Two PhD defences at MSC
In mid-May and early June 2025, MSC PhD Fellows Rikke Rønholt Albertsen and Francesco Caccioni, respectively, successfully defended their PhD dissertations and gained their degrees. Read about the two projects below.
1) In her dissertation, A Paradox Perspective on the Sustainability Implementation Gap, Rikke Rønholt Albertsen explores the gap between the promises of corporate sustainability strategies and their actual contributions. The dissertation highlights how a predominant focus on the legitimacy and profitability of organisations often overlooks the limited impact these strategies have on societal and environmental sustainability. Her research shows that, given the complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity inherent in the sustainability context, conventional strategic planning frequently falls short of delivering meaningful results. Instead, by adopting a paradox perspective and integrating systemic insights, corporations can develop strategies that are more likely to fulfil their sustainability commitments.
The dissertation consists of three single authored papers, which have been published in Business and Society, Business Strategy and the Environment and the Academy of Management Proceedings (forthcoming). Her thesis received much praise and constructive feedback by the examination committee: Miguel Pina e Cunha, NOVA School of Business and Economics, Lisbon; Valentina De Marchi, ESADE Business School, Barcelona and Tanusree Jain, CBS.
- Albertsen, R. R. (2025). Outcomes of Paradox Responses in Corporate Sustainability: A Qualitative Meta-Analysis. Business & Society, 64(5), 889–932. https://doi.org/10.1177/00076503241255498
- Albertsen, R. R. (2025). The Legitimacy–Commitment Paradox in Corporate Sustainability Strategy Formulation. Business Strategy and the Environment, 34(3), 2863–2881. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.4131
- (Forthcoming) Expanding the Repertoire of Paradox Management Strategies in Corporate Sustainability: Normative and Material Dimensions, Albertsen R. R. Academy of Management Proceedings (2025)
2) In his dissertation, Collective Action in Crisis: Search and Rescue Operations in the Central Mediterranean Sea, Francesco Caccioni explores how collective action emerges, evolves, and sometimes erodes in persistent crises, focusing specifically on search and rescue operations during the Mediterranean migration crisis. Through his research, Francesco aimed to understand how diverse actors—from professional coast guards to spontaneous volunteers and commercial shipping companies—coordinate their efforts to address a complex societal challenge that exceeds any single organization’s capacity to resolve.
To study this, Francesco conducted extensive archival research and fieldwork in Sicily (Agrigento and Lampedusa). The thesis revealed several important findings about coordination dynamics in crisis response. For example, the research shows how professional responders establish control when coordinating with untrained volunteers, demonstrates how the “wicked” characteristics of creeping crises systematically undermine efforts to develop shared interpretations of problems and solutions, and develop the concept of role attrition to explain how corporate roles and responsibilities transform through the interaction between operational demands and institutional expectations in persistent crisis conditions.
Overall, the thesis argues that collective action in creeping crises requires understanding the complex interplay between operational demands, evolving interpretations, and changing organizational roles over time.