Jonas Söderlund

Jonas Söderlund (born June 1, 1971) is a Swedish organizational theorist and academic known for his contributions to the fields of project management and human resource management (HRM). He currently serves as a Professor in the Department of Leadership and Organizational Behavior at the BI Norwegian Business School.

Academic Career

Söderlund completed his undergraduate studies at Linköping University, earning an MSc in Business Administration and Economics in 1995. He continued his academic trajectory at the same institution, receiving a Licentiate of Business Administration in 1998 and a PhD in 2000 from the International Graduate School of Management and Industrial Engineering (IMIE). His doctoral research, titled Time-limited and complex interaction – studies of industrial projects, established a foundation for his later work on project-based organizations. During his doctoral studies, he also spent time as a visiting student at the Harvard Business School.

Following his PhD, Söderlund held various academic positions at Linköping University, including Assistant Professor and Associate Professor of Business Administration. Between 2003 and 2007, he directed the Linköping Project Center. In 2007, he moved to the BI Norwegian Business School to accept a professorship in project management.

Research Contributions

Söderlund's research focuses on the intersection of organizational theory and project management. He has explored how project-intensive firms manage human resources and the structural challenges inherent in project-based work. His work often emphasizes the need for a pluralistic approach to project management theory, bridging the gap between specialized research and broader organizational studies.

His scholarship has been recognized with several honors, including the HR Research Award for Best Research on HRM in 2009. In 2011, he and colleague Karin Bredin were awarded the International Project Management Association (IPMA) Research Award for their work on human resource management within project-based organizations, specifically the development of the 'HR quadriad' framework.

Selected Publications

Söderlund has authored numerous articles and books, including:

• Time-limited and Complex Interaction: Studies of Industrial Projects (2000)
• Developing project competence: empirical regularities in competitive project operations (2005)
• Oxford Handbook of Project Management (co-editor, 2011)
• Human resource management in project-based organizations: the HR quadriad framework (with Karin Bredin, 2011)
• Project Management and Organization Theory: IRNOP Meets PMJ (2014)