Technological Forecasting and Social Change

A major forum for those wishing to deal directly with the methodology and practice of technological forecasting and future studies as planning tools as they interrelate social, environmental and technological factors.

MISSION

TFSC invites submissions that focus on technology and its impact on society.

Technology provides opportunities for growth and innovation by offering the means for introducing novel or improved products, services, and processes that have the potential to provide additional value to societal actors. This technological innovation can be directed at optimizing existing business activities, extending into new business areas, pushing the frontiers of markets, and contributing to mitigating and adopting socioeconomic and environmental challenges. Tapping into the innovation potential of technology and evaluating its impact requires moving across three major fields of research: First, forecasting the emergence, development, and impact of technologies. Second, taking managerial decisions at the organizational and industrial level to materialize the innovation potential of technologies. Third, examining and evaluating the multifaced effects that the implementation of technological innovations have on society, organizations, and the environment. TFSC is committed to publishing research that significantly contributes to both theory and practice.

THE FOCUS OF TECHNOLOGICAL FORECASTING AND SOCIAL CHANGE:

WHAT WE AIM TO PUBLISH AND WHAT WE DO NOT PUBLISH

TFSC invites submissions that focus on technology and its impact on society. Technology provides opportunities for growth and innovation by offering the means for introducing novel or improved products, services, and processes that have the potential to provide additional value to societal actors. This technological innovation can be directed at optimizing existing business activities, extending into new business areas, pushing the frontiers of markets, and contributing to mitigating and adopting socioeconomic and environmental challenges.

Tapping into the innovation potential of technology and evaluating its impact requires moving across three majorfields of research.

First, the future characteristics of technologies need to be forecasted. This implies observing and analyzing the emergence and development of novel technologies and assessing their potential functioning and impact on society. Technological forecasting is also indispensable to make informed decisions about investing resources, developing new products, planning for policy implications, and strategically positioning technological innovations in a competitive market. Moreover, it is a vital tool that helps organizations adapt to technological change and plan for the future with greater certainty. Manuscripts focused on forecasting the emergence, development, and impact of technologies should be submitted to the Technological Forecasting and Modelling bureau of TFSC.

Second, materializing the innovation potential of technologies and ensuring that it becomes instrumental in advancing businesses, economies and societal goals requires managerial decisions. Such managerial decisions for example concern choices between technologies, allocation of resources to technological innovation initiatives, organizational change to enable technological transformation. Here the focus is on research on the management of technologies rather than technologies that support managerial decisions. Research that informs decisions in technology management at the organizational and industrial level should be submitted to the Management of Technology bureau of TFSC.

Third, research efforts are needed to examine and evaluate the multifaceted effects of technological advancements on society, organizations, and the environment. This area of study builds on contributions that seek to understand the direct and indirect consequences of technology implementation, ranging from its economic implications to social changes, without forgetting about environmental effects. The ultimate goal is to provide assessments that can inform policymakers, businesses, and the public about the benefits and risks associated with the deployment of technological innovations. This field of research also emphasizes the importance of tracking the impact of technologies over time and across different settings. Moreover, this focus can involve not just assessing the outcomes of technology implementation, but also the processes by which technologies are integrated and adopted. Research in this domain should be submitted to the Impact and Evaluation of Technology bureau of TFSC.

During the submission process, authors are responsible for carefully selecting the bureau in which their study should be assessed for potential publication in TFSC. We also encourage submissions taking a more holistic approach to the study of technology and its impact on society, by covering thematic areas that are relevant for more than one bureau.

It is also important to highlight that manuscripts looking into individual, organizational, or societal factors that impact technological development are out of scope. Moreover, TFSC does not publish research that focuses on social change only, unless authors examine this change through the lens of specific technological developments.

All manuscripts published in TFSC are expected to make substantial theoretical and practical contributions. Practical contributions can be translated into recommendations for management practice but also as policy implications. These contributions need to be explicitly spelled out and well-rooted in the findings of your study. To substantially advance our understanding of technology and its impact on society, submissions have to be rooted inan effective, consistent, and current theoretical basis. An effective theoretical underpinning enables researchers to frame the subject matter under investigation. For a theory base to be consistent, all ideas developed in the manuscript need to build on a theoretical framework with matching ontological and epistemological basic assumptions. The theoretical underpinning is current if authors effectively leverage state-of-the-art knowledge provided in scientific publications. TFSC will not publish manuscripts that lack a strong theoretical contribution, methodological development, and practical implications.

TFSC also desk reject papers that violate submission or ethical guidelines as outlined in the guide for authors on the journal webpage.

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