Den­nis Schoene­born

In my research, I develop communication-centered theories to explain organization and organizing phenomena. One upside of a communication-centered view is that it can help identify and explain organizing phenomena that occur beyond the boundaries of formal organization (e.g., hacker collectives, social media firestorms, etc.). I have added to this research area by putting forth the notion of organizationality (Dobusch & Schoeneborn, 2015; Schoeneborn, Kuhn & Kärreman, 2019), that is, the idea to consider organization as a matter of degree. In my current research I draw on this idea to explain how polarization "organizes" public discourses – and, in turn, how firms can navigate an increasing polarization of their communicative environment. Further research interests include how and under which conditions CSR/sustainability communication is likely to become performative, i.e. leads to its own fulfilment. 

In my empirical research, I primarily employ qualitative methods to explore the communicative constitution of organization, organizing, and organizationality. In the same context, I follow a pragmatic methodological stance that allows for bridging qualitative-inductive with quantitative-deductive approaches if suited to the questions at hand. 

My research has been published in the Academy of Management Review, Business Ethics Quarterly, Business & Society, Human Relations, Journal of Management Studies, Management Communication Quarterly, and Organization Studies, among other outlets. I used to serve as Associate Editor at Business & Society (2020 to 2023) and I currently serve as Associate Editor at Human Relations (since 06/2024).