., Banerjee, B., Bodrožić, Z., Chertkovskaya, E., Jermier, J.M., & Peredo, A.M. (2021): SWG 15: Organization Studies in the Anthropocene: System Change, Not Climate Change. https://www.egos.org/jart/prj3/egos/main.jart?content-id=1585149883954&rel=de&reserve-mode=active

• Alexiuk, E. (2013): Exploring the Common Ground Between Social Innovation and Indigenous Resurgence: Two Critical Indigenist Case Studies in Indigenous Innovation in Ontario, Canada. University of Waterloo.
• Ansari, S., Wijen, F., & Gray, B. (2013): Constructing a climate change logic: An institutional perspective on the “tragedy of the commons”. Organization Science, 24(4), 1014-1040.
• Banerjee, S.B. & Arjaliès, D. L. (2021): Celebrating the end of Enlightenment: Organization theory in the age of the Anthropocene and Gaia (and why neither is the solution to our ecological crisis): Organization Theory, 2(4).
• Bollier, D., & Helfrich, S. (eds.) (2014): The Wealth of the Commons: A World beyond Market and State. Amherst: Levellers Press.
• Borch, C., & Kornberger, M. (eds.) (2015): Urban Commons: Rethinking the City. London: Routledge.
• Boyle, J. (2008): The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind. New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Daskalaki, M., Fotaki, M., & Sotiropoulou, I. (2019): Performing values practices and grassroots organizing: The case of solidarity economy initiatives in Greece. Organization Studies, 40(11), 1741-1765.
• De Angelis, M. (2017): Omnia sunt Communia: On the Commons and the Transformation to Postcapitalism. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Dobusch, L., Dobusch, L., & Müller-Seitz, G. (2019): Closing for the benefit of openness? The case of Wikimedia’s open strategy process. Organization Studies, 40(3), 343-370.
• Ergene, S., & Calás, M.B. (2023): Becoming naturecultural: Rethinking sustainability for a more-than-human world. Organization Studies, 01708406231175293.
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• Gibson-Graham, J. K., and Gerda Roelvink. "Social innovation for community economies." Social innovation and territorial development. Routledge, 2016. 25-38.
• Hess, C. (2008): Mapping the New Commons. Syracuse: Syracuse University Library. Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1356835
• Meyer, C. (2020): The commons: A model for understanding collective action and entrepreneurship in communities. Journal of Business Venturing, 35(5), 106034.
• Meyer, C., & Hudon, M. (2017): Alternative organizations in finance: Commoning in complementary currencies. Organization, 24(5), 629-647.
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• Peredo, A.M., & Chrisman, J.J. (2006): Toward a theory of community-based enterprise. Academy of Management Review, 31(2), 309-328.
• Peredo, A M., McLean, M., & Tremblay, C. (2019): Indigenous Social Innovation: What Is Distinctive? And a Research Agenda. In G. George, T. Baker, P. Tracey, & H. Joshi (Eds.), Handbook of Inclusive Innovation: The Role of Organizations, Markets and Communities in Social Innovation (pp. 107-128). Elgar.
• Peredo, A.M., Haugh, H.M., Hudon, M., & Meyer, C. (2020): Mapping concepts and issues in the ethics of the commons: introduction to the special issue. Journal of Business Ethics, 166(4), 659-672.
• Peredo, A.M., & McLean, M. (2020): Decommodification in action: Common property as countermovement. Organization, 27(6), 817-839.
• Shiva, V., & Holla-Bhar, R. (1993): Intellectual Piracy & the Neem Patents: The Neem Campaign. Research Foundation for Science, Technology & Natural Resource Policy.