Meet the cbsCSR PhDs: Árni Jóhan Petersen

Árni Jóhan Petersen is in the final phase of his Ph.D. project. He has just moved back to the Faroe Islands with his family, which is also home to the case study of his Ph.D. project. In light of Árni finishing up his PhD, he was asked a few questions about his work and how he came to pursue a PhD at the cbsCSR center.

The objective of Árni’s research project is to explore how future expectations affect present action. In his opinion, the way we imagine and narrate the expected future, plays a significant role in our present where the most powerful narratives might shape our opportunities in the future. Narratives about the future are projections based on storytelling mechanisms and the most convincing stories have the ability to shape the future.

“I use the public expectation to find oil in the Faroe Islands as a case study, where no commercial oil fund is found - yet. Nevertheless, an oil industry has emerged and the Faroese are working in the industry, mainly elsewhere. In 2013, two per cent of the population was working in the oil industry - compared with only a handful in the early 1990´s when the adventure started”, tells Árni about his Ph.D. project, which pursues the research question: “How does future expectation of wealth deriving from the oil affect the Faroese society and the potential outcomes in the future in the Faroe Islands?"

Coincidence brought him to the cbsCSR center

Árni has a MSc in Business Administration and Organizational Communication from CBS. During his studies at CBS, he has had different positions as both research assistant at the Department of Business and Politics (DBP) and as student assistant at the President’s Office. After finishing his studies, he worked as a CSR- and communication consultant at a Danish company (De Forenede Dampvaskerier A/S), when Árni’s master thesis supervisor Dan Kärreman asked him to apply for a Ph.D. position at the cbsCSR center. The project reflects on the ways in which involved businesses act as governance takers and governance makers. In this context, Árni had the idea to explore the relationship between responsible business and governance in the Faroese Oil Industry. “My first objective was to examine the sense-making of responsible business and governance and how this affects the discourse - and the other way around”, tells Árni about his initial project idea. But after nine drills they still have not found any oil in the Faroe Islands. Therefore, the oil price went dramatically down and the oil companies withdrew their exploration activities from the Faroe Islands (end 2014 to start 2015). Given that, Árni had to rewrite his project idea.

Árni plans on handing in his Ph.D. project in October 2017 and has already a clear plan for his future. He has got a position as Adjunct Professor at the University of the Faroe Islands where he will do teaching and researching. While glad that he got this wonderful opportunity, Árni expresses that he already misses the cbsCSR center and its environment, “I miss the environment and the interesting projects researchers are working on at the center. CBS has offered me great opportunities although I have not been able to catch all of them”. Árni is represented in the UArctic’s network for Arctic Sustainable Resources and Social Responsibility together with people from 10 different universities. In the future, he will be representing the University of the Faroe Islands in the network, but he will also be connected to CBS in some way, which is still being considered.