Department of Management, Society and Communication

MSC scholar Leonie Decrinis gains her PhD degree

Do nudges work in organisations? Which of them are most successful in fostering employee behaviour change in support of corporate sustainability? What mechanisms underlie their effectiveness? These are key questions addressed and explored by Leonie Decrinis in her PhD thesis entitled Nudging in the Workplace: Exploring a Micro-level Approach Towards Corporate Sustainability. Leonie successfully defended her thesis on 8 April 2024.

Comprising three papers with distinct research objectives and methodologies, the thesis focuses on micro-level organisational dynamics and assesses the application of nudging as a managerial approach to encourage behaviour change in support of corporate

sustainability. The thesis delves into the drivers and mechanisms of employee decision-making, highlighting how nudges can influence workplace behaviour through adjustments in the organisational context. It suggests diverse avenues for using nudges to target cognitive and non-cognitive drivers of employee sustainable behaviour, such as awareness and reflection, accountability, habits and emotions.

Moving forward, the thesis underscores the significance of integrating nudges with traditional people management initiatives to effectively navigate the complex landscape of decision-making in the workplace.

For more information about the project, please contact Leonie Decrinis, lde.msc@cbs.dk.

MSC scholar Frederik Schade gains his PhD degree

How do we deal with questions concerning moral responsibility in increasingly digitalized societies? What do we understand by “digital responsibility” altogether? These are key questions addressed and interrogated by Frederik Schade in his Ph.D. thesis entitled The Question of Digital Responsibility: An Ethnography of Emergent Institutional Formations in the Contemporary Governance of Technology.

The thesis was successfully defended on March 15th, 2024, and subsequently published in CBS’ online archive.

For his thesis, Frederik conducted a 14 month long ethnographic study of two select organizations in Denmark that both deal with

technological governance: the Danish data protection agency (enforcing GDPR in Denmark) and a private labelling initiative called the D-seal.

By investigating and comparing the daily practices of these organizations, the thesis analyzes two distinct forms of “responsibilization” at stake in the context of digitalization (one juridical, the other economic) and their interrelations. We learn that while recent legislation like GDPR seems to have had a significant impact on what we tend to think of as the moral content of “responsibility,” there is an increasing tendency towards market-oriented guidance mechanisms to help and support (rather than force) Danish organizations into legal compliance.

The thesis can be accessed and downloaded via this link. For further information about the project, please contact Frederik Schade, fsc.msc@cbs.dk.

MSC engagement in EU Wind Energy project WENDY

The EU funded WENDY project (2022 - 2025) empowers wind energy adoption through multicriteria analysis and social engagement. Officially titled "Multicriteria Analysis of the Technical, Environmental and Social Factors Triggering the PIMBY Principle for Wind Technologies," WENDY is promoting a paradigm shift in wind energy adoption. Its analysis uncovers essential factors for success and societal acceptance.

Across six European countries — Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Norway, Spain — nine entities collaborate: Foundacion Circe, White Research, Stiftelsen Norsk Institutt for Naturforskning NINA, Enel Green Power, Norwegian Offshore Wind, Minoan Energy Community, Copenhagen Business School, APPA Renovables, and Q-Plan International.

CBS is the only academic/university participant in the WENDY and researchers from MSC (Roopali Bhatnagar, Efthymios Altsitsiadis) are studying the social, behavioural factors underlying social acceptance of wind energy/farms. They are tasked with designing, implementing behavioural interventions to enhance community's acceptance and support of wind energy/farms across WENDY use case areas (Italy, Spain, Norway, and Greece).

You can participate by joining the WENDY Network of Interest!
The WENDY project invites all wind energy stakeholders or renewable energy enthusiasts to join the WENDY Network of Interest (NoI). This is collaborative platform where stakeholders, experts, and passionate individuals in the wind energy sector can come together to share insights, exchange ideas, and collaboratively impact the WENDY project's activities and the advancement of WENDY wind energy tools and practices.

The members will have the opportunity to engage with the WENDY hubs’ communities in Italy, Spain, Norway, and Greece. These hubs are like innovative, "democratic" forums where local stakeholders can share knowledge. They empower people to find solutions that benefit both local communities and the renewable energy industry. The NoI members may represent (but are not limited to) wind energy experts, wind energy industries, wind energy investors, policy makers, energy community members, energy consultants, civil organisations, researchers, citizens, and NGOs.

More information about the Network of Interest can be found here.

For more information about the WENDY project, please visit WENDY Website

The Department of Management, Society and Communication

The department came into existence on 1 January 2017 as a result of the merger of the Department of Intercultural Communication and Management and the Department of International Business Communication. Read about MSC's research profile here and about it's research-based education here.

MSC is located in the Dalgas Have part of the CBS campus. As one of CBS' largest departments, it occupies most of the second floor of the building.