Congratulations to Dr Fyery Adhena Abreha on her successful doctoral defence

MMTC member Fyery Adhena Abreha Opens in new window. successfully defended her doctoral thesis in Business Administration at Jönköping International Business School (JIBS) on 26 August 2026.

Fyery’s thesis, “Internal and External Legitimacy Challenges of Religious Hybrid Organizations: The Case of Monasteries,” explores how religious hybrid organisations navigate legitimacy challenges when religious, commercial and social welfare goals coexist.

Religious organisations such as monasteries can be understood as hybrid organisations when they combine their core religious mission with activities shaped by other institutional logics. Alongside their spiritual role, for example, they may engage in commercial activities to generate income and undertake social welfare activities to support their surrounding communities. Bringing these different goals together can create tensions over what the organisation should prioritise, how it should operate and how its activities are perceived by different stakeholders.

Drawing on qualitative case studies of two monasteries within the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Fyery examines these challenges from both inside and outside the organisations. Her research considers how internal stakeholders make sense of and respond to the coexistence of different goals, as well as how external stakeholders assess the legitimacy of monasteries engaging in activities beyond their traditional religious roles.

The thesis highlights the importance of stakeholder perceptions and relationships in establishing and maintaining legitimacy. It also examines the strategies religious hybrid organisations can use to respond to competing expectations while remaining committed to their hybrid mission and goals. In doing so, Fyery’s research contributes to a deeper understanding of organisational hybridity and legitimacy in a religious context – an area that has received comparatively limited attention in existing research.

Professor Judy Muthuri from The University of the West Indies served as faculty examiner for the defence. The examining committee consisted of Associate Professor Adeyinka Adewale, University of Reading; Professor Samuel Aryee, University of Surrey; and Associate Professor Addis Birhanu, Emlyon business school. MMTC extends our thanks to the faculty examiner and examining committee for their contribution to the defence.

The defence was chaired by Professor Leona Achtenhagen Opens in new window., MMTC Director. Throughout her PhD journey, Fyery was supervised by Professor Timur Uman Opens in new window., JIBS and MMTC, as principal supervisor, together with Professor Emerita Ethel Brundin and Professor Benson Honig, McMaster University.

The successful defence marks the culmination of Fyery’s doctoral journey and years of dedicated research, as well as the beginning of new opportunities.