Sara Elsa Maj Dahlman
Vita
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Management and Organization at Leuphana University of Lüneburg, where I explore the vital question of how we organize for better futures. Driven by a curiosity about alternative forms of organizing, my research examines how organizations—both formal and informal—can become agents of meaningful social change. Over the years, I have investigated diverse empirical sites including sustainable investing, femtech, norm-critical parental groups, feminist hackathons, and feminist pornography, drawing out insights about the tensions and transformative potential of organizing differently. Building on this foundation, I employ qualitative methodologies to unpack phenomena around alternative organizing, digital technologies, and sustainability. My work has been published in leading journals including Human Relations, Organization, Journal of Business Ethics, and Big Data & Society, and I remain committed to research that not only analyzes organizational life but also imagines and supports pathways toward more sustainable and just ways of working together.
Academic Positions
2025 – Present: Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute for Management and Organization, Leuphana University of Lüneburg. Employed in the special program Embracing Transformation, working in the Key Subject Area 'Companies as drivers of sustainability transformations'. My project focuses on alternative organizing in the age of digital capitalism, exploring strategies for alternative ways of working with digital technologies for more sustainable and just futures.
2022 – 2024: Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Communication and Arts, Roskilde University, Denmark. Employed on the 'Algorithms, Data and Democracy' project exploring the digital organizing of women's health and femtech.
2016 – 2021: PhD Fellow, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. Employed on the Velux-funded 'AlterEcos - Exploring Alternatives to Currently Dominant Forms of Economic Organizing' project. My PhD project explored digital technologies and sustainable investing through the lens of alternative organizing.
Publications
Journal contributions
- A processual perspective on alternative organization: Reorienting critical research through a study of two political parties
Emil Husted (Author) , Erik Mygind du Plessis (Author) , Sara Elsa Maj Dahlman (Author) , 01.01.2026 , in: Human Relations, 79, 1 , p. 32-58 , 27 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Affective boundaries: The power effects of objects of emotion in collaborative encounters
Sara Elsa Maj Dahlman (Author) , 01.09.2024 , in: Organization, 31, 6 , p. 952-969 , 18 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- ‘I need you inside of me’: Gendered organizing of feminist pornography
Lea Katharina Reiss (Author) , Sara Elsa Maj Dahlman (Author) , 01.07.2024 , in: Organization, 31, 5 , p. 780-800 , 21 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- The communicative constitution of atomization: online prepper communities and the crisis of collective action
Emil Husted (Author) , Sine N. Just (Author) , Erik Mygind du Plessis (Author) , Sara Elsa Maj Dahlman (Author) , 01.08.2023 , in: Journal of Communication, 73, 4 , p. 368-381 , 14 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Tinkering Toward the Good––Sustainable Investing Between Utopian Imaginaries and Actualizations
Sara Elsa Maj Dahlman (Author) , 01.06.2023 , in: Journal of Business Ethics, 185, 2 , p. 281-297 , 17 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review