I strive to create synergy between my interests in linguistics and organisation theory by focussing on sensemaking as introduced by Karl Weick. Weick’s framework has been elaborated by the Management of Change group around Henk van Dongen at Erasmus University Rotterdam, by linking it with social constructivist thinking of philosophers like Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida. I myself have further expanded the Rotterdam framework by incorporating Gilles Fauconnier’s theory of Mental Space. The resulting theory is known as Social Integration (SI) Theory.
More concretely, my current research interests are:
Corporate identity
(Chinese) has always been my favourite topic. I am currently writing a monograph on identity constructs of Chinese enterprises using the Social Integration model developed in Peverelli(2000). I intend to corroborate the following basic hypotheses:
Chinese Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is hot. China is hot. Combining these two concepts could therefore be a dangerous act, as it may cause overheating. Chinese entrepreneurs are indeed the subject of a rapidly growing body of literature, academic and popular. However, the bulk of it tends to focus on a few aspects. There are the biographies of famous entrepreneurs (like Alibaba’s Jack Ma). While informative, these are usually of a non-academic nature.
Academic studies tend to focus on the political and economic environment in which present day Chinese entrepreneurs have to operate. Both types of publications slight the entrepreneurial identity. My research aims at filling this gap with its core question: why do some people become entrepreneurs? I analyse the life stories of Chinese private entrepreneurs to reveal how the entrepreneurial identity of each of them has emerged at the cross section of a number of other identities. This research therefore contributes to a better understanding of Chinese entrepreneurship and the study of entrepreneurship in general.
Cross-Cultural Human Rights
Through my interest in corporate governance and corporate social responsibility in China, I got involved with the Cross-Cultural Human Rights Centre. I have participated in a number of conferences and workshop where I again tried to contribute with insights based on the Social Integration model. From the Publications pages you can see that the topics are quite diverse, but the theoretical perspectives of all my papers is the same.
Invitation for cooperation
As you can see from my publications, I have a strong preference for international collaboration. In case any topic on this site strikes you as possible basis for cooperation, please Contact me with your ideas.