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Nic­olai Chris­ti­an Øl­leg­aard Jepsen

Ph.d. Fellow

Subjects
Innovation Entrepreneurship Startup Employment Job market Society

Primary research areas

En­tre­pren­eur­i­al­ism
I study how the ideo­logy of entrepreneur­ship im­pacts our per­cep­tions of “good work.”
In­form­al Work Stud­ies
What do work­ers who work out­side the defin­i­tion of “real” jobs do, and how do they feel about it?

I want to il­lu­min­ate how en­tre­pren­eur­i­al ideo­logy af­fects, and has af­fected, our per­cep­tions of good and worthy work

"Be your own boss,” is a common turn of phrase plastered across recruitment ads in the twenty-first century. But where did this ideal as the ultimate goal come from? 

In my research, I trace how the ideological threads of entrepreneurship have been interweaved with everyday work life. So far, my projects have focused on the USA, Denmark, and Brazil.  

My hope is that by better understanding workers’ recurring attraction to entrepreneurial ideals, we can create fairer and better jobs in the future. 

Publications

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8 November 2025

Universitetet er blevet en retorisk slagmark

Studerende tør ikke sige deres mening

Ni­co­lai Chri­sti­an Øl­le­gaard Jep­sen, Ph.d. Fellow

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Recent research projects

Re­think­ing Entrepreneur­ship in So­ci­ety

We com­bine entrepreneur­ship, man­age­ment, his­tory, law and so­ci­ology for a bet­ter un­der­stand­ing of the dis­course of entrepreneur­ship and how it shapes ac­tions and be­ha­vi­ors in so­ci­ety.
Rethinking Entrepreneurship