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Jo­han Si­mon­sen Abildgaard

Associate Professor

Subjects
Change management Organisation Working environment Evaluation Psychology Well-being

I de­vel­op and study new ways to im­prove work­places and work en­vir­on­ments

My research is rooted in the field of work and organizational psychology and revolves around how the topic of how changes in organizations affect both employees and the organization. 
One major line of research I have followed is the continuous advancement of workplace intervention studies. I collaborate with organization on the design and implementation of the intervention program and conduct analyses of outcomes and processes using qualitative and mixed-methods approaches. The content of the interventions I have been involved in spans management training, participatory processes in work teams and organizational development. 
On the topic of change events (such as restructuring and downsizing) I study how organizational change affects employee wellbeing and in particular how change management initiatives can affect the perception and impact of change processes. 
I have done work on applying organization theory (such as sensemaking and actor-network theory) to work and organizational psychology topics. 
I am currently the deputy editor in chief of the Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. 

27 July 2025

Monthly Changes in Well-being Among Danish Employees From 2018 to 2022

Was There an Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Sandra Nielsen

Iben Louise Karlsen

Marie L. Bak

Jo­han Si­mon­sen Abild­gaard, Associate Professor

Reiner Rugulies

Jeppe K. Sørensen

Go to publication

2025

What Needs to Improve and for Whom When We Implement Participatory Organisational Interventions?

Karina Nielsen

Christine Ipsen

Jo­han Si­mon­sen Abild­gaard, Associate Professor

Kasper Edwards

Go to publication

16 October 2024

More is Not Always Merrier

Does Leader-team Perceptual Distance on Context Influence Leadership Training Transfer?

Go to publication

Recent research projects

“New On­board­ing pro­grams and New Ca­reer Paths for Wel­fare Em­ploy­ees In Herlev Mu­ni­cip­al­ity”

We eval­u­ate an in­ter­ven­tion con­duc­ted by Herlev Mu­ni­cip­al­ity and Im­ple­ment con­sult­ing group tar­get­ing core com­pet­en­cies, new on­board­ing pro­grams and ca­reer path. The pro­ject is sup­por­ted by a grant from The Min­istry of Em­ploy­ment.
Project page on the homepage of Herlev Muncipality (in danish)

Outside activities

Kemp&Laur­itzen, CBS ex­ec­ut­ive , 2025 -

Talk for man­agers

FAK (Fors­var­sakademiet) , -

As­sess­ment Com­mit­tee mem­ber As­sess­ment of can­did­ates for one ass.prof. po­s­i­tion

Seni­or re­search­er at the na­tion­al re­search centre for the work­ing en­virone­ment , 2021 -

Holds a 10% po­s­i­tion as seni­or re­search­er.

Nec­to Aca­dem­ic re­view­er , 2024 - 2024

Mu­ni­cip­al­ity of Copen­ha­gen Work­shop fa­cil­it­at­or , 2023 - 2023

3 work­shops

TEK­SAM (Co-in­dus­tri & Dansk In­dus­tri) Work­shop fa­cil­it­at­or , 2023 - 2023

3 work­shops

As­sess­ment Com­mit­tee mem­ber , 2023 - 2023

As­sess­ment of can­did­ates for one ass.prof. Po­s­i­tion at Aar­hus Uni­ver­sity

So­cialpæd­agogerne - Work­shop fa­cil­it­at­or , 2022 - 2022

2 work­shops in spring