Explore our knowledge

Silviya Sve­jen­ova Ve­likova

Professor

Emner
Organisation Kreativitet Innovation Ledelse Fremtid Identitet Kvalitativ metode

Primary research areas

Col­lab­or­at­ive Cre­ativ­ity
How cre­ativ­ity is or­gan­ized for re­new­al and leg­acy through col­lab­or­a­tion and tem­por­al work
In­clus­ive In­nov­a­tion
How ima­gin­a­tion, nar­rat­ives, visu­als, ma­ter­i­al­ity, space, and place are mo­bil­ized across bound­ar­ies
Shared lead­er­ship
How or­gan­iz­a­tions and com­munit­ies nav­ig­ate chal­lenges through shared lead­er­ship and evolving roles

Ad­van­cing cross-bound­ary col­lab­or­a­tion for bet­ter fu­tures

My research explores how we can collaborate more effectively to create novel solutions to complex societal challenges. I study how groups, organizations, and communities work across boundaries to imagine and realize better futures.

I draw insights on cross-boundary collaboration in business and social enterprises, creative industries (film, food, architecture, art, craft, music), and cultural institutions (libraries, museums). Across these settings, I examine organizational, temporal, material, and affective dynamics, boundary-spanning executive roles and shared leadership, and the balancing of legacy with renewal. I am also interested in how art and science can be combined to spark dialogue, innovation and positive societal impact.

I advance cross-boundary collaboration not only through research but also through leadership and service of academic associations (Chair of the SCANCOR Board, Program Chair of the Academy of Management’s OMT Division, and Co-coordinator of EGOS Standing Working Group on organizations and place-based communities) and multi-stakeholder initiatives (Textile in Tingbjerg, CBS Think Tank on The Future of Leadership).

Publications

See all publications

april 2025

Rediscovering Craft in Organization Studies

Perspectives and Pathways

Davide Ravasi

Sil­viya Sve­jenova Ve­li­ko­va, Professor

Jochem J. Kroezen

Innan Sasaki

Roy Suddaby
Go to publication

marts 2025

Collective Leadership as ‘Plumbing and Poetry’

Navigating Paradoxical Tensions Through Community Identity Work

Eero Vaara

Re­na­te Mey­er, Professor

Sil­viya Sve­jenova Ve­li­ko­va, Professor

Markus Höllerer

Bernard Forgues
Go to publication

2025

A Temporal Narrative View of Social Innovations

How World Central Kitchen Delivers Food Relief as “A Plate of Hope”

Sil­viya Sve­jenova Ve­li­ko­va, Professor

Mi­ri­am Feuls, Associate Professor

Iben Stjerne
Go to publication

Recent research projects

Tex­tile in Ting­b­jerg

This 2021-2025 multi-stake­hold­er ini­ti­at­ive, fun­ded by the Dan­ish Min­istry of Cul­ture, in­volved cul­tur­al in­sti­tu­tions, hous­ing ini­ti­at­ives, and KU and CBS re­search­ers and stu­dents. It sought to fos­ter­ act­ive cit­izen­ship through arts and crafts among wo­men in Ting­b­jerg. The CBS re­search re­lated to the pro­ject ad­vances the un­der­stand­ing of craft as a nex­us for cre­ativ­ity, col­lab­or­a­tion, and change.
Project website (in Danish)

Tem­por­al­ity of Food In­nov­a­tions

This 2019-2022 pro­ject with Tor Hernes, Miri­am Feuls, Mia Plot­nikof, and Iben Stjerne, fun­ded by the Velux Found­a­tion, ex­plored how act­ors draw on the past while ima­gin­ing new fu­tures. Fo­cus­ing on the Dan­ish food sec­tor, we stud­ied how tra­di­tion and in­nov­a­tion in­ter­play across com­pan­ies, events, and pub­lic in­sti­tu­tions to re­shape the mean­ing and role of food in so­ci­ety.

In­sti­tu­tion­al Re­new­al

This pro­ject with Eva Box­en­baum, Ren­ate Mey­er, and Tam­mar Zil­ber ex­plores how long-stand­ing in­sti­tu­tions and es­sen­tial civic in­fra­struc­tures (e.g., pub­lic lib­rar­ies and mu­seums) re­new them­selves by bal­an­cing con­tinu­ity and change. It ex­am­ines in­sti­tu­tion­al re­new­al from a mul­timod­al per­spect­ive, con­sid­er­ing verbal, visu­al, and ma­ter­i­al forms of com­mu­nic­a­tion.

Or­gan­iz­a­tions and Place-based Com­mu­nit­ies

This 2025-2028 ini­tit­ive (EGOS Stand­ing Work­ing Group 7), co­ordin­ated with Chris­tof Brandtner, Laura Dupin, Santi Fur­n­ari, Markus Höller­er, and Sun­tae Kim, aims to ad­vance an im­port­ant, yet con­cep­tu­ally frag­men­ted area with­in the re­search on or­gan­iz­a­tions: how or­gan­iz­a­tions and com­munit­ies mu­tu­ally in­flu­ence each oth­er, and what the or­gan­iz­a­tion­al mech­an­isms and forms are that sus­tain flour­ish­ing and re­si­li­ent com­munit­ies.
EGOS SWG

Links

Scand­inavi­an Con­sor­ti­um for Or­gan­iz­a­tion­al Re­search - SCAN­COR
I am Chair of the Board of SCAN­COR, a transna­tion­al net­work of schol­ars that fa­cil­it­ates in­quiry in or­gan­iz­a­tion­al so­cial sci­ence. Its mem­ber in­sti­tu­tions in Scand­inavia and great­er Europe sup­port re­search vis­its and res­id­en­cies at Stan­ford and Har­vard Uni­ver­sit­ies, as well as at SCAN­COR Scand­inavia. SCAN­COR also runs a PhD work­shop and spon­sors con­fer­ences.
SCANCOR
Or­gan­iz­a­tion and Man­age­ment The­ory Di­vi­sion, AOM
I cur­rently serve as the Pro­gram Chair of OMT - The Place to Be, one of the largest di­vi­sions of the Academy of Man­age­ment, with over 4,000 mem­bers glob­ally. It ad­vances ro­bust the­or­et­ic­al un­der­stand­ing of or­gan­iz­a­tions, or­gan­iz­ing, and man­age­ment, as well as con­nects and de­vel­ops a vi­brant com­munity of re­search­ers, edu­cat­ors, and prac­ti­tion­ers through vari­ous ini­ti­at­ives.
OMT
CBS Think Tank and Re­port "Lead­er­ship for the Fu­ture"
As Aca­dem­ic Co-Dir­ect­or of the CBS Lead­er­ship Centre, I was in­volved in bring­ing re­search­ers, prac­ti­tion­ers, and policy-makers to­geth­er in a think tank on the fu­ture of lead­er­ship. It iden­ti­fied crit­ic­al lead­er­ship skill sets and or­gan­iz­a­tion­al drivers (Bruun, Mors, Sve­jen­ova & Bom, Eds., 2024), which seni­or ex­ec­ut­ives can de­vel­op through a CBS Ex­ec­ut­ive Found­a­tion pro­gram.
Leadership for the Future Report