Lorenzo is a rising fifth-year doctoral student in the Strategic Management Department at IESE Business School in Barcelona. His doctoral research explores how firms can strategically design and deploy sustainability-oriented commitments, and how these commitments shape the evaluations of different stakeholder groups simultaneously. Before starting this challenging but fascinating journey, Lorenzo had a corporate job…yet now feels as if he has never done anything else than academia for his entire life.
Here is Lorenzo’s story.
What are the top three highlights, professional skills, or other experiences you have had during your time as a PhD student?
- My first highlight would be my first conference, AOM 2024 in Chicago. Not because it has been the best conference, but because it was the first one. It was there that I understood how this important part of academic life, made of networks, discussions, and exchanges, works.
- The second highlight was when I started helping my supervisor organize an online course for doctoral students, Organizing the Climate Transition. Through that experience, I met many people doing research closely related to my own.
- My third highlight would be my visiting period at Cambridge. It really helped me discover different ways of doing research, connect with new people, and experience a different routine. A PhD is a long journey, and I think that spending some time in a different environment always helps.
What inspired you to pursue a PhD?
When I imagined myself 15 years into the future, I realized that becoming a professor was what I truly wanted to do. So, I started looking for the path that would lead me there, and that path was a PhD. Only later I realized that a PhD is much more than a step toward becoming a professor. It is a community, a series of challenges, interesting discoveries, discussions, new friendships, and much more.
How would you summarize your research project(s) in a short title?
How Sustainability-Oriented Signals Shape the Perceptions of Different Stakeholder Groups.
In brief, what is the empirical method/context you are adopting in your thesis?
I mainly use quantitative methods, particularly matched Difference-in-Differences designs with large panel datasets. Sometimes I complement them with experiments to investigate the underlying mechanisms. I also try to talk with practitioners related to the empirical settings I study, as this helps me better understand the context behind the data.
Can you describe a “eureka moment” you might have had during your PhD?
I have had many “eureka” moments, usually followed by something that brought me back to reality… Overall, I think I have learned that, at least in my case, research advances through many small, very small, steps that eventually come together to make a meaningful contribution. So, looking back, I probably never had one single “eureka” moment that changed everything.
What side projects, communities, or other initiatives are you involved with?
I try to participate in online courses related to sustainability, as they allow me to be part of a research community without necessarily having to spend my limited conference budget.
What three tips would you offer to new PhD students in your field?
- Trust the process. Your supervisors probably have a good sense of the pace that will put you in the best position for your future academic career. Follow their advice but also keep a broad plan so that you always know what you need to do next, but also how far you have already come.
- Participate as much as possible: attend conferences, online courses, departmental seminars, whenever you have the opportunity to hear others present their work, discuss ideas, or talk about your own research, take it.
- Spend time with friends outside academia. It really helps put things into perspective. It reminds you that our academic world, with all its stress and rules, is only one of many worlds… and certainly not the most difficult one, even if you may feel that at times.
What hobbies or interests do you enjoy outside of work?
I would not necessarily call them hobbies, but there are three things that help me maintain both my mental and physical balance: doing sports (I especially enjoy surfing, but every physical activity works), cooking (for myself, for my friends, for my partner), and spending time with friends (even without a specific plan, just chatting about topics that have nothing to do with academia).
In one or two sentences, what does the GRONEN community mean to you? Or the community of sustainability management scholars more broadly if you are new to GRONEN.
To me, it means knowing that there are many people in academia trying to push research in a direction that matters for society. The challenge is to maintain scientific objectivity while working on topics that inspire such strong passion and urgency for change, but much of the excellent research produced by this community shows that this is possible.
What’s next for you?
I am approaching the end of my PhD journey, so my next step is to find my next academic home in terms of city, university, and research group. It is a big change, because it comes after several years during which I have built a community in the place where I currently live.
Contact
You can contact Lorenzo by email or on LinkedIn.
Karelia Dagnaud is a doctoral candidate at the Aalto University School of Business, in Finland. In her research, she explores how researchers and business practitioners learn and organize for sustainability, specifically in the textile sector context.