Hi all! Attached here is the call for papers for the 4th biennial Out of (and Into) Africa International Business Conference. The conference will take place VIRTUALLY November 10-11, 2025. Submissions are due July 31, 2025. The conference theme this year is Going Africa-Centric: African Paradigms in International Business. Research across multiple areas are welcomed! Below is a brief description of the conference. Please read the full CFP attached for more details. Thank you!
Online delivery of the last two conferences generated greater (and more impactful) scholarly participation
from the African continent and other parts of the world, and we will continue with this format. The multi-HBCU
scope and international scope in conference organization further enhances reach and attractiveness of this
conference.
To be clear, submissions are invited from ALL academic institutions across the world, provided the
scholarship has a clear African focus. This international business conference series is Africa-centric.
Despite promising social economic development in Africa and foreign marketers' enthusiasm toward its future
growth, there remains limited firm or consumer research for marketing practitioners. Extant literature shows
knowledge/application on African firm strategy and consumer behavior is fragmented. We set the following three
goals for the conference:
1. Reviewing current knowledge on African consumers, marketing, firm strategy, and societal policies -
highlighting gaps in our knowledge and understanding of international business with an African focus.
2. Bringing to light contributions/paradigms originating from Africa, and developing an agenda for future
research
3. Fostering collaborations among firm strategy, consumer marketing and public policy researchers with similar
interests.
The interests of Africa, Africans and the entrepreneurial processes/innovations/paradigms created in Africa
are at the very core of our 2025 conference. How businesses communicate entrepreneurial opportunities and
significance of nonmarket strategies for SMEs (see Oriaifo, Oliveira, and Ellis, 2019), for example, are well worth
our investigation. We encourage all researchers to go Africa-Centric with us and submit their related research and
ideas, particularly with societal drivers (like religion) more prominent and significant in Africa (Barnard &
Momabolo, 2022). Research themes that could be particularly relevant to this conference include the following, as
they pertain to firm strategy, businesses in Africa, African marketing, and interplay with society and
institutions:
1. African Consumers and Markets
2. African firms, corporations, co-ops, and organizations
3. Returning to Africa: Starting New African Businesses
4. Technical and Vocational Training in Africa
5. Technology, Innovation, and Marketing within Africa
6. Higher education in Africa and Global Partnerships
7. Africans and the Triadic Relationship
8. Study Abroad and Study-Differentiated Experiential Paradigms
9. African Leaders Contextualized: Biographical Discourse
10. Internal Migrations in Africa and Their Implications
11. African non-profits and NGOs: impact on business development
12. Africa and Global Politics
13. Philosophy and Theories of Afrocentrism
14. Afro-Politanism and Global Africa; Africa's Global Footprint
15. Theorists and Idealists
Submit any of the following: complete papers, working papers, extended abstracts and/or panel proposals in
WORD or PDF format. In the subject line of the email please indicate the appropriate program/division as well as
shortened title of submission. At least one author for accepted submissions must register and attend the online
Conference. Any general questions should be emailed to the Conference Chair.
Submission Deadline: July 31, 2025
All submissions will go through a double-blind review process. Reviewers will evaluate each submission on the
basis of a) quality of the research, b) contribution to the field, c) interest and relevance of the topic to the conference,
and d) coherence and readability.
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Kate Kidwell
Georgia Institute of Technology
Towson MD
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