On 13 January, Maria Norbäck successfully defended her doctoral thesis in Business Administration at Jönköping International Business School (JIBS). Maria Norbäck has been doing her research at MMTC (Media Management and Transformation Centre), and her thesis “Making Public Service Television: A study of institutional work in collaborative TV production” deals in particular with the transformation of public service television.
Maria Norbäck has studied the development of one of the most Swedish institutions there is; the public service TV company SVT. Her research focuses on the challenges this organization has been facing by the ever-changing commercial and political environment. Most Swedes have a personal relationship to SVT, often started at quite an early age, which makes this a dissertation of interest also outside of the research community.
Public service broadcasting was introduced as a solution to the problems that arose at the beginning of the 20th century, namely how to control and organise the new broadcasting technology. Almost 100 years later public service TV is still around even though technological developments have made many of these problems obsolete. What problems is it perceived to solve in the media landscape of today?
Maria Norbäck has made an extensive study of five collaboratively produced TV programmes. The theoretical inspiration for the study comes from institutional theory and recent developments of the concept institutional work. By conceptualizing public service TV as an institution, Maria Norbäck discusses institutional durability and how transformation may even be essential for institutional survival in the long run.
Faculty opponent was Professor Renate Meyer from WU, Vienna University of Economics and Business. Examining committee was Professor Hans Hasselbladh, Örebro University, Professor Ingela Wadbring, Mid Sweden University, and Professor Karl-Erik Gustafsson, JIBS. Chair of the defence was Professor Robert Picard, JIBS.
