Call for Papers — SIGMIS CPR 2027

The Future of Work in the Making: Computing, People, and the Choices Ahead

64th ACM SIGMIS Computers and People Research (CPR) Conference

Conference Co-Chairs: Fred Niederman (Saint Louis University) and Mary Sumner (University of Oklahoma)

Program Chairs: Jason Williams, Kristina Kusanke, Mahesh Boodraj

Location: St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Conference Dates: May 19-21

Theme: Future of Work

Submissions open / submission system: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=acmsigmiscpr2027

Conference Theme and Scope

For over 60 years, the ACM SIGMIS Computers and People Research (CPR) conference has engaged academic and practitioner communities in understanding the complex intersection of information technology (IT) and people. From its roots in the study of the IT workforce, CPR has broadened its focus to investigate all aspects of this important relationship; how people build, use, manage, and are shaped by computing. As we approach 2027, the pace of technological change continues to accelerate, driven by the rapid evolution of generative and agentic AI, immersive collaboration environments, and increasingly capable automation.

SIGMIS CPR 2027 places the future of work at its center while remaining anchored in the conference's core concerns: the IT workforce, careers, education, leadership, well-being, and the organizations that employ IT professionals. The questions CPR has long asked (e.g., who does the work, how, where, and to what end) are being reopened as artificial intelligence takes on tasks, decisions, and roles once reserved for people. Whether such systems are best understood as tools, collaborators, or agents in their own right is itself contested, and the answer carries real consequences for how work is organized, governed, and experienced (Seeber et al., 2020; Baird & Maruping, 2021). We invite researchers, educators, and practitioners to examine how emerging technologies are reconfiguring tasks, roles, and institutions across the individual, organizational, and societal levels and to help shape futures of work that are not only productive but equitable, humane, and sustainable. Themed contributions may anticipate what is coming, evaluate what is already unfolding, or critically interrogate the assumptions embedded in dominant visions of technological work. We remain open to other socio-technical studies that highlight human interaction with computing technology.

Key Research Areas

We welcome original research papers, literature reviews, case studies, and conceptual and speculative articles addressing the future of work across three levels of the social system; individual, organizational, and societal. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

1. The Changing Nature of Work: Tasks, Jobs, and Workforce Dynamics1. The Changing Nature of Work: Tasks, Jobs, and Workforce Dynamics

The shift from physical to cognitive tasks and the progression of humans “leaving the loop” through algorithmic work, augmentation, and full automation; the recrafting of jobs as tasks are redistributed between people and machines; new forms of organizing (distributed and hybrid arrangements, cross-organizational and platform-mediated work, and project- and gig-based engagements); reskilling, internal mobility, and emerging career pathways; and the well-being and technostress implications of continuously reconfigured work (Bailey & Barley, 2020; Fügener et al., 2021; Carmel & Sawyer, 2023; Maier, Laumer & Weitzel, 2022; Willcocks, 2020).

• As generative AI, agentic AI, and quantum computing mature, which parts of IT work are augmented, which are displaced, and which are newly created?

• Which tasks are most (and least) amenable to augmentation versus automation, and how do organizations decide?

• What determines whether an IT occupation is reinforced, reshaped, or hollowed out by successive waves of automation?

• How can organizations capture the tacit, relational knowledge of co-located work in distributed and hybrid settings?

• How do reconfigured work arrangements shape technostress, engagement, and well-being?

2. Human–AI Collaboration, Algorithmic Co-workers, and Accountability2. Human–AI Collaboration, Algorithmic Co-workers, and Accountability

Re-envisioning the human role in design and development as agents take on more execution shifting from author and maker toward director, curator, and reviewer and the emergence of algorithmic co-workers as team members rather than tools; trust, co-presence, and coordination in hybrid teams; the “trust illusion,” where responsibility for outcomes stays with people even as decisions migrate to systems they are expected to trust; and the risk that humans over-rely on AI and become uncritical “borgs” (Seeber et al., 2020; Anthony et al., 2023; Fügener et al., 2021; Berente et al., 2021; Kane et al., 2021; Richter, Richter & Trier, 2026; Lindebaum et al., 2024).

• How do trust, co-presence, and accountability differ when a teammate is an AI agent rather than a human colleague?

• How should tasks be delegated, and human oversight maintained, in hybrid human-AI teams?

• How can organizations address the “trust illusion” and re-align responsibility as work is distributed to agents?

• What new roles (e.g., orchestrator, curator, verifier) emerge for humans as agents take on execution?

3. The Human Resource Lifecycle in an Automated Age3. The Human Resource Lifecycle in an Automated Age

Reimagining the full lifespan of engagement, i.e. talent acquisition and neuroinclusive recruiting, onboarding, career planning, employee wellness and mental health, performance evaluation, and even the “retirement” of roles, as AI reshapes each stage, and asking which AI innovations in HR are genuinely feasible and ethical (Bankins & Formosa, 2023; Niederman et al., 2025/2026).

• Which AI innovations in the HR lifecycle (e.g., one-click hiring, psychometric profiling) are feasible and ethical, and which are not?

• How can recruiting and career systems embrace neurodiversity and neuroinclusion?

• What does lifelong learning look like when job categories and the signals on résumés are continuously disrupted?

• How can firms support employee well-being and mental health amid automation-driven change?

4. Ethics, Equity, Governance, and Social Justice4. Ethics, Equity, Governance, and Social Justice

How IT-enabled work affects privacy, human autonomy, and social justice particularly for marginalized communities facing the risks of a “surveillance society”; algorithmic bias, transparency, and regulatory compliance; governance frameworks for responsible AI; and how normative, participatory futures methods can surface preferable rather than merely probable outcomes (Clarke, 2019; Kane et al., 2021; Berente et al., 2021; Bowles et al., 2026).

• Who benefits and who bears the costs as algorithmic management and monitoring spread across work?

• What governance frameworks reconcile scalable, uniform AI guidance with contexts that demand human discretion?

• How can participatory and normative approaches include underrepresented voices in shaping the future of work?

• What responsibility do IT researchers and firms bear for the foreseeable, if unintended, consequences of the systems they build?

5. Cybersecurity Work and the Security Professional of the Future5. Cybersecurity Work and the Security Professional of the Future

The changing nature of security work as defense, detection, and response are reshaped by agentic AI and immersive environments including prototypes built around an “agentic metaverse,” where immersive environments and teams of AI agents are combined to transform security operations; the future security workforce, its skills, and human-AI security operations; and the governance of autonomy where AI can both defend and be turned to attack.

• How does agentic AI reconfigure security operations, and which human roles remain essential?

• What skills, training, and team designs prepare a resilient human-AI security workforce?

• How do we govern autonomy and accountability where AI both defends systems and can be misused to attack them?

6. Fostering Socio-Technical and Interdisciplinary Competencies6. Fostering Socio-Technical and Interdisciplinary Competencies

Preparing IT professionals and leaders who can navigate the intersection of technology and society by combining technical proficiency with ethics, sociology, psychology, and design; embedding social, cultural, and ethical considerations directly into technical curricula; and integrating emerging technologies (generative AI, immersive environments, quantum) into ethically grounded, collaborative learning.

• How can interdisciplinary and socio-technical education shape well-rounded, ethical IT leaders?

• What are best practices for collaborative, project-based, and co-taught learning environments that mirror workplace diversity?

• How should curricula integrate emerging technologies without losing sight of human and societal dimensions?

Submission Formats

ACM SIGMIS CPR 2027 welcomes both completed and early-stage work. All papers must be original, unpublished elsewhere, and prepared following ACM guidelines.

• Completed Research Papers — conceptual, empirical, or speculative studies, and industry case studies (max 5,000 words, excluding abstract, keywords, and references).

• Research-in-Progress — early-stage studies (max 2,000 words, excluding abstract, keywords, and references).

• SEED (Scholarly Explorations, Early Discoveries) — brief overviews of high-impact ideas (max 500 words).

• Panels — proposals for interactive discussions on conference themes, submitted directly to the program chairs.

We also encourage non-traditional and experimental formats (e.g., scenario portfolios, design fictions, narratives of the future) where they advance the conference's futures orientation.

Publication and The DATA BASE Special Issue

Accepted papers will be published by ACM in the refereed conference proceedings and made available in the ACM Digital Library. Authors who prefer may have a shortened abstract included in the conference proceedings. All completed research papers will be considered for the Magid Igbaria Outstanding Conference Paper of the Year Award.

In addition, a special issue of The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems on the future of work is planned in coordination with the journal's editors. The special issue will primarily fast-track extended versions of the strongest SIGMIS CPR 2027 papers; a limited number of additional submissions aligned with the theme may also be considered. Details on scope, timeline, and submission will be announced separately.

Review Board Members Include:

Deb Armstrong, Liz Baker, Daniel Bierborn, Cassie Collier, Jacqueline Corbett, Nancy Deng, Mike Gallivan, Indira Guzman, Ronnie Jia, KD Joshi, Sven Laumer, Carl Maertz, Christian Maier, Sean Masterman, Dan Mazzoli, Ralf Plattfaut, Cindy Riemenschneider, Guillermo Rodriguez-Abitia, Suzan Strahringer, Tamilla Triantoro, Marrtin Weiner, Tim Weitzel, Sam Zaza,

ACM Open Access

ACM has transitioned to a fully Open Access publishing model. Most authors at ACM Open participating institutions will not pay Article Processing Charges (APCs); authors at non-participating institutions may pay an APC unless they qualify for a waiver. Authors should consult the ACM Open participating-institution list and the APC waiver policy. (Current-year APC figures and any transitional subsidy: TBD.)

Important Dates Submissions open: December 1, 2026

• Submission deadline: February 7, 2027

• Initial notification of acceptance: March 15, 2027

• SEED submission deadline: March 28, 2027

• Final notification of acceptance: April 2, 2027

• Camera-ready version: April 7, 2027

• Doctoral Consortium: May 19, 2027

• Conference dates: May 19 (doctoral consortium), May 20-21 conference activities

Refernces

Anthony, C., Bechky, B. A., & Fayard, A.-L. (2023). “Collaborating” with AI: Taking a system view to explore the future of work. Organization Science, 34(5), 1672–1694.

Baird, A., & Maruping, L. M. (2021). The next generation of research on IS use: A framework of delegation to and from agentic IS artifacts. MIS Quarterly, 45(1).

Bailey, D. E., & Barley, S. R. (2020). Beyond design and use: How scholars should study intelligent technologies. Information and Organization, 30(2).

Bankins, S., & Formosa, P. (2023). The ethical implications of AI for meaningful work. Journal of Business Ethics, 185(4).

Berente, N., Gu, B., Recker, J., & Santhanam, R. (2021). Managing artificial intelligence. MIS Quarterly, 45(3).

Bowles, C., Niederman, F., & Van Slyke, C. (2026). Futures studies and IS: A valuable intersection. Communications of the AIS, 58.

Carmel, E., & Sawyer, S. (2023). The multi-dimensional space of the futures of work. Information Technology & People, 36(1).

Clarke, R. (2019). Risks inherent in the digital surveillance economy. Journal of Information Technology, 34(1).

Fügener, A., Grahl, J., Gupta, A., & Ketter, W. (2021). Will humans-in-the-loop become borgs? MIS Quarterly, 45(3).

Hovorka, D. S., & Mueller, B. (2024). Speculative foresight: A foray beyond digital transformation. Information Systems Journal, 35(1).

Kane, G. C., Young, A. G., Majchrzak, A., & Ransbotham, S. (2021). Avoiding an oppressive future of machine learning. MIS Quarterly, 45(1).

Lindebaum, D., Moser, C., & Islam, G. (2024). Big data, proxies, algorithmic decision-making and the future of management theory. Journal of Management Studies, 61(6).

Maier, C., Laumer, S., & Weitzel, T. (2022). A dark side of telework: A social comparison-based study from the perspective of office workers. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 64(6).

Niederman, F., et al. (2025/2026). Brave new work and the future of computing professionals (Parts 1 & 2). MIS Quarterly Executive.

Richter, S., Richter, A., & Trier, M. (2026). Narratives of the future — Exploring human-AI collaboration. Communications of the AIS, 58.

Sarker, S., Chatterjee, S., Xiao, X., & Elbanna, A. (2019). The sociotechnical axis of cohesion for the IS discipline. MIS Quarterly, 43(3).

Seeber, I., et al. (2020). Machines as teammates: A research agenda on AI in team collaboration. Information & Management, 57(2).

Willcocks, L. (2020). Robo-apocalypse cancelled? Journal of Information Technology, 35(4).