Postdoc for Social Innovation Processes in and around Multinational Companies

The Strategic Management group of the Department of Business Administration at the Nijmegen School of Management (Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands) is seeking applications for the position of Postdoctoral Research Fellow on a Trans-Atlantic Platform Social Innovation funded project. The project is aimed at understanding how multinational companies carry out social innovation to address inequality. Multinationals can engage in initiatives to address social issues in healthcare, educational and skill ecosystems, core labour rights, discrimination based on gender, race, sexual orientation and disability, or the marginalisation of migrants and indigenous people. With heightened inequality across the globe, multinational companies can play a significant role as they apply and adapt innovative practices across borders. Our interest in the project is in how different types of social activists in three developed economies (the UK, the Netherlands and Canada) and two emerging economies (Brazil and Mexico) instigate, spread and sustain social innovations, which resources and skills they deploy, and the level of social reach and impact they attain. We expect to study these initiatives as bottom-up and co-constructed by a variety of private-firm and community actors, with a focus on the conditions under which such innovations might be scaled up to provide broader solutions to problems of inequality. We expect the project to enable policymakers, multinational managers and community activists to develop policy recommendations to promote diversity and social inclusion by building on the conditions and practices conducive to the scaling-up and dissemination of social innovation initiatives on inequality.

As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, you will complement an interdisciplinary research team at Loughborough University London, the University of Montreal and Radboud University consisting of experts in international management, human resource management, law and policy analysis, political sciences, economics, and the sociology of innovation.

• You hold a PhD in social sciences (e.g. sociology, political science, international management), preferably with a focus on social innovation and/or social activism.
• You have knowledge of and, preferably, experience with different concepts and techniques regarding participatory methods (multinational-stakeholder engagement, discursive approaches to studying corporate and stakeholder tactics and field frame changes, social movements in a comparative perspective).
• You have a keen interest in social activism/social movements, social inclusion and social impact.
• You are experienced in empirical research methods, in particular in qualitative research (e.g. interviews, focus groups, ethnography) and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA).
• You are experienced in academic writing, demonstrated by publications in peer-reviewed journals.
• You are fluent in English (C2) and have a basic understanding of Dutch.
• You have strong social skills and the ability to effectively communicate with different stakeholders.
• You feel comfortable working in an interdisciplinary and international research team.
• You are able to work creatively, flexibly, and independently.

Funding
Funding covers the salary of a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. You will also receive a research budget to cover your field trip expenses in the Netherlands, the UK and Canada, Brazil or Mexico. Additional funding will be available to present your work in an international conference and project-related workshops.

• Employment: 32 - 40 hours per week.
• A maximum gross monthly salary of € 4.978 based on a 38-hour working week (salary scale 11).
• The exact salary depends on the candidate's qualifications and amount of relevant professional experience.
• In addition to the salary: an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
• Duration of the contract: 30 months (2,5 years)
• The intended start date is 2 March 2020.
• You will be able to make use of our Dual Career Service: our Dual Career Officer will assist with family-related support, such as child care, and help your partner prepare for the local labour market and with finding an occupation.
• Are you interested in our excellent employment conditions?

We want to get the best out of science, others and ourselves. Why? Because this is what the world around us desperately needs. Leading research and education make an indispensable contribution to a healthy, free world with equal opportunities for all. This is what unites the more than 22,000 students and 5,000 employees at Radboud University. And this requires even more talent and collaboration. You have a part to play!

The Nijmegen School of Management (NSM) is an academic centre of research and higher education, focusing on institutional and managerial issues within complex organisations. There are seven disciplines within the NSM: Business Administration, Public Administration, Political Science, Economics and Business Economics, Social and Political Sciences of the Environment, Human Geography, and Spatial Planning.

The NSM strives for a multidisciplinary approach. The educational programme is characterised by small-scale teaching and provides a stimulating learning environment with an emphasis on the development of academic skills. The NSM employs 260 FTEs, 75% of whom are academics. Currently, the NSM has approximately 4,500 students.

The Department of Business Administration is responsible for the BSc programmes in Business Administration (including a full track offered in English, and a track in International Business Administration) as well as eight specialisations within the MSc programme in Business Administration (all in English). The department consists of five Chairs: Strategic Management, Organisational Design and Development, Marketing, Methods, and Strategic Human Resource Management.

Our interdisciplinary Responsible Organisation research programme addresses the multiple values underlying responsibility, the conditions required to realise those values and the interventions geared to the transition of organisations towards responsible organisations. We co-create knowledge with multiple stakeholders in the wider community to ensure the impact of our scholarly work. Our research activities fall under the responsibility of the interdisciplinary Institute for Management Research (IMR).

The Strategic Management group focuses on strategy processes in relation to the dynamic and complex environment that organisations are confronted with and the competencies and skills required to deal with the diversity and plurality of stakeholders to create multiple values for an organisation and its surroundings. Members of the Strategic Management group have published in high-impact journals such as the Strategic Management Journal, Global Strategy Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management Studies, Long Range Planning, Journal of Law and Economics, Organisation Studies, and Research Policy.

• Letter of motivation.
• CV including a list of publications.
• Two academic publications in peer-reviewed journals.
• At least two referees.