12th Annual ICGS Conference – Call for Papers
02 Oct 2026 – 04 Oct 2026
HEC Montréal (Quebec, Canada)
Description
The 12th Annual Conference of the International Corporate Governance Society will take place from Friday, October 2 to Sunday, October 4, 2026, at HEC Montreal (Quebec, Canada). The conference is intended to provide a forum for international academics and policymakers to showcase and discuss the latest corporate governance research issues and practices.
The topics include (but are not limited to) the following:
• Behavioral perspectives on executives, boards, investors, and other governance actors and their roles in shaping the purpose of corporations.
• Institutional and political approaches that examine how legal systems, societal expectations, and geopolitical shifts influence governance practices.
• Implications of AI adoption for internal and external corporate governance mechanisms.
• Evolving forms of activism/engagement from investors and other stakeholders and their impact on corporate governance outcomes.
• Reconfiguration of governance systems under geopolitical crises.
• Governance mechanisms for managing state-firm relations.
Your submission should be an unpublished work that has not been presented at the ICGS conference before. It can be either a full paper or a research proposal. Whichever option you choose, it should advance the field of corporate governance.
Your paper or proposal’s title page should indicate the conference tracks that it best fits. The different tracks are listed at the end of this announcement. The Track Chairs may shift your submission to another track if they think it fits better there.
Submissions will be accepted from February 1, 2026, until May 31, 2026, midnight (EST). All submissions must be made through our online conference management system (https://www.conftool.org/icgs2026), which can also be accessed through the ICGS website (https://www.icgsociety.org/2026-annual-conference).
Decisions regarding the acceptance of submissions to the conference program will be communicated to authors by June 30, 2026. The most outstanding papers and proposals will be considered for the Best Conference Paper Award. The author(s) who win(s) this award will be recognized at the conference.
Conference tracks
TRACK A:
Purposeful Governance in a Changing World. As the purpose of the corporation evolves, artificial intelligence transforms business practices, and geopolitical tensions escalate, corporate governance becomes a critical force influencing how firms respond to these changes and safeguard long-term value creation and societal well-being. Therefore, this track seeks studies that explore how corporate governance shapes and/or adapts to these shifts to sustain long-term value creation and societal well-being.
Co-chairs:
Ari Van Assche (HEC Montréal). Vikash Sinha ( Aalto University School of Business), Gilbert Kofi Adarkwah (HEC Montréal)
TRACK B:
Board Dynamics and Strategic Leadership. This track explores the roles of boards of directors, concentrating in particular on diversity and group dynamics in boards. Studies focusing on the role of women and internationals on boards are particularly welcome. The track will also feature behavioral studies on board members and their interfaces with CEOs and the executive team.
Co-chairs:
Alessandro Zattoni (Luiss Business School), Seppo Ikäheimo (Aalto Business School), Jana Oehmichen (Johannes Gutenberg University)
TRACK C:
Ownership. This track explores the antecedents and outcomes of different types of ownership. The track also encourages papers on non-traditional means of raising capital that give rise to ownership changes, such as equity crowdfunding and other forms of alternative investment, and their implications for corporate governance.
Co-chairs:
Kurt Achiel Desender (Universidad Carlos III), Jackie Di Vito (HEC Montréal), Tomeu (Bartolomé) Fuster (University of the Balears)
TRACK D:
External Corporate Governance Mechanisms. This track seeks to understand how firms’ strategic objectives and outcomes are influenced by external governance mechanisms, including (but not limited to) the role of external auditors, cultural norms, and the media. It also welcomes studies that investigate how these external factors are related to firms’ nexus of contracts and incentive structures.
Co-chairs:
Zvi Singer (HEC Montréal), Peter Oh (McGill University), Saori Sugeno (Surrey Business School)
TRACK E:
Corporate Governance and Stakeholders. This track focuses on the role of various stakeholders in corporate governance. Topics may include (but are not restricted to) activist shareholders, institutional investors, blockholders, minority shareholders, interest groups, governments and regulators, suppliers, customers, employees, competitors, and the media, and their interactions with corporate governance.
Co-chairs:
Till Talaulicar (Universität Erfurt), Margaret Fong (HEC Montréal), Josep A. Tribό (Stevens Institute of Technology)
TRACK F:
Comparative Corporate Governance. This track explores corporate governance in a (de)globalizing economy and discusses how transnational nongovernmental institutions shape corporate governance across nations. Furthermore, it is interesting and useful to compare governance practices across national economies. Multi-level governance interactions between multiple governance environments are also considered.
Co-chairs:
Rafel Crespi (University of the Balears), Cuili Qian (The University of Texas at Dallas), Trond Randoy (Copenhagen Business School)
Conference program co-chairs
The conference is organized by Professor Eduardo Schiehll (eduardo.schiehll@hec.ca), Professor Zvi Singer (zvi.singer@hec.ca) and Professor Ari Van Assche (ari.van-assche@hec.ca). You may contact any of the co-chairs with your inquiries.
Additional Information
CGIR Junior Scholar Consortium and Paper Development Workshop
12th ICGS Annual Conference, Friday, October 2, 2026
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
The Corporate Governance: An International Review (CGIR) Junior Scholar Consortium and Paper Development Workshop (PDW) will be held on Friday October 2, 2026 from 2:00 to 5:00 pm, as part of the pre-conference program of the 12th International Corporate Governance Society annual conference, that will be held at HEC Montréal, Canada, October 3 – 4, 2026. The event, sponsored by Wiley, is organized in close collaboration between ICGS and CGIR, and involves current and former CGIR Editors. A $500 prize will be awarded for the best paper/proposal submitted to the workshop.
Objective
ICGS and CGIR’s mission is to improve the quality and relevance of international corporate governance (CG) research. The purpose of the consortium and PDW is to provide junior scholars with developmental feedback on their research papers in the field of CG. Papers that are outside this scope will be rejected. We encourage doctoral students and junior faculty members – from any discipline and any country – to submit an original paper on CG.
Program
The consortium and PDW consists of two parts. First, each participating author will have the opportunity to receive tailored developmental feedback from CGIR Editors. Editors will meet individually with no more than two authors, either virtually or in person at a mutually agreed time, to provide guidance on strengthening their papers and increasing their likelihood of acceptance in CGIR or other leading CG journals. During the second part, the CGIR Editors-in-Chief and Senior Editors in collaboration with Editors-in-Chief and Senior Editors from the Journal of International Business Policy (JIBP) will discuss the mission, scope, performance metrics, and review processes for their respective journals. In addition, other topics pertinent to conducting high impact research and enhancing career development will be discussed. This part will be held in person at HEC Montréal and will provide an excellent opportunity for participants to network with Editors-in-Chief, Editors, and members of the Editorial Board, as well as engaging in conversations about research and the nuances of successful publication strategies.
Application process
Each applicant may submit only one paper, which may or may not also be scheduled to be presented later in the conference. Submitted papers must be less than 10,000 words in length, include an abstract, up to five keywords, and follow the CGIR author guidelines. Papers should be submitted via ConfTool at https://www.conftool.net/icgs2026/ using Track G. Please indicate during your submission whether you plan on participating virtually or in person. The deadline for submissions is May 31, 2026. Submitters will be notified of their acceptance by July 1, 2026 at the latest and are asked to confirm their participation by September 1, 2025.
