Tove Engvall

Background

Tove started her academic career in archives- and information science, and then completed a PhD in information systems at the University of Agder, Norway.
Previous to academia, Tove has worked with digital information governance in the public sector and participated in national projects, such as the Swedish E-delegation on e-archives and e-registries (National Archives) and formulation of framework contracts for e-archives (Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions).
Tove also has a long background in sustainable development issues, which is integrated into her research and teaching.

Research

Tove's research interest revolves around digital global governance, i.e. research on the use of digital technologies and strategic information management in global governance to support sustainability goals.
A particular area of interest is the role of trust, how the mechanisms and conditions for trust change and can be ensured in the digital context. This includes trustworthy information, information systems and the social context.

Tove aims to do research that is both of high societal relevance, and theoretical novelty. Archives- and information science's core focus on trustworthy records of business activities is a crucial foundation for transparency, accountability and democratic objectives. Trustworthy and strategic information governance, combined with sociotechnical perspectives on digitalization and global governance literature, are central to conceptualizing and theorizing issues related to 'digital global governance'.

Previously, Tove has conducted research on strategic information provision to support business objectives for the Swedish Transportation Administration. She participated in the InterPARES Trust project on the role of records and trust in the online context (http://interparestrust.org/). Related to this, Tove conducted research on open data, and challenges of trust in the online context.

Tove has published her research in outlets such as Government Information Quarterly; Transforming Government: People, Process, Policy; Records Management Journal; and the digital governance conference EGOV-CeDEM-ePart .

Publications

Articles in journals

Engvall, T. , Flak, L. S. & Sæbø, Ø. (2023). The role of digital technologies in global climate negotiations. Government Information Quarterly, vol. 40: 4  

Engvall, T. , Flak, L. S. & Sæbø, Ø. (2022). Sharing, Cooperation or Collective Action? A Research Agenda for Online Interaction in Digital Global Governance. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 13392, pp. 91-106.  

Engvall, T. & Flak, L. S. (2022). The state of information infrastructure for global climate governance. Transforming Government, vol. 16: 4, pp. 436-448.  

Engvall, T. (2019). Situating trust challenges of online trade. Records Management Journal, vol. 29: 1-2, pp. 272-286.  

Engvall, T. (2019). User participation : what can be learned from the information systems domain?. Records Management Journal, vol. 29: 3, pp. 320-332.  

Engvall, T. (2018). In-equalities, Regulation, Ethics & Records - reflections from a case in Online Trade. Archives of Business Research, vol. 6: 8, pp. 135-147.    

Engvall, T. (2017). Fear, Greed and Lack of Trust in Online Financial Trade. Journal of Administrative Sciences and Technology,    

Borglund, E. A. M. & Engvall, T. (2014). Open data?: Data, information, document or record?. Records Management Journal, vol. 24: 2, pp. 163-180.  

Chapters in books

Engvall, T. & Flak, L. S. (2022). Digital Governance as a Scientific Concept. In Scientific Foundations of Digital Governance and Transformation. Springer (Public Administration and Information Technology). pp. 25-50.  

Engvall, T. , Anderson, K. , Bunn, J. , Flinn, A. , Michetti, G. , Gänser, G. , Cai, Y. & Henttonen, P. (2019). The role of the records professional. In Trusting Records in the Cloud. London : Facet Publishing. pp. 223-244.

Conference papers

Engvall, T. (2025). Conceptualizing the Roles of Information and Digital Technologies in Digital Global Climate Governance. In Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Hawaii :

Engvall, T. & Skiftenes Flak, L. (2022). Affordances of e-reporting on a supranational level: the case of Reportnet. In Ongoing Research, Practitioners, Posters, Workshops, and Projects of the International Conference EGOV-CeDEM-ePart 2022. (CEUR Workshop Proceedings)  

Engvall, T. (2021). Exploring the Impact of Digital Global Governance through Affordance Theory: the Case of Climate Reporting. In EGOV-CeDEM-ePart 2021 : Ongoing Research, Practitioners, Posters, Workshops, and Projects at EGOV-CeDEM-ePart 2021. (CEUR Workshop Proceedings). pp. 219--230.  

Engvall, T. & Hellmer, E. (2017). As money turns digital and trust turns algorithmic : what ought to be considered?. Paper presented at the Maintaing the Facts Infrastructure in the Era of Post-Truth Politics 19-20 september 2017, National Swedish heritage board, storgatan 41, Stockholm  

Engvall, T. (2017). The data dilemma : who is in control?. In The data dilemma: a risk or an asset? eabh international workshop in cooperation with InFuture conference, Zagreb, Croatia, 10 November, 2017.    

Borglund, E. A. M. & Engvall, T. (2016). Authenticity in open data: contributions from archival science. In Pre-ICIS Workshop on E-Government.

Engvall, T. (2016). Lack of Trust and Loss of Money : Challenges in Online Financial Trade. In VISION 2020 : INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, DEVELOPMENT SUSTAINABILITY, AND COMPETITIVE ECONOMIC GROWTH, 2016, VOLS I - VII.. pp. 954--962.

Anderson, K. , Engvall, T. & Klett, E. (2014). Open data through the archive : A new role for archivists. Paper presented at the Archives and Cultural Industries: 2nd ICA Annual Conference    

Doctoral theses

Engvall, T. (2024). The role of information systems in global governance: The case of climate reporting. Dis. (Comprehensive summary) Agder : University of Agder, 2024 (Doctoral dissertations at the University of Agder : 460)  

Other

Klareld, A. , Forsström, S. & Engvall, T. (2019). Blockchainteknologi och arkiv : i Nordisk Arkivnyt, nr 1, s. 46-47.  

Engvall, T. (2018). Arkivariers roll och perspektiv i arbete med öppna data : i Arkiv, Information, Teknik, nr 2, ss. 12-13. Sverige.  

Reports

Engvall, T. & Samuelsson, G. (2017). Ekonomiskt värde av information. Trafikverket  

Engvall, T. & Samuelsson, G. (2015). Förstudien - En effektiv digital informationshantering. Trafikverket  

Engvall, T. , Liang, V. & Anderson, K. (2015). The role of the archivist and records manager in an open government environment in Sweden : InterPARES report, research project EU11.    

The page was updated 3/11/2025