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Greetje (Gretta) Corporaal

Research Fellow and British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow


  • Gretta.Corporaal@sbs.ox.ac.uk

Saïd Business School
University of Oxford
Park End Street
Oxford
OX1 1HP

Profile

Dr Gretta Corporaal is an expert on the Future of Work and Digital Transformation in the Platform Economy.

Dr Gretta Corporaal is a Research Fellow and British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. A Sociologist of Technology, Work, and Organisations, her research is positioned at the intersection of Management and Organisation Theory, Information Systems Research, and Economic Sociology. Gretta is specialising in the social, organisational, and economic implications of using digital technologies in the workplace, with a particular focus on the development and use of platform technologies and AI. This has been the focus of her doctoral research — an ethnographic study of cross-boundary collaboration for high-skilled knowledge work, and her postdoctoral research — an ethnographic study of the emergence, creation, and adoption of online labour platforms. Her current research in the British Academy funded iWork Project is an ethnographic study of how work and organising is changing when firms use digital platforms to bring external experts into the workplace. 

Gretta is also a Research Affiliate at Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, an associate member of the Digital Organisation and Society Research Centre at Royal Holloway University of London, a Fellow of the World Economic Forum‘s Global Future Council on the New Education and Work Agenda, and a co-host of the Talking About Organizations Podcast. Prior to joining Saïd Business School, Gretta worked as a postdoctoral researcher and tutor at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII). She co-founded the Platform Economy Interest Group at the University of Oxford. At OII, she taught the MSc course Digital Technology and Economic Organization for three years and was a member of the ERC-funded iLabour Project.

Gretta is an active member of the Academy of Management and the European Group of Organization Studies. In 2014, she had the honour to be granted a Young Talent Award from the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, which supported her to be a visiting researcher at New York University’s Stern School of Business. In 2015, Corporaal received the Wilhelmina Drucker Early Career Award from VU Amsterdam. In 2017, she received an Above and Beyond the Call of Duty Reviewer Award from the Academy of Management. In 2019, Gretta was selected as a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow for her research on the future of work and transformations brought about by digital platforms. Her work has been covered in the Financial Times, Fortune Magazine, and Forbes Magazine. 

Gretta holds a PhD in Organization Sciences from VU Amsterdam, and also hold a MSc (cum laude) in Social Research, and a PMC (cum laude) in Culture, Organization, and Management from VU Amsterdam. She further holds a BSc in Psychology from the University of Groningen where she also studied Modern Japan Studies and Classical Violin.

Expertise:

  • Micro-sociology of work and occupations
  • Organisational and occupational dynamics
  • Platforms and ecosystems (online labour platforms)
  • AI, machine learning, and algorithmic management processes
  • Emergence and transformation of fields, boundaries and practices
  • Technology & Innovation
  • Ethnography, case study research and qualitative research methods

Research

Gretta’s research focuses on the social, organisational, and economic implications of using digital technologies in the workplace, with a special focus on platform technologies and AI. Her current research includes the iWork Project, an ethnographic study of how work and organising is changing when firms use digital platforms to bring remote experts into the workplace.

 

Featured publications:

  • Corporaal, G.F., Windwehr, S. and Lehdonvirta, V. (2019). How labour market intermediaries transform institutions of work: Insights from a comparative qualitative study of dispute resolution processes in contingent work. Reshaping Work Conference, Amsterdam, October 24-25, 2019.

 

  • Corporaal, G.F. and Lehdonvirta, V. (2019). Bringing work back: Theorizing online labor platforms as a new model for sourcing high-skilled knowledge work. European Group of Organization Studies Colloquium, Edinburgh, July 4-6, 2019.

 

  • Corporaal, G.F. and Lehdonvirta, V. (2018). Motivations for platform sourcing: Why do firms adopt online labor markets for knowledge work? Reshaping Work Conference, Amsterdam October 25-26, 2018.

 

 

 

  • Corporaal, G.F., Ferguson, J., de Gilder, D. and Groenewegen, P. (2014)  '10,000 miles across the room?,' Proceedings of the 5th ACM international conference on Collaboration across boundaries: culture, distance & technology - CABS '14. the 5th ACM international conference, 20 – 22 August 2014. ACM Press. 29-30.

Engagement

Gretta is a Fellow of the World Economic Forum, supporting them in an unpaid advisory role related to the platform economy, platform labour markets, and the future of work and education. She is also a podcaster with the Talking About Organizations Podcast, which is on an unpaid voluntary basis. Gretta has an active interest in the practical application of research insights within companies and other organisations. She delivers consultancy and executive education for Oxford Saïd Business School, various global F500 and consultancy firms, industry actors, and (semi-) governmental institutions.

 

Gretta’s current research on iWork: Investigating the future of work and organising in the digital platform economy is funded by the British Academy. Her research as part of iLabour: the construction of labour markets on the Internet is funded by the European Research Council. Prior to joining Oxford University, Gretta’s PhD research on cross-boundary collaboration was funded by Teijin Limited, Yanmar Europe BV and the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds.

Teaching

Gretta has been teaching in the areas of Platform Economy, Digital Technology/Future of Work, Organizational Change, and Research Methods in BSc, MSc, MBA, Executive MBA, and Executive Education programmes.

Social Media

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