Public defence: Kyrre Einar Hegg

Kyrre Einar Hegg will defend his PhD degree in Management. The thesis examines how a rural location influences the way businesses adopt and use digital technologies. It also explores how digitalisation can reshape the operating conditions of rural businesses.

07 May

Practical information

  • Date: 7 May 2026
  • Time: 10.00 - 15.00
  • Location: Bø, Auditorium Vinje 6-103 and Zoom
  • Download calendar file
  • Organizer: USN School of Business

    • Link to digital participation (Zoom, will be published later)


    Program 

    Kl 10.00. Trial lecture:(Topic will be published later)

    Kl 12.00. Public defence: «Digitalisation in rural businesses»

    Assessment committee

    • First opponent: Professor Gunjan Saxena, Paris School of Business
    • Second opponent: Devinder Thapa, University of Agder , Universitetet i Agder
    • Chair of defence: Professor Karen Stendal, University of South-Eastern Norway

    Supervisors

    • Principal supervisor:  Professor Håvard Ness, University of South-Eastern Norway

    Co-supervisors:

    • Professor Ingunn Elvekrok, University of South-Eastern Norway
    • Professor Gudrun Helgadottir, University of South-Eastern Norway
    • Professor Anh Nguyen Duc, University of South-Eastern Norway
Any questions?

Kyrre Einar Hegg is defending his thesis for the degree philosophiae doctor (PhD) at the University of South-Eastern Norway.

The doctoral work has been carried out at the USN School of Business in the program Management.

  • Read the thesis here (will be published later)

You are invited to follow the trial lecture and the public defence.

Summary

A key finding is that rural businesses often operate under structural conditions that encourage them to collaborate with other organisations when they digitalise. Rather than pursuing digitalisation individually, rural businesses may profit from engaging in what the thesis describes as collective digitalisation.

This involves businesses working together to procure, implement, and manage shared digital systems and platforms, develop shared digital content, and standardise work processes.

Through collaboration, businesses can jointly respond to digital opportunities, as well as common challenges such as limited resources, skills shortages, and external pressures.

 

Collective digitalisation can be seen as a “rural option”. By working tbilde av kyrre heggogether, businesses are able to overcome disadvantages linked to being located in rural areas and achieve levels of digitalisation that would be difficult or impossible to reach on their own.

In this way, collective digitalisation can support the survival and development of local businesses and contribute positively to the local community.

At the same time, the thesis shows that collective digitalisation is demanding and does not always succeed. Even when successful, it may lead to new challenges, including increased dependencies between organisations, more complex networks of cooperation, and technical and organisational problems.

The thesis makes several contributions to research and practice.

  • It provides an interdisciplinary overview of existing research on digitalisation in rural businesses and presents a detailed case study of digitalisation in rural businesses.
  • In addition, it introduces a new theoretical framework that draws on ecosystem theory to bring forth the complex interplay between geography and place, digital technologies, and the digitalisation efforts of businesses and other actors.
  • The thesis also offers new insights for business managers, support organisations, and policy makers. It highlights the complexity of digitalisation in rural contexts and points to ways these actors can better support and influence digitalisation in rural businesses.