Prof. Dr. Bernadette Loacker

Prof. Dr. Bernadette Loacker

At the university since

  • January 2022

Focus on teaching

  • Managing People
  • Employment Relations & Organization of Work
  • Organizational Change & Learning
  • Leadership theories
  • Organizational Behavior & Organization Theory
  • Methodology & empirical social research
  • Study Skills

Research interests and fields

  • Critical management and organizational theories
  • Changes in the organization of work
  • Processes of professional identity and subjectivity formation
  • Social and organizational power relations
  • Ethical practices in organizations
  • Creativity and organization
  • Qualitative social research

Academic training and further education

  • Associate Professor at the Department of Organization, Work and Technology, University of Lancaster, Great Britain
  • Postdoctoral Researcher/Lecturer at the Department of Business Administration, Management & Organization Studies Group, Lund University, Sweden
  • Assistant Professor at the Department of Management, Division of Behavioral Science Management, WU Vienna, Austria
  • Research Assistant at the Institute for Organization and Learning, University of Innsbruck, Austria
  • PhD in Management & Organization at the Institute for Organization and Learning, University of Innsbruck, Austria
  • Degree in Social and Economic Sciences, University of Innsbruck, Austria

Practical experience

  • Training as a systemic psychotherapist
  • Work experience in several psychosocial institutions
  • Freelance teaching at various European universities

Further information

  • Member of the international editorial collective and open-access journal ephemera: theory and politics in organization
  • Membership in several ‘professional bodies’, including: European Group of Organization Studies (EGOS), Standing Conference on Organizational Symbolism (SCOS)
  • Regular reviewer for journals in the field of management and organizational research
  • Regular participation in conferences and public events

Publications (selection)

Journal articles (peer-reviewed)

  • Loacker, B. (forthcoming). Challenging thought at ephemera: An attempt to think and organize differently. ephemera: theory & politics in organization, 21(4).
  • Loacker, B. (2021). Entrepreneurship and the struggle over order and coherence: A thematic reading of Robert Musil’s The Man without Qualities. Culture and Organization, DOI: 10.1080/14759551.2020.1861451.
  • Jeanes, E., Loacker, B. and Sliwa, M. (2019). Complexities, challenges and implications of collaborative work within a regime of performance measurement: The case of management and organization studies. Studies in Higher Education, 44(9): 1539-1553.
  • Loacker, B. and Sliwa, M. (2018). Beyond bureaucracy and entrepreneurialism: Examining the multiple discursive codes informing the work, careers and subjectivities of management graduates. Culture and Organization, 24(5): 426-450.
  • Jeanes, E., Loacker, B. and Sliwa, M. (2018). Revisiting struggles over gender inequalities: An account of three academics. M@n@gement, 21(3): 1100-1104.
  • Loacker, B. and Sliwa, M. (2016). ‘Moving to stay in the same place? Academics and theatrical artists as exemplars of the ‘mobile middle’. Organization, 23(5): 657-679.
  • Loacker, B. and Sullivan, R. (2016). The liminality of branding: Interweaving discourses ‘making up’ a cultural intermediary occupation. Marketing Theory, 16(3): 361-382.
  • Loacker, B. and Peters, L. (2015). ‘Come on, get happy!’: Exploring absurdity and sites of alternate ordering in Twin Peaks. ephemera: theory & politics in organization, 15(3): 621-649.
  • Kattenbach, R., Schneidhofer, T., Latzke, M., Loacker, B., Lücke, J., Schramm, F. and Mayrhofer, W. (2014). A quarter of a century of job transitions in Germany. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 84: 49-58.
  • Loacker, B. (2013). Modulated power structures in the arts and their subjectivity-constituting effects: An exploration of the ethical self-relations of performative artists. Business and Professional Ethics Journal, 32(2): 21-48.
  • Loacker, B. (2013). Becoming culturpreneur: How the neoliberal ‘regime of truth’ affects and redefines artistic subject positions. Culture and Organization, 19(2): 124-145.
  • Loacker, B. and Muhr, S.L. (2009). ‘How can I become a responsible subject? Towards a practice-based ethics of responsiveness. Journal of Business Ethics, 90(2): 265-277.
  • Laske, S., Lederbauer, D., Loacker, B. and Meister-Scheytt, C. (2007). Key points for the successful work of university councils. Conclusions from a real-life experiment. The Higher Education System, 55(3): 66-74.
  • Loacker, B., Weiskopf, R. and Auer, M. (2006). Areas of tension in personnel policy at universities – the example of the Austrian university reform. Journal of Higher Education Management, 3(1): 57-63.
  • Weiskopf, R. and Loacker, B. (2006). ‘A snake’s coils are even more intricate than a mole’s burrow’: Individualization and subjectivation in postdisciplinary regimes of work. Management Review, 17(4): 395-419.

Editorships

  • Loacker, B., Heinrichs, R. and Weiskopf, R. (eds.) (2019). Speaking truth to power? The ethico-politics of whistleblowing in mass-mediated societies. ephemera: theory & politics in organization , 19(4): 671-696.
  • Chertkovskaya, E. and Loacker, B. (eds.) (2016). Consumption of work and the work of consumption. ephemera: theory & politics in organization , 16(3): 1-18.
  • Jeanes, E., Loacker, B., Sliwa, M. and Weiskopf, R. (eds.) (2015). Mobilities in contemporary worlds of work and organizing. ephemera: theory & politics in organization , 15(4): 705-723.
  • Hoedemaekers, C., Loacker, B. and Pedersen, M. (eds.) (2012). The commons and their im/possibilities. ephemera: theory & politics in organization , 12(4): 378-385.

Book contributions and monograph

  • Loacker, B. and Pecis, L. (forthcoming). Complexities of managing people and change: The case of a ‘recycling and recovery’ organization: In Burrell, G. Deville, J., Introna, L., Latham, Y. (eds.): A handbook for the critical analysis of organizations, work and technology. Bristol: Bristol University Press.
  • Alvesson, M. and Loacker, B. (2016). Critical management studies. In Dahlgaard-Park, S.M. (ed.): The SAGE encyclopedia of quality and the service economy. London: Sage: 102-106.
  • Sandberg, J., Loacker, B. and Alvesson, M. (2015). Conceptions of process in organization and management: The case of organizational identity. In Garud, R., Simpson, B., Langley, A. and Tsoukas, H. (eds.): The emergence of novelty in organizations. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 318-343.
  • Jeanes, E., Loacker, B. and Sliwa, M. (2014). Researcher collaboration: Learning from experience. In Huzzard T. and Jeanes, E. (eds.): Critical management research: Reflections from the field. London: Sage: 59-89.
  • Loacker, B., Weller, M., Staberhofer, P., Edlinger, G. and Thoma, M. (2013). Questioning the tried and tested and established. In Hendrich, F. (ed.): Ethics and/or management. On the 60th birthday of Ursula Hendrich-Schneider. Graz: Nausner&Nausner: 185-195.
  • Loacker, B. (2011). ‘Be Creative!’ – Cultural organizations and artists as pioneers of deregulated working and living environments? In Fonds Darstellende Künste (ed.): Report Performing Arts. Economic, social and labor law situation of theater and dance professionals in Germany. Essen: Klartext Verlag: 341-394.
  • Loacker, B. (2010). ‘Creatively precarious’: Artistic work and subjectivity in post-Fordism. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag (pp. 304).
  • Loacker, B. (2009). Artists, role models of a deconstructed working world? Working and organizational practices of a theater ensemble. In Walch, S. and Eberharter, A. (eds.): Experiencing leadership in stressful situations. Innsbruck: Innsbruck University Press: 25-50.
  • Loacker, B. (2008). Performance and creativity: Practices of organizing work within an independent theatre. In Gstraunthaler, T. and Messner, M. (eds.): Performance in context: Perspectives from management research. Innsbruck: Innsbruck University Press: 105-126.