Research Interests

Overall, my research is aimed at uncovering “what goes on” at the frontline of public organizations. I am interested in how frontline workers and frontline supervisors understand their role as well as how they make discretionary decisions in their work. Moreover, I also have an interest in how citizens experience their encounter with public organizations and the challenges they may face for example in relation to access, stigmatization etc.

Topics that I have focused on include discrimination and differential treatment of citizens, stereotyped reasoning, professional knowledge, professional identity, professional authority, leadership identity and administrative burdens. I have mainly worked with the health care sector, education system and social welfare setting.

In my research I employ ethnographic and qualitative methods such as participant observation, narrative interviews, semi-structured interviews, focus groups and document analysis.