Beyond Growth: Designing Post-Growth Management Frameworks for Organizational Sustainability in Cultural and Creative Industries within Smart City Ecosystems
Summary
Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) operate in VUCA environments, facing funding declines, digital-green transition challenges, and post-COVID disruptions. Embedded in smart city ecosystems, they act as socio-technical nodes linking technology, governance, and cultural vibrancy. This PhD project adopts an interdisciplinary approach, integrating management theory, systems thinking, urban innovation, and sustainability studies to design a Post-Growth Management (PoGroM) framework. Tested in Nordic-Baltic smart cities, the framework aligns organizational and city-level indicators to foster resilience, participatory governance, and well-being beyond GDP growth. By bridging cultural policy, technological infrastructure, and ecological priorities, the research redefines sustainability for CCI organizations within adaptive urban ecosystems.
The project addresses research questions as follows:
1. Which Post Growth Management (PoGroM) principles are most relevant for CCI organizations, and how can they be translated into concrete governance and decision-making practices?
2. What organizational capabilities are necessary to adopt and sustain PoGroM in CCI settings?
3. Which contextual factors (policy regimes, cultural policies, civic tech maturity) in Baltic and Nordic cities shape adoption and outcomes of PoGroM in CCI?
4. Under which VUCA scenarios are post-growth interventions most/least effective in sustaining CCI organizational performance?
5. How can emergy accounting, circularity metrics, and well-being indicators be operationalized at the organizational level and linked to city-level standards (e.g., ISO 37122 and UNESCO Culture|2030 Indicators)?
6. How do living lab and co-creation arrangements influence the design, piloting, and scaling of post-growth interventions in CCI?
7. What impacts arise from post-growth practices, and how can they be mitigated through ethical governance?
Responsibilities and (foreseen) tasks:
1. Design and conduct independent research on Post-Growth Management (PoGroM) frameworks for organizational sustainability in CCI within smart city ecosystems.
2. Carry out empirical studies such as case analyses and living lab experiments in Nordic and Baltic smart city contexts.
3. Demonstrate excellent ability to write scientific articles and participate in international research projects.
4. Develop and publish peer-reviewed journal articles and present findings at international conferences on CCI management, organisational sustainability, and urban innovation.
5. Collaborate with CCI stakeholders and smart cities ecosystems.
6. Contribute to ongoing research projects at the Department of Business Administration, particularly those focusing on organizational sustainability.
7. Participate in doctoral training and departmental activities.
The candidate is expected to have:
1. A Master’s degree in Creative Industries, Management, Business, Sustainability, Cultural Policy, or related fields.
2. Strong interest in post-growth management, organizational sustainability, and CCI within smart city ecosystems.
3. Ability to design and conduct independent research and empirical studies (e.g., case analyses, living labs).
4. Excellent skills in writing scientific articles and presenting at international conferences.
5. Excellent written and spoken English communication skills.
We offer
- Doctoral Early-Stage Researcher position within a strong, interdisciplinary research team focused on post-growth management and organizational sustainability in cultural and creative industries.
- The opportunity to conduct high-level research in one of the most dynamic sustainability and smart city innovation contexts in Europe.
- Access to conferences, research stays, and networking opportunities with leading universities and research centers in management, sustainability, and urban innovation.
The following experience is beneficial:
Beneficial experience includes prior exposure to organizational sustainability frameworks, systems thinking, or post-growth concepts, as well as hands-on experience with empirical research methods such as interviews, surveys, experiments, or case studies. Familiarity with smart city research, cultural and creative industries, or urban innovation literature is highly valued, along with a proven track record in academic writing and publication.
Please include in your application:
- A cover letter outlining motivation to pursue a PhD on Post-Growth Management in CCI within smart city ecosystems (1–2 pages);
- A detailed CV highlighting education and research experience, including previous experience and knowledge of data collection and analysis methods, as well as a list of published papers, defended theses, and participation in conferences or trainings relevant to the current call (1–3 pages);
- An initial research proposal, including the motivation and problem statement, proposed research questions, a basic literature review, potential methods, and expected contributions (2–5 pages).
Supervisors:
Main supervisor: Senior Lecturer Marge Sassi: Department of Business Administration: Organisation and Management Unit
Co-Supervisor: Associate Professor Mike Franz Wahl: Department of Business Administration: Organisation and Management Unit
Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) is an international scientific community with approximately 9,000 students and 2,000 employees; it is one of the largest universities in Estonia, the leading EU country in digitalisation. The university's strengths are broad multidisciplinary study/research interests, a modern research environment, and strong collaboration with international educational and research institutions. TalTech is aiming to be an organisation leading the way to a sustainable digital future.
The research carried out at the Department of Business Administration in the School of Business and Governance in TalTech deals with various aspects of business – entrepreneurship, sustainability, knowledge and technology transfer, operations and strategic management, digitalisation, marketing, supply chain management, accounting and performance management. The School has over 200 employees.
For information about the admission process, please visit the PhD Admission homepage
Applications can be submitted from 01.06.2026 to 30.06.2026
