From the politics of climate change to defending democracy, Professor Daniel Nyberg is seeking to understand how corporations, governments, and citizens negotiate different priorities when facing key challenges of our time.
This qualitative researcher takes an interdisciplinary approach to his work across two main areas:
“These are some of the biggest threats facing humankind,” he affirms.
“How could you not be interested?”
Climate Change
Professor Nyberg’s interest in climate change came from a growing sense of urgency. As public interest in green products grew, corporations were beginning to address climate change internally, through the design and delivery of green products and services. At the same time, the climate emergency led to attempts to contain or regulate polluting industries, for example through carbon offsets and other measures.
“It’s important to understand what corporations are doing in order to mitigate and/or minimise the effects of climate change,” Professor Nyberg explains.
“We also need to have knowledge about what they’re doing so we can regulate their activities.”
Working alongside Professor Christopher Wright from the University of Sydney's Business School, and Dr Vanessa Bowden from the University of Newcastle's School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences, this ground-breaking research has been published in a number of leading international journals. The three colleagues collaborated on the book, Organising Responses to Climate Change: The Politics of Mitigation, Adaptation and Suffering (2022, Cambridge University Press), building on the success of Professor Nyberg and Professor Wright's book, Climate Change, Capitalism, and Corporations: Processes of Creative Self-Destruction (2015, Cambridge University Press), which attracted wide attention across both the social and natural sciences.
Defending Democracy
Building on this work, Professor Nyberg has developed a strong interest in corporate political activity, both in how public policy is interpreted and implemented in practice, as well as in how corporations seek to influence public policy. This shift from the narrow focus on corporate outcomes to the broader understanding of democratic processes, is particularly relevant in the fraught debates around climate policy.
“I’m currently exploring how corporations influence democracy,” he states.
“The clearest example is the Labor Government’s super profit tax proposal of 2010, which the mining industry vehemently opposed. Even though it spent $22 million doing so, calculations by the Australian Financial Review suggest it saved $10 billion by agreeing to a truce with then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard. So, you can see it’s often much easier and cheaper for corporations to deal with public policies than it is for them to deal with their processes.”
Book Chapter: Climate Change and Corporate Strategies
Wright, Christopher, Nyberg, Daniel and Bowden, Vanessa (2024). Climate Change and Corporate Strategies. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science. Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.938
Journal Article: Defending hegemony: from climate change mitigation to adaptation on the Great Barrier Reef
Nyberg, Daniel and Wright, Christopher (2024). Defending hegemony: from climate change mitigation to adaptation on the Great Barrier Reef. Organization, 31 (2), 247-268. doi: 10.1177/13505084221115836
Journal Article: Catastrophe to Consensus: Hegemonic Performativity in Climate Adaptation
Wissman, Nichole, Levy, David and Nyberg, Daniel (2024). Catastrophe to Consensus: Hegemonic Performativity in Climate Adaptation. Organization Studies. doi: 10.1177/01708406241233179
Business and democracy: Power, profit and participation
(2024–2027) ARC Discovery Projects
About time: Climate change adaptation in Australian industries
(2023–2024) ARC Discovery Projects
Organising responses to climate change: the politics of mitigation, adaptation and suffering
Nyberg, Daniel, Wright, Christopher and Bowden, Vanessa (2023). Organising responses to climate change: the politics of mitigation, adaptation and suffering. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009266901
Climate change, capitalism, and corporations: Processes of creative self-destruction
Wright, Christopher and Nyberg, Daniel (2015). Climate change, capitalism, and corporations: Processes of creative self-destruction. Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781139939676
Climate Change and Corporate Strategies
Wright, Christopher, Nyberg, Daniel and Bowden, Vanessa (2024). Climate Change and Corporate Strategies. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science. Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.938
Planetary Challenges : The Fossil-Fuel Industry, Climate Change, and the Disruption of the World
Wright, Christopher and Nyberg, Daniel (2021). Planetary Challenges : The Fossil-Fuel Industry, Climate Change, and the Disruption of the World. The Oxford Handbook of Industry Dynamics. (pp. 1-23) Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190933463.013.26
The Mobilisation of Extractivism : The Social and Political Influence of the Fossil Fuel Industry
Wright, Christopher and Nyberg, Daniel (2021). The Mobilisation of Extractivism : The Social and Political Influence of the Fossil Fuel Industry. Negotiating Climate Change in Crisis. (pp. 113-126) Cambridge, United Kingdom: Open Book Publishers. doi: 10.11647/obp.0265.09
How Organizations Translate Climate Change into Business as Usual
Wright, Christopher and Nyberg, Daniel (2021). How Organizations Translate Climate Change into Business as Usual. World Scientific Encyclopedia of Climate Change. (pp. 179-185) Singapore: World Scientific. doi: 10.1142/9789811213946_0023
Climate change and social innovation
Wright, Christopher and Nyberg, Daniel (2019). Climate change and social innovation. Handbook of Inclusive Innovation. (pp. 47-60) Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781786436016.00011
Nyberg, Daniel, Wright, Christopher and Kirk, Jacqueline (2017). Re-producing a neoliberal political regime: competing justifications and dominance in disputing fracking. Justification, evaluation and critique in the study of organizations: contributions from French pragmatist sociology. (pp. 143-171) edited by Charlotte Cloutier, Jean-Pascal Gond and Bernard Leca. Bingley, United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing. doi: 10.1108/S0733-558X20170000052005
Engaging with the contradictions of capitalism: Teaching ‘sustainability’ in the business school
Wright, Christopher and Nyberg, Daniel (2016). Engaging with the contradictions of capitalism: Teaching ‘sustainability’ in the business school. The Routledge Companion to Reinventing Management Education. (pp. 468-481) London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315852430-46
Critical ethnographic research: Negotiations, influences, and interests
Nyberg, Daniel and Delaney, Helen (2014). Critical ethnographic research: Negotiations, influences, and interests. Critical Management Research: Reflections from the Field. (pp. 63-80) SAGE Publications Inc.. doi: 10.4135/9781446288610.n4
Grant, David and Nyberg, Daniel (2011). The View from Organizational Studies: A Discourse-Based Understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility and Communication. The Handbook of Communication and Corporate Social Responsibility. (pp. 534-549) Wiley-Blackwell. doi: 10.1002/9781118083246.ch27
Defending hegemony: from climate change mitigation to adaptation on the Great Barrier Reef
Nyberg, Daniel and Wright, Christopher (2024). Defending hegemony: from climate change mitigation to adaptation on the Great Barrier Reef. Organization, 31 (2), 247-268. doi: 10.1177/13505084221115836
Catastrophe to Consensus: Hegemonic Performativity in Climate Adaptation
Wissman, Nichole, Levy, David and Nyberg, Daniel (2024). Catastrophe to Consensus: Hegemonic Performativity in Climate Adaptation. Organization Studies. doi: 10.1177/01708406241233179
Elements of power: material-political entanglements in Australia's fossil fuel hegemony
Hamilton, Olivia, Nyberg, Daniel and Bowden, Vanessa (2023). Elements of power: material-political entanglements in Australia's fossil fuel hegemony. Environment and Planning E-Nature and Space, 6 (4), 2295-2317. doi: 10.1177/25148486231159305
Organising Responses to Climate Change: The Politics of Mitigation, Adaptation and Suffering
Schuessler, Elke, Nyberg, Daniel, Wright, Christopher and Bowden, Vanessa (2023). Organising Responses to Climate Change: The Politics of Mitigation, Adaptation and Suffering. Organization Studies. doi: 10.1177/01708406231208375
Corporate populism: how corporations construct and represent ‘the people’ in political contestations
Nyberg, Daniel and Murray, John (2023). Corporate populism: how corporations construct and represent ‘the people’ in political contestations. Journal of Business Research, 162 113879, 113879. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113879
The passive revolution is televised: The dominant ideology of media capitalism
Nyberg, Daniel (2023). The passive revolution is televised: The dominant ideology of media capitalism. Organization. doi: 10.1177/13505084231180288
The roles of celebrities in public disputes: climate change and the Great Barrier Reef
Wright, Christopher and Nyberg, Daniel (2022). The roles of celebrities in public disputes: climate change and the Great Barrier Reef. Journal of Management Studies, 59 (7), 1788-1816. doi: 10.1111/joms.12800
'We're in the coal business': maintaining fossil fuel hegemony in the face of climate change
Wright, Christopher, Irwin, Randi, Nyberg, Daniel and Bowden, Vanessa (2022). 'We're in the coal business': maintaining fossil fuel hegemony in the face of climate change. Journal of Industrial Relations, 64 (4), 544-563. doi: 10.1177/00221856211070632
Challenging disciplinary norms: a response
Nyberg, Daniel and Wright, Christopher (2022). Challenging disciplinary norms: a response. Academy of Management Perspectives, 36 (3), 962-967. doi: 10.5465/amp.2021.0150
Climate change, business, and society: building relevance in time and space
Nyberg, Daniel, Ferns, George, Vachhani, Sheena and Wright, Christopher (2022). Climate change, business, and society: building relevance in time and space. Business and Society, 61 (5), 1322-1352. doi: 10.1177/00076503221077452
Climate-proofing management research
Nyberg, Daniel and Wright, Christopher (2022). Climate-proofing management research. Academy of Management Perspectives, 36 (2), 713-728. doi: 10.5465/amp.2018.0183
Making green extreme: defending fossil fuel hegemony through citizen exclusion
Irwin, Randi, Bowden, Vanessa, Nyberg, Daniel and Wright, Christopher (2022). Making green extreme: defending fossil fuel hegemony through citizen exclusion. Citizenship Studies, 26 (1), 73-89. doi: 10.1080/13621025.2021.2011145
Industry vs. government: leveraging media coverage in corporate political activity
Murray, John and Nyberg, Daniel (2021). Industry vs. government: leveraging media coverage in corporate political activity. Organization Studies, 42 (10), 1629-1650. doi: 10.1177/0170840620964163
Divided yet united: Balancing convergence and divergence in environmental movement mobilization
Kirk, Jacqueline, Nyberg, Daniel and Wright, Christopher (2021). Divided yet united: Balancing convergence and divergence in environmental movement mobilization. Environmental Politics, 32 (1), 1-20. doi: 10.1080/09644016.2021.1981082
Beyond the discourse of denial: the reproduction of fossil fuel hegemony in Australia
Wright, Christopher, Nyberg, Daniel and Bowden, Vanessa (2021). Beyond the discourse of denial: the reproduction of fossil fuel hegemony in Australia. Energy Research & Social Science, 77 102094. doi: 10.1016/j.erss.2021.102094
Bowden, Vanessa, Gond, Jean-Pascal, Nyberg, Daniel and Wright, Christopher (2021). Turning back the rising sea: theory performativity in the shift from climate science to popular authority. Organization Studies, 42 (12), 1909-1931. doi: 10.1177/01708406211024558
"I don't think anybody really knows": constructing reflexive ignorance in climate change adaptation
Bowden, Vanessa, Nyberg, Daniel and Wright, Christopher (2021). "I don't think anybody really knows": constructing reflexive ignorance in climate change adaptation. British Journal of Sociology, 72 (2), 397-411. doi: 10.1111/1468-4446.12818
"We're going under": the role of local news media in dislocating climate change adaptation
Bowden, Vanessa, Nyberg, Daniel and Wright, Christopher (2021). "We're going under": the role of local news media in dislocating climate change adaptation. Environmental Communication-A Journal of Nature and Culture, 15 (5), 625-640. doi: 10.1080/17524032.2021.1877762
Corporations, Politics, and Democracy: Corporate political activities as political corruption
Nyberg, Daniel (2021). Corporations, Politics, and Democracy: Corporate political activities as political corruption. Organization Theory, 2 (1), 1-24. doi: 10.1177/2631787720982618
Theatre's radical potential: a study of critical performativity
Cinque, Silvia and Nyberg, Daniel (2021). Theatre's radical potential: a study of critical performativity. Culture and Organization, 27 (2), 115-131. doi: 10.1080/14759551.2020.1827257
Truth and power: deliberation and emotions in climate adaptation processes
Bowden, Vanessa, Nyberg, Daniel and Wright, Christopher (2021). Truth and power: deliberation and emotions in climate adaptation processes. Environmental Politics, 30 (5), 708-726. doi: 10.1080/09644016.2020.1850972
Corporate politics in the public sphere: corporate citizenspeak in a mass media policy contest
Nyberg, Daniel and Murray, John (2020). Corporate politics in the public sphere: corporate citizenspeak in a mass media policy contest. Business & Society, 59 (4), 579-611. doi: 10.1177/0007650317746176
Cinque, Silvia, Nyberg, Daniel and Starkey, Ken (2020). 'Living at the border of poverty': how theater actors maintain their calling through narrative identity work. Human Relations, 74 (11), 1755-1780. doi: 10.1177/0018726720908663
Fracking the future: the temporal portability of frames in political contests
Nyberg, Daniel, Wright, Christopher and Kirk, Jacqueline (2020). Fracking the future: the temporal portability of frames in political contests. Organization Studies, 41 (2), 175-196. doi: 10.1177/0170840618814568
Disrupting climate change futures: conceptual tools for lost histories
De Cock, Christian, Nyberg, Daniel and Wright, Christopher (2019). Disrupting climate change futures: conceptual tools for lost histories. Organization, 28 (3), 468-482. doi: 10.1177/1350508419883377
Planning for the past: local temporality and the construction of denial in climate change adaptation
Bowden, Vanessa, Nyberg, Daniel and Wright, Christopher (2019). Planning for the past: local temporality and the construction of denial in climate change adaptation. Global Environmental Change-Human and Policy Dimensions, 57 101939. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.101939
Nyberg, Daniel and De Cock, Christian (2019). Processes of domination in the contemporary workplace: managing disputes in the Swedish healthcare sector. Sociological Review, 67 (3), 689-705. doi: 10.1177/0038026118825235
Organizing in the Anthropocene
Wright, Christopher, Nyberg, Daniel, Rickards, Lauren and Freund, James (2018). Organizing in the Anthropocene. Organization, 25 (4), 455-471. doi: 10.1177/1350508418779649
Dash for gas: climate change, hegemony and the scalar politics of fracking in the UK
Nyberg, Daniel, Wright, Christopher and Kirk, Jacqueline (2018). Dash for gas: climate change, hegemony and the scalar politics of fracking in the UK. British Journal of Management, 29 (2), 235-251. doi: 10.1111/1467-8551.12291
An inconvenient truth: how organizations translate climate change into business as usual
Wright, Christopher and Nyberg, Daniel (2017). An inconvenient truth: how organizations translate climate change into business as usual. Academy of Management Journal, 60 (5), 1633-1661. doi: 10.5465/amj.2015.0718
Materializing power to recover corporate social responsibility
Gond, Jean-Pascal and Nyberg, Daniel (2017). Materializing power to recover corporate social responsibility. Organization Studies, 38 (8), 1127-1148. doi: 10.1177/0170840616677630
The Cultures of Markets: The Political Economy of Climate Governance
Nyberg, Daniel (2017). The Cultures of Markets: The Political Economy of Climate Governance. Economic Geography, 93 (4), 424-425. doi: 10.1080/00130095.2017.1331702
Murray, John, Nyberg, Daniel and Rogers, Justine (2016). Corporate political activity through constituency stitching: intertextually aligning a phantom community. Organization, 23 (6), 908-931. doi: 10.1177/1350508416640924
Performative and political: corporate constructions of climate change risk
Nyberg, Daniel and Wright, Christopher (2016). Performative and political: corporate constructions of climate change risk. Organization, 23 (5), 617-638. doi: 10.1177/1350508415572038
De Cock, Christian and Nyberg, Daniel (2016). The possibility of critique under a financialized capitalism: the case of private equity in the United Kingdom. Organization, 23 (4), 465-484. doi: 10.1177/1350508414563526
Paradoxes of authentic leadership: Leader identity struggles
Nyberg, Daniel and Sveningsson, Stefan (2014). Paradoxes of authentic leadership: Leader identity struggles. Leadership, 10 (4), 437-455. doi: 10.1177/1742715013504425
Creative self-destruction: corporate responses to climate change as political myths
Wright, Christopher and Nyberg, Daniel (2014). Creative self-destruction: corporate responses to climate change as political myths. Environmental Politics, 23 (2), 205-223. doi: 10.1080/09644016.2013.867175
Nyberg, Daniel and Sewell, Graham (2014). Collaboration, Co-operation or Collusion? Contrasting Employee Responses to Managerial Control in Three Call Centres. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 52 (2), 308-332. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8543.2012.00920.x
Corporate corruption of the environment: Sustainability as a process of compromise
Nyberg, Daniel and Wright, Christopher (2013). Corporate corruption of the environment: Sustainability as a process of compromise. British Journal of Sociology, 64 (3), 405-424. doi: 10.1111/1468-4446.12025
Future imaginings: Organizing in response to climate change
Wright, Christopher, Nyberg, Daniel, De Cock, Christian and Whiteman, Gail (2013). Future imaginings: Organizing in response to climate change. Organization, 20 (5), 647-658. doi: 10.1177/1350508413489821
Voices from the front lines of the climate wars
Wright, Christopher, Nyberg, Daniel, De Cock, Christian and Whiteman, Gail (2013). Voices from the front lines of the climate wars. Organization, 20 (5), 743-744. doi: 10.1177/1350508413489940
Incorporating citizens: Corporate political engagement with climate change in Australia
Nyberg, Daniel, Spicer, André and Wright, Christopher (2013). Incorporating citizens: Corporate political engagement with climate change in Australia. Organization, 20 (3), 433-453. doi: 10.1177/1350508413478585
'You Need to be Healthy to be Ill': Constructing Sickness and Framing the Body in Swedish Healthcare
Nyberg, Daniel (2012). 'You Need to be Healthy to be Ill': Constructing Sickness and Framing the Body in Swedish Healthcare. Organization Studies, 33 (12), 1671-1692. doi: 10.1177/0170840612457615
Working with passion: Emotionology, corporate environmentalism and climate change
Wright, Christopher and Nyberg, Daniel (2012). Working with passion: Emotionology, corporate environmentalism and climate change. Human Relations, 65 (12), 1561-1587. doi: 10.1177/0018726712457698
Wright, Christopher, Nyberg, Daniel and Grant, David (2012). "Hippies on the third floor": Climate Change, Narrative Identity and the Micro-Politics of Corporate Environmentalism. Organization Studies, 33 (11), 1451-1475. doi: 10.1177/0170840612463316
Justifying business responses to climate change: Discursive strategies of similarity and diff erence
Nyberg, Daniel and Wright, Christopher (2012). Justifying business responses to climate change: Discursive strategies of similarity and diff erence. Environment and Planning A, 44 (8), 1819-1835. doi: 10.1068/a44565
Sewell, Graham, Barker, James R. and Nyberg, Daniel (2012). Working under intensive surveillance: When does 'measuring everything that moves' become intolerable?. Human Relations, 65 (2), 189-215. doi: 10.1177/0018726711428958
Computers, Customer Service Operatives and Cyborgs: Intra-actions in Call Centres
Nyberg, Daniel (2009). Computers, Customer Service Operatives and Cyborgs: Intra-actions in Call Centres. Organization Studies, 30 (11), 1181-1199. doi: 10.1177/0170840609337955
Translating national policy changes into local HRM practices
van Gestel, Nicolette and Nyberg, Daniel (2009). Translating national policy changes into local HRM practices. Personnel Review, 38 (5), 544-559. doi: 10.1108/00483480910978045
Strategic cultural change and local discourses: The importance of being different
Nyberg, D. and Mueller, F. (2009). Strategic cultural change and local discourses: The importance of being different. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 25 (2), 146-156. doi: 10.1016/j.scaman.2009.02.002
The morality of everyday activities: Not the right, but the good thing to do
Nyberg, Daniel (2008). The morality of everyday activities: Not the right, but the good thing to do. Journal of Business Ethics, 81 (3), 587-598. doi: 10.1007/s10551-007-9530-1
Making Climate Change Fit for Capitalism: The Corporate Translation of Climate Adaptation
Nyberg, Daniel and Wright, Christopher (2019). Making Climate Change Fit for Capitalism: The Corporate Translation of Climate Adaptation. 79th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management 2019: Understanding the Inclusive Organization, AoM 2019, Boston, MA United States, 9-13 August 2019. Briarcliff Manor, NY United States: Academy of Management. doi: 10.5465/ambpp.2019.90
Coral Not Coal: Enlisting the Worlds of Fame and Celebrity in Climate Change Politics
Wright, Christopher and Nyberg, Daniel (2018). Coral Not Coal: Enlisting the Worlds of Fame and Celebrity in Climate Change Politics. 78th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Chicago, IL United States, 10-14 August 2018. Briarcliff Manor, NY United States: Academy of Management. doi: 10.5465/ambpp.2018.89
Corporations, Politics and Democracy
Nyberg, Daniel (2017). Corporations, Politics and Democracy. 77th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, AOM 2017, Atlanta, GA United States, 4-8 August 2017. Briarcliff Manor, NY United States: Academy of Management. doi: 10.5465/ambpp.2017.105
Fracking the Future: Temporality, Framing and the Politics of Unconventional Fossil Fuels
Nyberg, Daniel, Wright, Christopher and Kirk, Jacqueline (2017). Fracking the Future: Temporality, Framing and the Politics of Unconventional Fossil Fuels. 77th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, AOM 2017, Atlanta, GA United States, 4-8 August 2017. Briarcliff Manor, NY United States: Academy of Management. doi: 10.5465/ambpp.2017.104
Business and democracy: Power, profit and participation
(2024–2027) ARC Discovery Projects
About time: Climate change adaptation in Australian industries
(2023–2024) ARC Discovery Projects