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Louise Jør­ring

Postdoc

Subjects
Decision-making Public management Automatisation Digitalisation Qualitative methods Public sector

Primary research areas

Front­line work and pub­lic en­coun­ters

This re­search area ex­plores how front­line work­ers—such as so­cial work­ers, teach­ers, and po­lice of­ficers—in­ter­act with cit­izens in the de­liv­ery of pub­lic ser­vices. It fo­cuses on themes such as pro­fes­sion­al dis­cre­tion, de­cision-mak­ing, or­gan­iz­a­tion­al routines, doc­u­ment­a­tion prac­tices, and the power dy­nam­ics em­bed­ded in every­day en­coun­ters. The re­search spans fields such as pub­lic ad­min­is­tra­tion and so­ci­ology to un­der­stand how policies are in­ter­preted and en­acted in prac­tice.

Di­git­al­iz­a­tion of work

This re­search area in­vest­ig­ates how di­git­al tech­no­lo­gies—such as de­cision-sup­port sys­tems, self-ser­vice plat­forms, and AI—trans­form con­tem­por­ary work prac­tices. With a par­tic­u­lar fo­cus on front­line work in the pub­lic sec­tor, it ex­am­ines how di­git­al­iz­a­tion re­shapes pro­fes­sion­al dis­cre­tion, cit­izen en­coun­ters, and the or­gan­iz­a­tion­al routines that struc­ture ser­vice de­liv­ery. Draw­ing on vari­ous so­cial sci­ence dis­cip­lines, the re­search seeks to un­der­stand how di­git­al in­fra­struc­tures both en­able and con­strain pro­fes­sion­al judg­ment, and how em­ploy­ees ad­apt to, res­ist, or re­shape tech­no­lo­gies.

Qual­it­at­ive meth­ods

This re­search area fo­cuses on qual­it­at­ive meth­ods for study­ing work, or­gan­iz­a­tions, and pub­lic ser­vice de­liv­ery. It in­cludes eth­no­graph­ic field­work, in­ter­views and doc­u­ment ana­lys­is, with an em­phas­is on cap­tur­ing mean­ing-mak­ing, prac­tices, and power dy­nam­ics in con­text. The re­search is par­tic­u­larly in­ter­ested in how qual­it­at­ive meth­ods can be used to ex­plore the ex­per­i­ences and every­day prac­tices of front­line work­ers and cit­izens, as well as to trace or­gan­iz­a­tion­al pro­cesses and so­ci­o­tech­nic­al change over time.

Study­ing front­line prac­tices in pub­lic ser­vices

My research sheds light on how public sector organizations are changing — especially in the spaces where citizens meet the state. I study how frontline workers navigate competing demands, digital technologies, and shifting values in their everyday work, with a focus on meaning-making and professional judgment. 

Through the projects Valuing Invisible Work and RECORD, I explore how digitalization and recordkeeping shape roles, relationships, and decision-making in frontline settings. My work shows how public sector reforms and digital tools affect not just efficiency, but also the human side of service provision. 

I use qualitative methods — including interviews, observations, document analysis and time studies — to understand how change unfolds in practice. I also teach organizational theory and qualitative methods, with a focus on helping students engage critically with real-world organizational dynamics — something I truly enjoy. My research supports more thoughtful policy design and greater recognition of frontline workers’ care, knowledge, and discretion. 

Recent research projects

Re­cord­keep­ing in Front­line Work: Bal­an­cing Bur­eau­crat­ic, Pro­fes­sion­al and Re­la­tion­al Con­cerns (RE­CORD)

The pro­ject is fun­ded by the In­de­pend­ent Re­search Fund Den­mark and runs from 2024 to 2027. It ex­am­ines the cru­cial role of writ­ten case re­cords in pub­lic ser­vice de­liv­ery. Bey­ond serving leg­al and ad­min­is­trat­ive func­tions, case re­cords are key tools for know­ledge shar­ing, co­ordin­a­tion, and in­creas­ingly, for re­la­tion­al work in cit­izen en­coun­ters. Des­pite their mul­tiple pur­poses and grow­ing com­plex­ity, we know little about how and why case re­cords are pro­duced and used in prac­tice — and what this means for cit­izens and their ex­per­i­ence of pub­lic ser­vices. The pro­ject ex­plores the fol­low­ing ques­tions: How do front­line work­ers pri­or­it­ize dif­fer­ent pur­poses of re­cord­keep­ing in every­day prac­tice? How is this re­flec­ted in ac­tu­al case re­cords, and what are the im­plic­a­tions for cit­izens and stake­hold­ers?

Valu­ing In­vis­ible Work: ef­fi­ciency am­bi­tions and di­git­al­iz­a­tion pro­jects in prac­tice

The pro­ject was fun­ded by the In­de­pend­ent Re­search Fund Den­mark and ran from 2020 to 2025. It fol­lowed di­git­al­iz­a­tion pro­jects in a range of pub­lic or­gan­iz­a­tions, fo­cus­ing on the craft­ing and cir­cu­la­tion of promis­sory doc­u­ments such as di­git­al­iz­a­tion strategies and busi­ness plans, as well as the new tasks that arise with di­git­al­iz­a­tion. The aim was to in­vest­ig­ate and the­or­ize the ‘in­vis­ible work’ in­volved in di­git­al­iz­a­tion pro­jects, in­clud­ing how this work is ascribed mean­ing and val­ued.
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Outside activities

2025

No out­side activ­it­ies to re­port