Forskningsgruppen arbeider med avansert forskning på offentlige institusjoner på alle forvaltningsnivåer (kommuner, fylkeskommuner, stat) og deres samspill med ikke-offentlige institusjoner. Samtidig er vi opptatt av studier på tvers av flere velferdssektorer med fokus på endringsdynamikk innenfor kommunal og regional forvaltning, nordiske helsetjenester og høyere utdanning.
Fremtredende tematiske områder er:
- Endring og kontinuitet
- Komparativ offentlig politikk
- Ledelse og styring
- Kulturdimensjoner
- Politisk-administrativ dynamikk
Oppdatert informasjon, jf. punktene under, foreligger på engelsk.
Empirical focus
- Local and regional government
- Health care sector
- Higher education sector
- Public organizations more generally, compared to private and not-for-profit organizations.
- Hidden and marginal organizations
Analytical and theoretical perspectives
- Organizational theory (including leadership theory)
- Institutional theory
- Network theory
- Governance theory (NPM, post-NPM, new Weberian state, etc.)
- Resource dependency theory
- Stakeholder theory
- Principal agent theory
- Sociology of Science and of the professions
- Systems theory
- Culture theory
- Organisational Symbolism theory
- Theory of Representative Bureaucracy
Recent and ongoing Projects
- Sustainable communities in the Kattegat-Skagerrak region — Welfare reforms, collaborative governance and changing managerial roles
- The Public Health Coordinators role, function and impact in Norwegian local governance (2020- )
- Assessing the performance effects of changes in leadership in management structures in Nordic Higher Education, 2014-2017 (Norwegian research council).
- Nordic Gender Equality Policy in a Europeanization Perspective, 2015-2017 (NIKK - Nordic Information on Gender, cooperation with Linköping University, University of Copenhagen, NTNU, University of Aalborg)
- Comparative Study of Mergers in Nordic Higher Education, 2013-2015 (Swedish foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences)
- The global financial crisis and the public sector in the Nordic countries, 2014-2016 (Nordic joint council for social sciences and humanities)
- Micro-level Socialization and the Role of the Institutional Environment in Civic Engagement, 2011-2016 (Flemish Science Foundation; cooperation with Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
- Comparing leadership in public, private and hybrid organizations (cooperation with the Norwegian School of Economics/AFF, Bergen)
- Strategic Management in local Government (cooperation with Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Tampere University, Ghent University, Erasmus University Rotterdam)
- Causes and consequences of diverging organizational culture (cooperation with the Norwegian School of Economics/AFF, Bergen, and Telenor)
Selected Academic Partners
- Norway: Oslo (Oslo University, BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo and Akershus University College for Applied Sciences), Tromsø (The Arctic University), Bodø (Nord University), Bergen (Norwegian School of Economics, University of Bergen).
- Finland: Tampere, Lapland and Eastern Finland
- Sweden: KTH, Royal Institute of Technology and Lund
- Denmark: Copenhagen, Aarhus and Aalborg
- Germany: Bremen
- Netherlands: Twente, Rotterdam
- Belgium: Ghent, Brussels
- UK: University College London, University of East Anglia.
- Estonia: Tartu Institute of Technology
- Czech Republic: Charles and Center for Higher Education Policy
- Poland: Cracow University of Economics, Nicolaus Copernicus and Poznan
- North America: Stanford, Michigan, Toronto…
- South America: Sao Paulo and Campinas (Brazil)
- Russia: National Research University/Higher school of economics
- Africa: Wits, Eastern Cape and Pretoria (South Africa), Eduardo Mondlane (Mozambique).
- Indonesia: Gadjah Mada University
Regional Partners
- Kristiansand Municipality
- Øst- and Vest- Agder counties
- Agderforskning
- Southern Norway Hospital
Relevant PhD-programmes
Social Science, PhD programme,
Specialization in Public Administration
Medlemmer i gruppen
Deltakere
Assosierte medlemmer
Zuzana Murdoch, Universitetet i Bergen
Laila Nordstrand Berg, Høgskulen på Vestlandet
James Tommy Karlsen, Universitetet i Agder
Bjørnulf Arntsen, Universitetet i Agder
Barbara Zyzak, Universitetet i Bergen
Tanja Klenk, Helmut Schmidt University, Tyskland