2026 Organizational Frontline Research Symposium
Madrid, Spain | Pre-Conference
The full agenda will be announced shortly.
Wednesday, February 11
Reception
OFR/Young Scholar Research Competition Award Ceremony
Thursday, February 12
Breakfast
Welcome and Introductions
Nawar Chaker (University of Tennessee) & Johannes Habel (University of Houston)
Academic Keynote
Chair: Jagdip Singh (Case Western Reserve University)
Presentation
Industry Keynote
Chair: Tom Brown (Bethel University)
Presentation
Coffee Break
Panel Discussion
Chair: Mike Brady (Florida State University)
Topic: “New Data, New Methods, and New Insights”
Discussants: Sascha Alavi (University of Dortmund), Nick Lee (University of Warwick)
Coffee Break
Parallel Workshops
Causal Inference: Identifying Frontline Effects in the Field
James Reeder, University of Kansas
Ethnography: Participating in the Frontline
Timothy Hill, University of Bath
Experiments: Manipulating Frontline Phenomena Beyond Scenarios
Jenny van Doorn, University of Groningen
Sebastian Hohenberg, University of Münster
Experience Exchange
All Attendees
Lunch Break
Young Scholar Finalists’ Presentations (winner underlined)
Co-Chairs: Todd Arnold (Oklahoma State University) and Detelina Marinova (University of Missouri-Columbia)
Discussant: Q&A moderated by Todd Arnold (Oklahoma State University)
Young Scholar Roundtable Breakouts
All Attendees (Initial Table Assignments are Provided on the Final Page of the Agenda)
Coffee Break
Lightning Talks
Chair: Tom Brown (Oklahoma State University)
Discussants: Q&A moderated by Tom Brown (Oklahoma State University)
Closing Comments and 2027 Outlook
Nawar Chaker (University of Tennessee) & Johannes Habel (University of Houston)
10th Annual Young Scholar Research (YSR) Competition
This competition recognizes exceptional emerging research focused on organizational frontlines—the critical touchpoints where firms and customers interact to create value. We welcome submissions from any discipline that addresses organizational frontline issues.
Eligibility:
- Lead author must be a doctoral student or an assistant professor within 3 years of graduation
- Paper must not be published or under advanced review
- Submissions must be 15 pages max (double-spaced, all-inclusive), plus a separate title/author page
- Awards & Recognition: Cash prize, public recognition at the 2026 OFR Symposium, priority access to the OFR network, and future events
Submission Email: todd.arnold@okstate.edu
Finalists must be able to present in person in Madrid. For full details, see the official CFP using the link below or contact us with questions.
https://olemiss.box.com/s/6708a6kjg6kbw9qakukavernn0px7a4i
2026 OFR Symposium: Call for Research Lightning Talks
We invite you to submit a research proposal for consideration as a brief presentation at the OFR Symposium. Presentations should fit this year’s theme, “New Data, New Methods, and New Insights.”
That is, we are particularly interested in research that:
- explores organizational frontline phenomena using novel types of data (e.g., natural language, videos, diary studies, observations), and
- examines such data using novel types of analysis (e.g., machine learning, embeddings, cutting-edge endogeneity corrections, application of methods from other disciplines), and
- offers novel insights about organizational frontlines.
Submission Format
If you are interested in participating, we invite you to submit a brief PowerPoint proposal (max. 10 slides) that includes the following:
- Title Slide – clearly identify the title of the presentation and all co-authors and their affiliations
- Problem/Research Questions – identify the problem and why it is important for OFR
- Approach – outline your approach (e.g., framework, research design, data)
- Results – highlight your key results
- Implications for Practice – specify how your results can help practitioners make decisions
Presentation Format
We anticipate that final presentations will be no more than 7 minutes and designed to encourage lively discussion among OFR attendees. All presenters will have the opportunity to revise slides before the event. However, we plan to strictly enforce the 7-minute requirement as it will help bolster confidence that all presenters are committed to the spirit of a “lightning talk.”
Submission Guidelines
Submissions should include the names of all coauthors and their university affiliations. Submission to the conference does not preclude your work from being published by any journal. Submissions can be sent directly to this year’s OFR Symposium co-chairs: Nawar Chaker (nchaker1@utk.edu) and Johannes Habel (jhabel@bauer.uh.edu).
Submission Deadline
December 1, 2025
Participants will be notified by mid-December, 2025