Hillol Bala, Indiana University

Yue (Katherine) Feng, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Xin Li, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

With the proliferation of the internet and mobile technology in the past two decades (Chen et al. 2002), online markets and platforms have experienced exponential growth and become a cornerstone of modern commerce, transforming how businesses operate and how consumers engage with products and services (Phan and Vogel 2010). The development of the online market attracted significant attention from academia.

Meanwhile, driven by advances in models (including machine learning, deep learning, and large models) and computational power, artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force, reshaping organizations and innovations (Fügener et al. 2021; Lee et al. 2023). The importance of AI goes beyond the improvement in operational performance, such as in personalization, recommendation, and data processing, and lies in the potential to solve complex problems with significant impacts (Wei et al. 2025). The term “transformative AI” was coined to refer to such potential of AI to change society, economy, or even humans (Banafa 2023; Trammell and Korinek 2023; Wessel et al. 2025).

In particular, we posit that AI will bring transformative power to revolutionize the online market — a foundation of the digital economy. As AI technologies continue to evolve, they promise to unlock new opportunities, foster innovation, and address global challenges (Mikalef and Gupta 2021). With AI’s further integration into online markets, it may create a more dynamic, efficient, and customer-centric digital shopping experience (Deng et al. 2023; Rai et al. 2019; Wang et al. 2025).

In light of this potential, this special issue invites efforts from information systems scholars to study the design, use, impact, and management of AI that may transform online markets for exchanging products, services, innovations, and algorithms, among other things. This special issue encourages research using technical, empirical, or behavioral methods performed at individual, group, organizational, or societal levels. We particularly welcome the studies that can bring insights into the future of AI in online markets.

Potential topics

• Models and algorithms that can bring a transformative impact on online markets
• Challenges & solutions for online markets in the AI era
• Human-AI interaction in online markets
• Operational optimization in online markets with AI
• Impact of AI on consumer behavior and platform design
• Social, psychological, or economic implications of AI adoption in digital commerce
• Personalization and recommendation systems driven by AI
• Generative AI for content creation and presentation in e-commerce
• AI-enabled decision-making for consumers, sellers, and platform operators
• Business model innovations in AI-integrated online markets
• Ethical issues related to the implementation and use of AI in online markets
• Responsible and explainable AI in online market platforms

Timeline

• November 23, 2025: Call for papers announcement date for the special issue.
• March 1, 2026: Submission system open.
• June 1, 2026: Submission deadline for full papers.
• September 1, 2026: First-round authors notification.
• March 1, 2027: First-round revisions deadline.
• May 1, 2027: Second round authors notification.
• August 1, 2027: Second round revision deadline.
• October 1, 2027: Final author notification.
• December 1, 2027: Projected publication date.

Associate editors

• Yanzhen Chen, HK University of Science and Technology
• Ashish Gupta, Auburn University
• Wei Hu, Tongji University
• Araz Jabbari, Laval University
• Rain Kan, Indiana University
• Satish Krishnan, IIM Kozhikode
• Akshat Lakhiwal, University of Georgia
• Mengxiang Li, Hong Kong Baptist University
• Guangrui (Kayla) Li, York University
• Yijing Li, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• Ben Liu, City University of Hong Kong
• Chewei Liu, Arizona State University
• Fei Liu, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• Xiao Liu, Arizona State University
• Yidi Liu, Chinese University of Hong Kong (SZ)
• Shengjun Mao, University of Hong Kong
• Boris Ng, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• Agrim Sachdeva, University of Arizona
• Pankaj Setia, IIM Ahmedabad
• Yani Shi, Southeast University
• Anuragini Shirish, Institute Mines-Télécom
• Nichalin Summerfield, Umass Lowell
• Jianshan Sun, Hefei University of Technology
• Xue (Jane) Tan, Southern Methodist University
• Ching-I Teng, Chang Gung University
• Yu Tong, Zhejiang University
• Mochen Yang, University of Minnesota
• Lei Wang, Indiana University
• Samuel Fosso Wamba, Toulouse Business School
• Tracy Yang, City University of Hong Kong
• Niam Yaraghi, Miami University
• Dezhi (Denny) Yin, University of South Florida
• Mi Zhou, University of British Columbia
• Sijia Zhou, Southeast University