Sorin Dan

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Sorin Dan (PhD, KU Leuven, Belgium, 2015) is Assistant Professor in Public Management (tenure-track)/Nuorempi Apulaisprofessori, Julkisjohtaminen in the School of Management at the University of Vaasa in Finland where he teaches in administrative sciences and conducts research on public management reforms and digital transformation in the public sector.

Since January 2025, Sorin Dan has been Docent of Tampere University in Administrative Studies, especially Public Management Reform and Digitalization/Hallintotieteet, erityisesti julkisen hallinnon uudistukset ja digitalisaatio.

He is a member of the Public Policy and Governance research group at the University of Vaasa, serves on the editorial board of Public Performance & Management Review and Information Polity and co-chairs the panels Where to Begin? Public Sector Reform in Comparative Perspective and Emerging Technologies and the Transformation of the Public Sector at the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM) annual conference.

Sorin Dan is the co-author of Digital Talent Management: Insights from the Information Technology and Communication Industry (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) and the author of The Coordination of European Public Hospital Systems: Interests, Cultures and Resistance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017).

He has offered consultancy services to the OECD and the European Commission and has authored over 30 scholarly publications published in different public administration, management and healthcare services journals, including Public Management Review, International Journal of Health Policy and Management, International Journal of Public Sector Management, International Journal of Health Planning and Management, R&D Management, Public Policy and Administration and Public Performance & Management Review.

KEY AREAS OF EXPERTISE & STUDENT SUPERVISION

• Public sector reforms
• New public management
• Digital transformation in government
• Public sector innovations

EDUCATION

• Doctor of Social Sciences (Public Management), KU Leuven, Public Governance Institute, Leuven, Belgium (2015)
• Master of Public Policy and Administration, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, USA (2009)
• Bachelor of Economics, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania (2007)

PROFESSIONAL TRAJECTORY

Sorin Dan graduated from Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania with a bachelor's degree in business and economics in 2007. He then completed a master's degree in public policy and administration at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2009). After an internship at the American Red Cross in Washington, DC he started his PhD in public management at the Public Governance Institute, KU Leuven, Belgium as part of the EU-funded research project Coordinating for Cohestion in the Public Sector of the Future (COCOPS). He completed his PhD dissertation entitled Governed or Self-Governed? The Challenge of Coordination in European Public Hospital Systems in 2015 under the supervision of the late Professor Christopher Pollitt whom he had gotten to know closely and with whom he had worked together throughout his doctorate.

He then took a short break from academia and worked as an In-house Consultant at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris on several public governance reform projects in different countries. In 2016 he moved back to Romania and started to work as lecturer at the Faculty of Management and Information Technology, Emanuel University in Oradea. In May 2019, he moved to Finland and started working in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Innolab research platform at the University of Vaasa. In May 2023, he became Assistant Professor in Public Management (tenure-track) in the School of Management at the University of Vaasa, the position that he currently holds.

TEACHING

• HTM3218 Public Sector Reforms and Innovations, 5 credits, Master Programme in Administrative Sciences (English)
• HTM3216 The Future of Public Administration, 5 credits, Master Programme in Administrative Sciences (English)
• HTK2414 Global Health Governance, 5 credits, Bachelor Programme in Administrative Sciences (English)
• TOFO4066 How to conduct and write a systematic literature review, 5 credits, Doctoral programme, Graduate School (English)

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

How businesses and public sector organizations develop leadership competencies and change processes for blockchain implementation (BizPub), funded by the Foundation for Economic Education in Finland, EUR 100,000, 2021-2024, co-I with Khuram Shahzad.

RECENTLY-COMPLETED RESEARCH PROJECTS

A Roadmap OUT of mEdical deserts into supportive Health Workforce initiatives and policies (ROUTE-HWF), funded by the 3rd EU Health Programme, 03/2021-02/2024, Total budget EUR 663,402, University of Vaasa share EUR 112,041, University of Vaasa's PI and Work Package Leader, project PI Ronald Batenburg, Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL).

Digitalisation Academy: Piloting and Creating a Nationwide Model to Tackle Talent Shortage and Improve Digital Competences (DA-PITO), funded by Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, Finland, 2019-2020, EUR 140,000, Work Package Leader, project PI Mari K. Niemi, University of Vaasa.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

A detailed list of Sorin Dan's publications can be found on Research.fi, Google Scholar and Research Gate

Tan, E., Dan, S. and Shahzad, K. (2025). Guest editorial: Bridging the chasm between 'what could be' and 'what is': the impact of blockchain technologies on public service management, International Journal of Public Sector Management, 38(1): 1-11, Open access, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-01-2025-384

Haq, S.H.U., Dan, S. and Shahzad, K. (2025). Leadership competencies and blockchain implementation in public sector organizations: a sensemaking approach, International Journal of Public Sector Management, 38(1): 139-158, Open access, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-12-2023-0347

Dan, S., Lægreid, P., & Špacek, D. (2024). NPM reconsidered: towards the study of enduring forms of NPM. Public Management Review, 26(9), 2531-2541, https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2024.2375561,

Alkaabi, S., Hazzam, J., Wilkins, S., & Dan, S. (2024). The Influences of Ambidexterity, New Public Management and Innovation on the Public Service Quality of Government Organizations, Public Performance & Management Review, 47(5), 1110–1137, Open access, https://doi.org/10.1080/15309576.2024.2367130

Dan, S. (2024). Theoretical approaches to measuring governance: public administration, in Lewis, J.M. and Triantafillou, P. (eds.) Handbook on Measuring Governance, Edward Elgar: Cheltenham and Northampton, https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-on-measuring-governance-9781802200638.html

Shahzad, K., Dan, S., Imran, F., Holtkamp, P., Niemi, M.K. and Meyer, M. (2024). Limits of open innovation during the organizational change: a case study of a Partner Campus, R&D Management, 54(5): 1063-1086, https://doi.org/10.1111/radm.12675, Open access

Dubas-Jakóbczyk, K., Gonzalez, A.I., Domagala, A., Astier-Peña, M.P., Casado Vicente, V., Planet, A-G., Quadrado, A., Serrano, R.M., Abellán, I.S., Ramos, A., Ballester, M., Seils, L., Dan, S., Flinterman, L., Likic, R. and Batenburg, R. (2024). Medical deserts in Spain—Insights from an international project, International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 39(3): 708-721, https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.3782, Open access

Haug, N., Dan, S. and Mergel, I. (2023). Digitally-induced change in the public sector: A systematic review and research agenda, Public Management Review, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14719037.2023.2234917, Open access

Nakrosis, V., Dan, S., Gostautaite, R. (2023). The role of EU funding in EU member states: building administrative capacity to advance administrative reforms, International Journal of Public Sector Management, 36(1): 1-19, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-01-2022-0008

Flinterman, L. E., González-González, A. I., Bes, J., Seils, L., Ballester, M., Bañeres, J., Dan, S., Domagala, A., Dubas-Jakóbczyk, K., Likic, R., Kroezen, M., Batenburg, R. (2023). Characteristics of medical deserts and approaches to mitigate their health workforce issues: A scoping review of empirical studies in Western countries, International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 12(1): 1-16, https://dx.doi.org/10.34172/ijhpm.2023.7454, Open access

Marcec, R., Seils, L., González-González, A. I., Dubas-Jakóbczyk, K., Domagala, A., Dan, S., Flinterman, L., Likic, R., Batenburg, R. (2023). Tackling Medical Deserts: Unearthing Factors that Influence Medical Students' Attitudes and the Path Forward, Postgraduate Medical Journal, 99(1177), 1205-1206, https://doi.org/10.1093/postmj/qgad042

Dan, S., Ivana, D., Zaharie, M., Metz, D. and Dragan, M. (2021). Digital Talent Management, Insights from the Information Technology and Communication Industry, Palgrave Macmillan, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76750-1

Niemi, M.K., Dan, S., Kalliokoski, J., Shahzad, K., Shakeel, S.R., Alagirisamy, R. & Laurila, I. (2021). Talent Retention and the Development of Digital Skills, A study of the ecosystem-based Digitalisation Academy located in Vaasa, Finland, Publications of the Ministry of Affairs and Employment 2021:23, Helsinki, http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-327-840-0, Open access

Kunttu, L., Kalliomäki, H., Dan, S., & Kuusisto, J. (2021). Developing Social Impact Evaluation Methods for Research: viewpoints on commercialization and sustainability, Technology Innovation Management Review, 11(5): 44-53, http://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/1441

Ivana, D., Dan, S. and Popovici, O.C. (2019). Customer focus in European higher education systems, in Vaduva, S., Fotea, I., Vaduva, L.P. and Wilt, R. (eds.), Applied Ethics for Entrepreneurial Success: Recommendations for the Developing World, Springer

Dan, S. (2017). The Co-ordination of European Public Hospital Systems: Interests, Cultures and Resistance, Palgrave Macmillan,  ISBN 978-3-319-43427-8

Dan, S. and Andrews, R. (2016). Market-type mechanisms and public service equity: A review of experiences in European public services, Public Organization Review, 16(3): 301-317. Springer

Dan, S. and Savi, R. (2015). Payment systems and incentives in primary care: implications of recent reforms in Estonia and Romania, International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 30: 204-218

Dan, S. and Pollitt, C. (2015). NPM can work: An optimistic review of the impact of New Public Management reforms in Central and Eastern Europe, Public Management Review. 17(9): 1305-1332

Dan, S. (2014) The effects of agency reform in Europe: A review of the evidence, Public Policy and Administration, 29(3): 221-240

Pollitt, C. and Dan, S. (2013). Searching for impacts in performance-oriented management reform: A review of the European literature, Public Performance and Management Review, 37(1): 7-32

Pollitt, C. and Dan, S. (2011). The impacts of the new public management in Europe: A meta-analysis, COCOPS report, Public Management Institute, KU Leuven, Open access

ONLINE

Research.fi | LinkedIn | X | Google Scholar | Research Gate | Orcid ID

Check out this blogpost on the Innobabble blog to learn more about Sorin's professional and personal interests.

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