Over the last 5 years, the world has faced dramatic changes in almost all the aspects of the global society, and we have consequently witnessed a fast transformation of the social systems. Starting from the outset of COVID-19 in 2020, we have seen an incredible acceleration of social transformations that were already in place. These transformations have unprecedentedly gained momentum, being named the “GREAT RESET” by the World Economic Forum (Vătămănescu and Dominici, 2024).
As an initiative spearheaded by the World Economic Forum, the Great Reset has proposed a fundamental overhaul of global capitalism and social structures, triggering widespread debate about its potential consequences for social systems worldwide. Central to the Great Reset is the idea that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in existing systems, necessitating a transition towards a more sustainable and equitable future. Moreover, the emphasis on individual and planetary health within the Great Reset framework led to the emergence of new social norms and expectations, potentially influencing individual behaviours and social interactions (Roth, 2021; Cegarra-Navarro et al., 2021; Vătămănescu et al., 2023a, b).
However, the specific implications of this envisioned transformation on social systems remain a subject of intense scrutiny. The proposed shift towards stakeholder capitalism, which prioritises environmental, social and governance factors alongside financial returns, represents a significant departure from traditional economic models that focus primarily on shareholder value (Meyer and Schwarze, 2021). This reorientation could reshape corporate social responsibility and impact the distribution of resources and power within society (Zhao, 2021).
Furthermore, the Great Reset's emphasis on technological innovation and digital transformation raises questions about the future of work, social interaction and individual autonomy (Roth, 2021; Vătămănescu et al., 2023b). The pandemic has been a “societally disruptive extreme event” with major implications for the role of business in society (Hamann et al., 2022). Technological advancements have forced many organisations to quickly adapt and implement remote working theories and online team management (Bussin and Swart-Opperman, 2021; Stratone et al., 2022; Stratone and Vătămănescu, 2024).
The pursuit of sustainability goals and standards within the Great Reset framework involves navigating complex social systems and steering them towards desired outcomes (Tortia, 2024; Dabija et al., 2024). The potential sociological ramifications of the Great Reset warrant careful consideration, especially regarding the possibility of societal re-stratification and the exacerbation of existing inequalities. Moreover, the Great Reset's focus on sustainability and environmental concerns could lead to significant changes in consumption patterns, resource allocation and lifestyles (McPhearson et al., 2021). The implementation of policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions and promoting green technologies could disproportionately affect certain industries and communities, requiring careful attention to social equity and just transitions (Petrescu et al., 2025).
Building on this rationale, there has been a lot of discussion about the Great Reset over the last years. For many, it represents a “necessary opportunity” to develop towards a more sustainable and happy society, while for many others, it is a tremendous threat towards a dystopian society. In between these two opposite worldviews, there are many scholars and thinkers who have expressed more moderate opinions. Consequently, this special issue wants to discuss the envisaged incremental or disruptive transformations with scientific rigour and find new ways to address the global economic and social challenges of our times by systemic perspectives. It aims to shed light on the various interactions between natural, social and economic systems in turbulent times within multidisciplinary and internationally spread frameworks that include a wide range of fields such as management, business administration, psychology, economics, sociology and education.
In order to fully realise the potential of cutting-edge technology, the study by Romeo and Lacko (2026) – Adoption and integration of AI in organizations: a systematic review of challenges and drivers towards future directions of research – describes the existing facilitators and barriers of AI applications in organisations and suggests fine-grained solutions. By employing a systematic review of literature using the PRISMA methodology and thematic analysis, it maps the state of the art, synthesises the diverse corpus of knowledge, examines the current effects of AI technology on organisations and offers insights into potential difficulties related to this technology. Overall, the conducted research offers a summary of the most widely used AI strategies in businesses, describing how they generate value. The findings highlight the possible ramifications of AI in organisations and provide insight into a variety of issues pertaining to enablers and barriers. To guarantee that AI applications are in line with organisational ideals and objectives, this study emphasises the necessity of interdisciplinary research, teamwork and continuous evaluation. It offers scholars and professionals a useful foundation for comprehending and utilising AI as a powerful facilitator of value generation in businesses.
Similarly, The research landscape on generative artificial intelligence: a bibliometric analysis of transformer-based models, authored by Marchena Sekli (2026), seeks to help businesses better understand transformer-based models (TBMs), which are generative artificial intelligence (GAI) models that are widely used and have attracted a lot of attention because of their capacity to process and produce complex data. Studies that have already been done on TBMs are typically quite technical or narrowly focused. This work uses scientific mapping approaches, such as co-citation, co-words and strategic diagram analysis, to close this gap by performing a thorough bibliometric analysis to investigate trends across journals, authors, affiliations, nations and research paths. The evolution of new closed- and open-source TBMs, the lack of thorough investigation into the adoption of TBMs in the health sector, of research on the ethical considerations of TBMs and of investigations on the potential performance of TBMs in a variety of applications, such as image processing, are among the most relevant identified research gaps. By advancing manifold implications, the paper presents a theoretical foundation for the adoption of TBMs in organisations and provides an updated TBM landscape.
The work of Seturidze et al. (2026) – The efficacy of modern information technologies in the teaching and learning of green economy concepts within higher education institutions – critically analyses current practices in higher education's teaching and learning of green economy principles, with an emphasis on the incorporation of contemporary information technology. Smart technology, simulation programs and other digital tools can help students better grasp the concepts of the green economy, which support a successful learning environment for teachers and students, promoting sustainable development. To evaluate the effect of modern information technologies (MITs) on the teaching and learning of green economy ideas, the study used a questionnaire-based survey with over 500 Georgian subjects (i.e. students and academic staff). The results show that integrating MITs and smart technologies into the teaching and learning processes of green economy education is highly correlated with the development of students' sustainability competencies. It offers information on best practices, problems and trends in the use of IT tools for teaching about the green economy. It also looks at how students' knowledge and practical abilities in this discipline are developing in relation to contemporary information technology.
Zooming into the educational backdrop, the paper co-authored by Stănescu et al. (2026) – Self-regulated learning, self-efficacy and life-long learning: the mediating role of future orientation – sets out to examine the complex relationships among academic self-efficacy, lifelong learning and self-regulated learning. Additionally, the mediating role of future time orientation was carefully assessed. A cross-sectional research design was used to collect data from 2,943 Romanian secondary school students by resorting to standardised instruments, including the academic self-efficacy and the self-regulated learning scales, the lifelong learning scale and the future orientation scale based on the Zimbardo time perspective inventory (ZTPI). The results support lifelong learning by demonstrating the relevance of academic self-efficacy and self-regulated learning when mediated by future time orientation. According to these findings, improving students' understanding of future time orientation within the classroom may encourage lifelong learning. This work emerges as a unique contribution that advances our knowledge of the complex relationships influencing people's learning journeys throughout their lifetimes by combining existing literature, empirical data and theoretical frameworks.
Gliding from academia toward the business realms, the paper “The Great Reset” and its implications on organisational theory, co-authored by Roblek et al. (2026), investigates the revolutionary effects of the Great Reset on organisational theory, highlighting the significance of resilience, remote work and technology integration. To better understand remote working, digital transformation and organisational resilience, thematic network analysis was used to analyse questionnaire responses from managers in Germany, France and Spain. Managers emphasised how important technology will be in changing the nature of work systems in the future, particularly with regard to telecommuting and digitising corporate processes. Upskilling, changes in management strategies and a modernised personnel assessment framework are all necessary for this transition. The study describes the effects of the Great Reset framework on organisational resilience, managerial techniques and technological advancement while providing helpful advice on how to put it into practice.
The contribution of Victor-Emanuel Ciuciuc et al. (2026), that is, Managerial insights on sustainable practices in today's business: mapping economic, social, cultural, and environmental dimensions and their organisational outcomes, examines how sustainable development practices can be incorporated into modern business management, with a focus on the managerial strategies and tactics used to address the environmental, social, cultural and economic aspects of sustainability and their effects on organisational outcomes, specifically performance and reputation. The research uses content analysis and Qualitative Data Analysis Software (AtlasTI) to map management thoughts and strategies through a qualitative study that involves in-depth interviews with managers from different sectors. The study highlights the significance of leadership and regulatory frameworks in fostering sustainability and reveals a complex interaction between economic, social, environmental and cultural management practices and their impact on organisational performance and reputation in the contemporary setting. By offering a thorough analysis of how Romanian managers view and operationalise sustainability, this research adds to the body of knowledge in the fields of business management and sustainability. It highlights how crucial it is to incorporate sustainability into fundamental business plans and provides useful advice for managers and legislators looking to advance sustainable business practices.
Finally, the work of de la Torre and De la Vega (2026) – Responsible digital innovation: the new business challenges in the digital era – complements the other manuscripts as it examines the concept of responsible digital innovation and the challenges faced by businesses and academia in the evolving digital era, emphasising the need for sustainable digital innovation models that integrate the creation of shared social value as a competitive strategy in highly agile environments. Using a systematic literature review covering 2010–2024, the research identifies key relationships among concepts and highlights existing research gaps. The findings show that responsible digital innovation is a multi-level, multi-actor debate, linking digital innovation to social impacts and underscoring the importance of collaboration among the private sector, academia and government.
By conflating these multifaceted perspectives, the current special issue avails a synopsis of the Great Reset's objectivations across various social systems, pointing to its transformative effects on economy, business and management challenges, sustainability and technological advancements, education and learning. It sets the groundwork for future scrutiny of emerging phenomena while taking stock of the state of the art.
