Dr Karolina Mikolajewska-Zajac
Research Fellow
School of Business
+61 7 334 68187
Researcher biography
Karolina Mikołajewska-Zając is a Research Fellow in Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the UQ Business School. Her research revolves around patterns of societal crises and their influence on entrepreneurship, the social dynamics of hype, and the systemic effects of digital platforms. Karolina's work uses ecological and systems thinking, emphasizing relationality and process.
Karolina obtained her PhD in Management and Organization Studies from Kozminski University in Warsaw, Poland. During her PhD, she held a 2-year visiting position at the University of California at Berkeley, where she conducted fieldwork tracing the organizational trajectory and ecosystemic effects of digital platforms focused on hospitality (Couchsurfing and Airbnb). Her research has been published in Organization Studies, European Journal of Social Theory, Internet Histories, and The Handbook of the Sharing Economy, among others. Karolina is a member of the editorial collective at ephemera. theory & politics in organization and a member of the steering committee at the International Sociological Association's Thematic Group 10 Digital Sociology.
Book Chapters
Mikołajewska-Zając, Karolina (2019). The rhetoric of sharing: managerial literature on the sharing economy. Handbook of the Sharing Economy. (pp. 362-374) edited by Russell W. Belk, Giana M. Eckhardt and Fleura Bardhi. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar. doi: 10.4337/9781788110549.00039
Strumińska-Kutra, Marta and Mikołajewska-Zając, Karolina (2018). Alternatywne organizacje. Socjologia ekonomiczna: przewodnik. (pp. 14-25) edited by Witold Morawski. Warsaw, Poland: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
Mikołajewska-Zając, Karolina (2017). Historia zakładów E. Wedel (1851-1945): firma rodzinna. Zarządzanie w Polsce: dydaktyczne studia przypadków. (pp. 313-328) Warsaw, Poland: Poltext.
Mikołajewska-Zając, Karolina (2017). Historia zakładów E. Wedel (1944-1989): zjednoczenie przemysłu cukierniczego. Zarządzanie w Polsce: dydaktyczne studia przypadków. (pp. 329-346) edited by Dominika Latusek-Jurczak. Warsaw, Poland: Poltext.
Mikołajewska-Zając, Karolina (2017). Historia zakładów E. Wedel (1989-2011): korporacja. Zarządzanie w Polsce: dydaktyczne studia przypadków. (pp. 347-370) edited by Dominika Latusek-Jurczak. Warsaw, Poland: Poltext.
Mikołajewska-Zając, Karolina (2015). Negotiated meanings of capitalism: biographical narratives of trade union members and managers of a privatised Polish chocolate factory E. Wedel. Der Betrieb als sozialer und politischer Ort: Studien zu Praktiken und Diskursen in der Arbeitswelt des 20. Jahrhunderts. (pp. 185-212) edited by K. Andresen, M. Kuhnhenne, J. Mittag and J. Platz. Bonn, Germany: Dietz.
Journal Articles
Laamanen, Mikko and Mikołajewska-Zając, Karolina (2024). Ecologies of friction in digital platform investment. Information, Communication and Society, 27 (10), 1964-1982. doi: 10.1080/1369118x.2024.2352631
Mikołajewska-Zając, Karolina, Márton, Attila and Zundel, Mike (2022). Couchsurfing with Bateson: an ecology of digital platforms. Organization Studies, 43 (7), 1115-1135. doi: 10.1177/01708406211058628
Mikołajewska-Zając, Karolina and Márton, Attila (2022). The four deaths of Couchsurfing and the changing ecology of the web. Internet Histories, 6 (1-2), 1-22. doi: 10.1080/24701475.2022.2057751
ephemera collective and Mikolajewska-Zajac, Karolina (2021). The pasts, presents and futures of critical publishing. Ephemera, 21 (4), 1-21.
Mikołajewska-Zając, Karolina (2018). Terms of reference: the moral economy of reputation in a sharing economy platform. European Journal of Social Theory, 21 (2), 148-168. doi: 10.1177/1368431017716287
Mikołajewska-Zając, Karolina and Rodak, Olga (2017). Cooperative platforms as an attempt to revise the corporate model of sharing economy. e-mentor, 2016 (4(66)), 67-73. doi: 10.15219/em66.1265
Mikołajewska-Zając, Karolina (2017). Zwrot historyczny w teorii organizacji: splatając ważne wątki w badaniach nad praktykami pamiȩci organizacyjnej. Studia Socjologiczne, 2 (225), 45-72.
Mikołajewska-Zając, Karolina and Wawrzyniak, Joanna (2016). Nostalgia jako narzędzie krytyki transformacji. Mit dobrego właściciela w opowieściach pracowników fabrycznych. Przegląd Socjologii Jakościowej, 12 (2), 36-54. doi: 10.18778/1733-8069.12.2.03
Mikołajewska, Karolina (2014). Alienation and rush towards change: introducing capitalism to a state-owned enterprise. Oral History, 2 (42), 67-78.
Mikołajewska, Karolina (2014). Bilans dezindustrializacji : Andrzej Karpiński, Stanisław Paradysz, Paweł Soroka, Wiesław Żółtkowski. „Jak powstawały i upadały zakłady przemysłowe w Polsce”. Stan Rzeczy (1(6)), 321-326. doi: 10.51196/srz.6.18
Conference Papers
Mikolajewska-Zajac, Karolina (2023). An ecosystemic perspective on the growth of Airbnb. XX ISA World Congress of Sociology, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 25 June-1 July 2023.
Mikolajewska-Zajac, Karolina (2023). Follow the pattern: an ecological epistemology for the study of platforms’ societal effects and resilient organizing. XX ISA World Congress of Sociology, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 25 June-1 July 2023.
Mikolajewska-Zajac, Karolina (2023). After platforms: ecosystemic ideas for a sustainable digital economy. Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research Exchange Conference (ACERE), Brisbane, QLD Australia, 6-10 February 2023.
Mikolajewska-Zajac, Karolina (2022). The sharing economy’s past and our platformed future through a digital ecology lens. Weizenbaum Symposium: New Perspectives on the Digital Economy: Sharing, Platforms and Regulation, Berlin, Germany/Virtual, 2 December 2022.
Mikolajewska-Zajac, Karolina (2022). A global digital corporation and its hometown: shedding light on Airbnb through the conflict over short-term rentals in San Francisco. 38th EGOS Colloquium 2022, Vienna, Austria, 7-9 July 2022.
Langham, Jo’Anne, Lin, Caihui, Jenkins, Anna, Bongiovanni, Ivano, Mikolajewska-Zajac, Karolina and Paulsen, Neil (2022). Gender bias in idea generation and the evaluation of creative ideas: an online behavioural experiment. 17th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, ECIE 2022, Pafos, Cyprus, 15-16 September 2022. Reading, United Kingdom: Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited.
McCammon, Muira Nicollet, Ruan, Lotus, Miltner, Kate, Gerrard, Ysabel, Montalbano, Kathryn, Mikołajewska-Zając, Karolina and Márton, Attila (2021). What dead-and-dying platforms do for internet studies: situating technological failure, digital afterlife, and the web that was. 22nd Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researcher, Online, 13-16 October 2021. San Francisco, CA United States: University of Illinois Libraries. doi: 10.5210/spir.v2021i0.12125
Mikolajewska-Zajac, Karolina and Márton, Attila (2021). The life and deaths of Couchsurfing and the changing ecology of the Web. Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) Annual Meeting, Online, 4-6 October 2021.
Mikolajewska-Zajac, Karolina = and Márton, Attila (2019). Legitimacy in the platform economy: an ecosystemic perspective. 35th European Group on Organization Studies (EGOS) Colloquium, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 4-6 July 2019.
Mikolajewska-Zajac, Karolina (2018). Path 501(c)(3): access denied. How platform rhetoric prevented Couchsurfing from institutionalizing as a charity. 34th European Group on Organization Studies (EGOS) Colloquium, Tallinn, Estonia, 5-7 July 2018.
Mikolajewska-Zajac, Karolina (2018). A vicious circular economy? The struggle over the regulation of short-term rentals in San Francisco. International Interdisciplinary Seminar Socio-technical aspects on circular and collaborative economy, Tarragona, Spain, 16 March 2018.
Rodak, Olga and Mikołajewska-Zając, Karolina (2017). 'Paradigm clash' in the digital labor literature: Reconciling critical theory and interpretive approach in empirical research. #SMSociety17: 2017 International Conference on Social Media & Society, Toronto, Canada, July 28 - 30. Washington, DC United States: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/3097286.3097341
Mikolajewska-Zajac, Karolina (2016). Reference hunters and gatherers: the moral economy of referencing in Couchsurfing. Society for the Advancement of Socioeconomics (SASE) Conference, Berkeley, CA USA, 24-26 June 2016.
Mikolajewska-Zajac, Karolina (2016). The Labour of Sharing: Three Discourses on the Division of Labour in Couchsurfing. Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2016, Anaheim, CA United States, 5-9 August 2016. Briarcliff Manor, NY United States: Academy of Management. doi: 10.5465/ambpp.2016.18168abstract
Mikolajewska-Zajac, Karolina and Wawrzyniak, Joanna (2016). Nostalgia as vehicle for legimitization and critique of post-socialist transformation. 76th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Managemen, Anaheim, CA United States, 5 - 9 August 2016. Briarcliff Manor, NY United States: Academy of Management. doi: 10.5465/ambpp.2016.15046abstract
Mikolajewska-Zajac, Karolina (2016). The Labour of Sharing: Three Discourses on the Division of Labour in Couchsurfing. Academy of Management. doi: 10.5465/ambpp.2016.18168abstract
Newspaper Article
Mikolajewska-Zajac, Karolina (2023, 03 01). Airbnb’s humanitarian aid during the war in Ukraine: Indispensability, dependence, and platform politics economic sociology. perspectives and conversations 13-19.