Call for papers

Royal Bank International Research Seminar

Culture and Morphing the Real World into the Virtual World

The sixteenth meeting of the Royal Bank International Research Seminar will take place at the John Molson School of Business in Montreal, on September 14-16, 2023. The main topic of this seminar is to explore the role of culture in morphing the real world into the virtual world. The main objective of the seminar is to bring together international researchers from different disciplines interested in advancing knowledge on the role of culture in a rapidly changing digital landscape. In recent developments, the digital transformation continues to accelerate; technology affects interpersonal relationships more than ever before requiring researchers to reconsider established paradigms in relation to current and future information technologies. Marketers must now deal with the influence of new information technologies on the increasingly wired consumers and rapidly developing market configurations.

Papers are sought in the following areas of culture, new information technologies, and new consumption patterns (the list is not exhaustive):

• Advancing/Building the theory regarding consumption and adoption of new information technologies, e.g., IoT, metaverse, Artificial Intelligence, and blockchain.
• Acculturation and ethnic identity influences on marketing strategies for the wired consumers.
• Understanding the use of mobile technology and wearables in changing shopping and consumption patterns.
• Influences of robotics on families and reference groups across cultures.
• Influence of new technologies on materialism, values, and cultural tendencies across cultures.
• Transcultural, social well-being, and public policy issues regarding new consumption patterns across cultures, especially among teenagers and vulnerable groups.
• Methodological issues relevant to studying the new consumption patterns, especially the use of big data analytics, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
• Role of new information technologies on advertising perceptions and virtual stores across cultures.
• New pricing issues across cultures, especially the influences of models from the new sharing economies.
• Social media and internet based marketing issues across cultures, including social commerce and co-branding issues.
• Multicultural brand communities and global social media.
• New communication channels and their impact on images of products in cross-cultural contexts.
• Impact of new technologies on product quality perceptions across cultures.
• Culture and the role of new information technologies in consumer journeys.
• Understanding cultural differences in the appreciation of digital sensory experiences.
• Human-robot interactions in different cultural contexts.

Papers should be less than 30 double-space pages, with 1” margins and 12 pt fonts, and follow the guidelines of the International Journal of Information Management. Electronic submissions are required. All papers will be subject to a double blind peer review procedure. The best papers of the Royal Bank International Research Seminar will be considered for publication in a IJIM Special issue on Culture in morphing the real world into the virtual world.

The deadline for submissions is May 1, 2023

Please send your submissions (or any inquiry) by email to:

Prof. Michel Laroche
Department of Marketing, John Molson School of Business
Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West
Montreal, Quebec H3G 1M8, Canada
Michel.laroche@concordia.ca
Tel: +1 514 848 2424 ext. 2942