• My research agenda addresses some of the most critical challenges associated with digital technologies and their increasing centrality in contemporary capitalism. Currently, I focus on three key topics: how fintech firms strategize to achieve ethical missions; how big data and AI redefine competitive strategies and introduce new mechanisms of market power; and how organizations can develop sustainable AI strategies.

    My expertise lies at the intersection of Information Systems and Political Economy. This interdisciplinary lens enables me to examine the technical features of digital technologies as well as their business, societal, political, and environmental implications.

    I use a variety of methodological strategies, including historical analysis, semiotic analysis, qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews and non-participant observations. I am increasingly interested in the application of computational techniques such as natural language processing (NLP).

    I am also keen on developing review papers that offer new conceptual frameworks, and theoretical work that draws upon phenomenon-based theorizing.

    Overall, my research ethos is to produce rigorous empirical and theoretical work that leverages my Political Economy expertise to advance the sociotechnical perspective in Information Systems—particularly by emphasizing power relations, political struggles, and institutional construction.

    While contributing to sociotechnical research in Information Systems, I remain committed to an undogmatic and pluralistic view of social-scientific knowledge.

    through my research I aim to create a positive impact on business and society, especially by promoting sustainable AI technologies and ethical fintech practices.

    In my previous work, I am known for having researched the financialization of the state, particularly how governments misuse market-based financial innovations such as various types of financial derivatives in public-debt management.

    My work on state financialization and the political economy of financial innovation laid the groundwork for my current research on fintech and AI. My research trajectory—from the state financialization project to my present work—reflects a shift in the practices and technologies of financial innovation, moving from a pre-2008 emphasis on financial engineering to today’s focus on data, AI, and computing power.

    In all my research activities, I care deeply about being an active, collegial, and enthusiastic member of the Information Systems—and, more broadly, Business and Management—academic community. I regularly organize and chair scholarly events at major international conferences, such as the Academy of Management (AOM) and the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS). I serve as an Associate Editor for the Societal Impact of Information Systems tracks at ICIS and at the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS).

    I am dedicated to fostering equity, diversity, and inclusion within the Information Systems research community. I actively promote a welcoming and supportive environment for all researchers, regardless of their background, and strive to create opportunities for underrepresented voices to be heard and valued.

    • Business, societal, political, and environmental implications of AI

    • Fintech and the future of finance

    • Financialization and financial innovations

    • Digitalization and digital innovations

    • Socio-technical perspective in Information Systems

    • Institutional theory

    • Paradox theory

    • Qualitative and conceptual research

    • Lagna, A. (2024) “Asset Manager Capitalism and the Political Economy of Artificial Intelligence”, Review of International Political Economy. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2024.2432393

    • Genito, L., & Lagna, A. (Forthcoming) “Derivatives Market Reforms and the Infrastructural Authority of Central Clearing Counterparties.” In Westermeier, C., Campbell-Verduyn, M., & Brandl, B. (eds.) Cambridge Global Companion to Financial Infrastructures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, chapter 22.

    • Lagna, A., & Ravishankar, M. N. (2022) “Making the World a Better Place with Fintech Research”, Information Systems Journal, 32(1): 61–102.

    • Lagna, A., & Lenglet, M. (2020) “The Dark Side of Liquidity: Shedding Light on Dark Pools’ Market Making and Marketing”, Consumption Markets & Culture, 23(4): 390–406.

    • Büdenbender, M., & Lagna, A. (2019) “Statecraft Strategies and Housing Financialization at the Periphery: Post-Socialist Trajectories in Russia and Poland”, Finance and Society, 5(2): 105–125.

    • Lagna, A. (2017) “The Financialization of Local Governments: Evidence from the Italian Case.” In Erturk, I. and Gabor, D. (eds) The Routledge Companion to Banking Regulation and Reform. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 208–221.

    • Lagna, A. (2016) “Derivatives and the Financialisation of the Italian State”, New Political Economy, 21(2): 167–186.

    • Lagna, A. (2015) “Derivatives as Weapons of Mass Deception and Elite Contestation: The Case of FIAT.” In Jessop, B., Young, B. and Scherrer, C. (eds) Financial Cultures and Crisis Dynamics. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 208–228.

    • Lagna, A. (2015) “Italian Municipalities and the Politics of Financial Derivatives: Rethinking the Foucauldian Perspective”, Competition & Change, 19(4): 283–300.

  • Lagna, A., and Lee, S. Theorizing the Sustainability Paradox of AI.