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Daniel Hjorth

Professor

Subjects
Organisation Entrepreneurship Creativity Qualitative methods Culture Philosophy

Primary research areas

Or­gan­iz­a­tion­al Cre­ativ­ity & Entrepreneur­ship
This re­search is fo­cused on the or­gan­iz­a­tion­al con­di­tions for cre­ativ­ity and entrepreneur­ship in the con­text of the already or­gan­ized. The ten­sion between or­gan­iz­ing the ex­ist­ing (man­age­ment) and cre­at­ing the be­com­ing (entrepreneur­ship) is of par­tic­u­lar in­terest.
Philo­sophy & Busi­ness
This re­search de­vel­ops the re­la­tion­ships between philo­sophy and busi­ness. Partly, philo­sophy provides a basis for an ana­lyt­ic­al strategy used in pro­cessing em­pir­ic­al data, and partly it provides a con­ver­sa­tion­al plat­eau for ima­gin­ing the fu­ture of busi­ness in so­ci­ety.
Craft and Emer­ging forms of Or­gan­iz­ing
Craft is re­searched as a prac­tice where aes­thet­ics and eco­nomy are re­lated. It is also stud­ies as a way of or­gan­iz­ing busi­ness that provides a more mean­ing­ful and ex­ist­en­tially sus­tain­able form of busi­ness.

Re­ima­gin­ing busi­ness from an aes­thet­ics – eco­nomy dia­logue

My research seeks both to craft an educational dialogue with existing organizations and businesses in order for new knowledge to emerge, and to challenge existing practices. The latter relies on innovation in thinking and is inspired both from problems in practice and from theory, philosophy and literature/art. 

Serving as Editor-in-Chief for the Financial Times top-50 listed journal Organization Studies for several years deepened the intimate conversation between organization- and entrepreneurship studies that has for long been central to my work.  

Presently, aesthetics and business creativity are central to my research and it tackles the motivational crisis and what I see as challenges with building more existential sustainable organizations/businesses. Here, craft represents an interesting example to learn from. 

Publications

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November 2025

Dialogic Organizing

Affirming Public Engagement for Hope and Solidarity

Chris Steyaert

Marjana Johansson

Maddy Janssens

Sheena J. Vachhani

Da­ni­el Hjorth, Professor

Go to publication

25 September 2025

A Legacy of Brokering Entrepreneurial Tendencies

A Case Study

Mollie Painter-Morland

Da­ni­el Hjorth, Professor

Gideon Pogrund
Go to publication

June 2025

Theorizing the Processes and Practices of Entrepreneuring at Work

Claire Champenois

Dimo Dimov

Silvia Gherardi

Da­ni­el Hjorth, Professor

Neil Aaron Thompson
Go to publication

Links

Centre for Aes­thet­ics and Busi­ness Cre­ativ­ity - ABC
The ABC-centre ex­plores the ‘con­ver­sa­tion’ between aes­thet­ics and eco­nomy in the con­text of or­gan­iz­a­tions.
ABC-centre website
Craft and Emer­ging Forms of Or­gan­iz­ing
This is a cent­ral hub for the in­ter­na­tion­al com­munity on or­gan­iz­a­tion­al craft re­search.
Link to Craft Workshop website

Outside activities

Ad­junct Pro­fess­or, Gradu­ate School of Man­age­ment, Kyoto Uni­ver­sity, Ja­pan , 2018 -

Col­lab­or­ate with Gradu­ate School of Man­age­ment, Kyoto Uni­ver­sity, on craft, design, and philo­sophy and or­gan­iz­a­tions.
Link to Kyoto University Faculty page.

Mem­ber of Swedish Riks­bank Re­search found­a­tion, sci­entif­ic as­sess­ment com­mit­tee (eco­nom­ics, busi­ness ad­min­is­tra­tion, polit­ic­al sci­ence, stat­ist­ics, eco­nom­ic his­tory) , 2012 - 2016, 2017

As­sess­ing re­search ap­plic­a­tions on a yearly basis.