Institut für Marketing & Management

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Essays on investor communication in the context of startups
(2023) Kaiser, Manuel Tobias; Kuckertz, Andreas
With their creativity and innovative business models, entrepreneurs make an important contribution to global innovation, thus promoting economic growth and the labor market with startup jobs. However, the growth ambitions of entrepreneurs also require investments. Against this backdrop, previous research has already extensively discussed the importance of external investors and highlighted different facets of the entrepreneur-investor relationship. Central concept, to explain this relationship, is investor relations, which mainly refers to the communication of entrepreneur and investor. However, research on investor communication faces the challenge that a variety of new players, hence new forms of financing, have recently emerged in the market, further fragmenting the research field. In addition, technological advances are also changing the way entrepreneurs and investors communicate with each other. Against this background, previous research on investor relations in the startup context leaves open research questions that will be answered in this dissertation. This results in the following overarching research question for the structure of this dissertation: How do entrepreneurs shape communication with their investors? The first study was co-authored with Andreas Kuckertz and captures the research landscape on entrepreneurial communication using bibliometric analyses with algorithmic historiography and thematic map for science mapping. Thus, the structures of previous communication research from an entrepreneurship perspective are examined in more detail. The basis of this analysis is 383 articles from peer-reviewed journals. The results of these analyses show that communication in the context of resourcing is a relevant field of research, especially in investor relations. Overall, this study thus opens the research field of this dissertation by embedding investor communication as an element of entrepreneurial communication research. The second study was conducted with Elisabeth S.C. Berger and is a structured literature review that reviews the current state of research on trust between entrepreneurs and different types of investors. It identified and analyzed 32 articles dealing with trust in the context of venture capital, business angels, crowdfunding, or bank financing. This study builds on the results from the first study by revealing that communication is a trust-building factor. Thus, the second study shows how different concepts are interrelated and influence trust in the entrepreneur-investor relationship. The third study is co-authored with Andreas Kuckertz and examines the communication of entrepreneurs before and during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also considers the extent to which entrepreneurs financed by a venture capital investor differ in their communication from those entrepreneurs working without an investor. For this purpose, a novel method of text analysis was used to examine 110,283 tweets from 760 entrepreneurs. The results indicate that working with a venture capital investor also changes the professionalism of founder communication. This group shows a more professional expression of their emotions. In the fourth study, which was conducted in collaboration with Andreas Kuckertz, the emotions of investors expressed in communication are examined. This study focuses on venture capitalists and business angels. Although these two investors have a longer history in entrepreneurship research, their emotions have so far been largely ignored. However, since emotions are also relevant within relationships and therefore also in communication, this study broadens the view of the big picture in the entrepreneur-investor relationship by adding an emotional perspective. For this study, 994,969 tweets from 822 investors were analyzed and statistically compared regarding their emotions. Overall, the four studies in this dissertation address different relationship concepts that arise in the context of entrepreneur-investor relationships. Thus, this dissertation also provides impulses for entrepreneurs and investors in practice, for research and also for politics.
The influence of Corporate Brand Experience on employees´ corporate brand pride, brand-related and service-related behaviour
(2023) Abed, Fabian; Büttgen, Marion
In the past years corporation and brands increase their efforts to influence employees´ attitudes and behaviour using internal branding activities. In doing so, corporation and brands try to enhance organizational or brand commitment and related positive behaviour of its personnel. Here, corporate brand pride seems particular interesting as this construct receives increasing attention in theory and practice. On the one hand, corporate brands such as Facebook or Ritz-Carlton have already identified pride as a central element in their strategy regarding employee engagement and outstanding customer service (Kraemer et al., 2020). On the other hand, research regarding pride is scarce. As pride implies a strong bond between the employee and the corporation or brand, strong effects on employee behaviour can be assumed. For this reason, it seems interesting to further investigate this construct. Here, the question arises how employees´ corporate brand pride can be fostered. In answering this question this work uses an internal branding approach, investigating how direct and indirect corporate brand experience affect corporate brand pride, brand-related and service-oriented behaviour of personnel. The latter experience represents a non-product related corporate brand experience, for example via internal communications. As corporate brands face nowadays increasing media coverage, this thesis further investigate effects of perceived negative on corporate brand pride and brand-oriented behaviour. In doing so, this work show how corporation can mitigate unfavourable effects of negative corporate brand publicity. The central part of this behaviouristic thesis represents three quantitative cross-sectional studies which have been analysed using structural equation modelling. In doing so, manifest and latent relationships are analysed. The data used in the studies stem mostly from various online survey, which have been conducted in Germany´s largest Business-Network (XING). The results of this thesis reveal, that corporate brand pride of employees can be fostered through indirect corporate brand experience. Indirect corporate brand experience through internal communications also provides an effective way to mitigate the perception of negative corporate brand publicity and their subsequent adverse effects on corporate brand pride. Moreover, the thesis reveal that the dissemination of brand knowledge, as a central part of internal branding, positively affect pride of employees, too. In addition, results provide evidence that employee pride represent a strong attitudinal motivator, which in turn influence brand- and service-oriented behaviour of personnel. At the end, the thesis highlights implications for theory and practice as well as limitations. The findings of this thesis provide important theoretical and practical implications, in particular for marketing manager and human resources manager.
Sustainable entrepreneurship and the bioeconomy transition
(2023) Hinderer, Sebastian; Kuckertz, Andreas
Transgressing planetary boundaries endangers the safe operating space for humanity. Thus, a transition of socioeconomic systems toward sustainable development is needed. Prior research elevated the role of sustainable entrepreneurship (SE) in the transition process toward sustainable development in general and the bioeconomy in specific. Bioeconomy strategies worldwide acknowledge the importance of entrepreneurship for the transition process. There is consensus in research that entrepreneurs are needed to implement the vision of a bioeconomy as defined in these strategies. However, it remains unclear how opportunities for entrepreneurial activity in the bioeconomy come into existence and how entrepreneurs contribute to the bioeconomy transition by acting on the provided opportunities. Thus, this dissertation aims to shed light on the interface of SE and the bioeconomy, specifically by investigating the interplay between SE and the bioeconomy transition in light of planetary boundaries and the role of entrepreneurs within the transition. The four empirical studies included in this dissertation take different perspectives on the interface of SE and the bioeconomy and thus contribute different insights to the overall picture drawn in this dissertation. For instance, Study 1 examines a transition pathway to a sustainable bioeconomy by involving an international expert sample in a Delphi survey and subsequent cross-impact analysis. Study 1 presents a list of events necessary to achieve the transition ranked by the experts to reflect their urgency. The cross-impact analysis facilitates combining the most urgent events to create an integrated model of the transition to a sustainable bioeconomy. The findings suggest that rather than bioeconomy strategies, technological progress leveraged by innovative bioeconomy startups and investments currently constitute the main bottleneck hindering a transition to a bioeconomy. Study 2 zooms into the level of new bioeconomy ventures. Based on interviews with ten bioeconomy entrepreneurs from six European countries, it investigates how entrepreneurial opportunities emerge in the bioeconomy context and what competencies entrepreneurs need to act on them. Conceptualizing the bioeconomy transition as an external enabler for SE, Study 2 opens new avenues for research on sustainable development and innovation policy. Furthermore, Study 2 shows that new venture creation in the bioeconomy requires unique knowledge and specific competencies. Study 3 asks how to scale sustainable new ventures and puts it in the context of the ongoing de-growth debate. In recent years the de-growth paradigm has gained popularity in the sustainability discourse. Questioning the absolute decoupling of economic growth from environmental degradation, de-growth proponents suggest downscaling production and consumption to reduce resource extraction and energy consumption. Applying latent class analysis to reveal de-growth attitudes among 393 surveyed entrepreneurs and subsequent regression analysis, Study 3 answers how de-growth attitudes among (sustainable) entrepreneurs are associated with their decision-making on scaling strategies for their ventures. Furthermore, it shows that the development level of the economy an entrepreneur is active in is an essential factor in the decision-making on scaling strategies. Study 4 investigates how sustainable new ventures gain legitimacy to acquire the necessary resources to grow. Previous research suggested being distinctive yet understandable as key to legitimacy for new ventures. However, Study 4 describes complex entrepreneurial identities, i.e., unconventional combinations of entrepreneurial identity claims from the founder and venture levels, as an additional source of legitimacy that benefits only sustainable new ventures but not conventional ones. Since sustainable startups aim to tackle complex problems, external audiences expect them to be different from established conventions of the status quo. An analysis of 15,116 crowdfunding campaigns and their creators’ user profiles via topic modeling and subsequent regression analysis supports this argumentation. The findings show that sustainable ventures with complex – or even odd – entrepreneurial identities receive more support from crowdfunders, while conventional ventures do not. Overall, this dissertation conceptualizes a bi-directional and potentially reinforcing relationship between SE and the bioeconomy transition by building on extant literature and collecting and analyzing new data in four empirical studies. Moreover, it highlights the role of entrepreneurs who need unique knowledge and specific competencies and differ significantly from conventional entrepreneurs in their behavior and entrepreneurial identity. Finally, this dissertation discusses how policy and societal norms can foster productive entrepreneurship that is innovative and sustainable within planetary boundaries.
Artificial intelligence and robots in services : theory and management of (future) human–robot service interactions
(2023) Blaurock, Marah Karin; Büttgen, Marion
During the past decade, service robots have increasingly been deployed in a wide variety of services, where they co-produce service outcomes with and for the benefit of internal or external customers within human–robot service interactions (HRSI). Although the introduction of different service robot types into the marketplace promises efficiency gains, it changes premises of service encounter theory and practice fundamentally. Moreover, introducing service robots without considering external or internal customers’ needs can lead to negative service outcomes. This thesis aims to generate knowledge on how the introduction of different service robot types (i.e., embodied and digital service robots) in internal and external service encounters changes fundamental premises of service encounter theory and impacts HRSI outcomes. In doing so, it leverages different scientific methods and focuses on external service encounters with digital and embodied service robots, as well as internal service encounters with digital service robots. Chapter 2 aims to advance service encounter theory in the context of HRSI in external service encounters by conceptually developing a service encounter theory evaluation scheme to assess a theory’s fit to explain HRSI-related phenomena. The scheme includes individual and contextual factors that bound theoretical premises and, hence, supports scholars in assessing standing service encounter theories. The chapter also puts forth an exemplary assessment of role theory and provides detailed avenues for future research. Chapter 3 aims to synthesize the great wealth of knowledge on HRSI related to external service encounters with embodied service robots. By conducting a comprehensive systematic literature review, the chapter identifies 199 empirical research articles across scientific fields that can inform service research on how to successfully introduce service robots into the organizational frontline. To organize the plethora of research findings, this chapter develops a new structuring framework (D3: design, delegate, deploy). It utilizes this framework to provide a comprehensive overview of the empirical HRSI literature, delineates practical implications, and identifies gaps in literature to identify promising future research avenues. Chapter 4 also addresses HRSI in external service encounters but focuses specifically on the transformative potential of embodied service robots to enhance vulnerable consumers’ (i.e., children and older adults) well-being in social isolation. To identify how different robots can enhance well-being, this chapter follows a conceptual approach and integrates findings from service research, social robotics, social psychology, and medicine. The chapter develops a typology of robotic transformative service (i.e., entertainer, social enabler, mentor, and friend) as a function of consumers state of social isolation, well-being focus, and robot capabilities and a future research agenda for robotic transformative service research (RTSR). This work guides service consumers and providers, as well as robot developers, in identifying and developing the most appropriate robot type for advancing the well-being of vulnerable consumers in social isolation. Finally, Chapter 5 focuses on HRSI research in the context of interactions with digital service robots in internal service encounters. Based on a comprehensive literature review paired with a qualitative study, it conceptionally develops a new concept of a collaborative, digital service robot: a collaborative intelligence system (i.e., CI system) that co-produces service with employees. Drawing from service encounter needs theory, the chapter also empirically tests the effect of CI systems on employee need fulfillment (i.e., need for control, cognition, self-efficacy, and justice) and, in turn, on responsibility taking in two scenario-based experiments. The results uncover divergent mechanisms of how the fulfillment of service encounter needs drives the effect of CI systems on outcome responsibility for different employee groups. Service scholars and managers benefit from a blueprint for designing collaborative digital service robots and an understanding of their effects on employee outcomes in service co-production. In summary, this thesis contributes to literature by providing new insights into different types of HRSI by consolidating HRSI knowledge, developing and advancing HRSI concepts and theory, and empirically investigating HRSI-related phenomena. The new insights put forth in this thesis are discussed and implications for service theory and practice are delineated.
Next match entrepreneurship : three studies exploring the career transition from professional athletes to entrepreneurs
(2022) Steinbrink, Kathrin Michaela; Kuckertz, Andreas
Der Karriereübertritt von Leistungssportlern wird in der Gesellschaft mit großem Interesse verfolgt. Aber nicht nur berühmte Olympia-Gewinner oder Weltmeister müssen ihre Karriere in jungen Jahren überdenken. Auch Berufssportler auf nationaler Ebene oder Leistungssportler von Randsportarten sind damit konfrontiert, an einem gewissen Punkt in ihrer Sportkarriere einen komplett neuen beruflichen Weg einzuschlagen. Bisherige Forschung hat ein hohes Maß an unternehmerischer Aktivität im Sportsektor gezeigt. Es stellt sich die Frage, ob die hohe dichte an Unternehmertum von den Hauptakteuren des Sports abhängt, den Athleten. Um die spezielle Ausgangssituation von Athleten besser zu verstehen, die Athleten im Übertritt zu fördern und auf ihr enormes Potenzial durch die einzigartigen Erfahrungen hinzuweisen, befasst sich diese Dissertation mit der übergeordneten Forschungsfrage: “Was beeinflusst den Karriereübertritt von Athleten in eine unternehmerische Laufbahn?” Nach einer kurzen Einleitung, werden Leistungssportler als “second career entrepreneurs” eingeordnet. Der aktuelle Forschungsstand, dargestellt in 1.2, zeigt auf, dass Athleten-Gründertum als eigener untergeordneter Forschungsstrom von bestehender Forschung zu Sport-Gründertum abgegrenzt werden sollte. Abschnitt 1.3 führt neben einer grafischen Übersicht über die drei Studien dieser Dissertation die untergeordneten Teilforschungsfragen auf, welche unterschiedliche Aspekte der Theorie des geplanten Verhaltens (TPB) betrachten. Anschließend werden in Abschnitt 1.4 die Struktur und die Anwendungsbereiche der Dissertation aufgezeigt. Studie 1 in Abschnitt 2 wurde gemeinsam mit Andreas Kuckertz und Elisabeth S. C. Berger erstellt und befasst sich mit der Eignung von Leistungssportlern als Unternehmer. Es wurden die big five Persönlichkeitsmerkmale (Neurotizismus, Extraversion, Offenheit für Erfahrungen, Gewissenhaftigkeit und Verträglichkeit) sowie die Risikoneigung von Leistungssportlern (von Sportarten mit niedrigem und hohem Risiko) und Nicht-Sportlern erhoben und mit einer Varianzanalyse (ANOVA) und post-hoc Tests analysiert. Die Ergebnisse wurden mit den Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen verglichen, die Unternehmern zugesprochen werden. Dieser explorative Vergleich basiert auf der Theorie der Passung zwischen Person und Arbeit und zeigt die Gemeinsamkeiten zwischen den Karrieren von Leistungssportlern und Unternehmern. Die übereinstimmenden Persönlichkeitsmerkmale führen zu dem Schluss, dass Unternehmertum eine geeignete Wahl für eine zweite Karriere von Leistungssportlern sein kann. Diese erste Studie der Dissertation bildet die Grundlage für die in Kapitel 2 und 3 folgenden Untersuchungen. Die zweite Studie in Kapitel 3 konzentriert sich auf den Prozess des Karriereübertritts aus dem Leistungssport in das Unternehmertum. Mit dem explorativen Ansatz werden zahlreiche Treiber und Hindernisse über elf semi-strukturierte Interviews identifiziert. Mit der Methode “comparative causal mapping” wurden Gemeinsamkeiten festgestellt, welche in Fähigkeiten und Eigenschaften, Ergebniserwartungen, Übertrittsbedingungen und Effekte gruppiert wurden. Durch das Einhalten des Person-Umwelt Fits unterstützen die Ergebnisse sowohl die Selektions- als auch die Sozialisationshypothese der Karriere. Außerdem wurden der Vorteil von Leistungssportlern herausgestellt, auf mögliche widrige Umstände verschiedene Bewältigungsstrategien zu entwickeln. Nachdem Einflussfaktoren auf den Karriereübertritt von Athleten-Gründern gefunden wurden, konzentriert sich Studie 3 in Kapitel 4, die gemeinsam mit Celine Ströhle erstellt wurde, auf den Einfluss von Resilienz auf die Gründungsneigung. Basierend auf der Annahme eines erhöhten Resilienzlevels von Leistungssportlern verglichen mit Nicht-Sportlern, wird Resilienz als Einflussfaktor auf die Gründungsneigung untersucht. Zunächst zeigt die Varianzanalyse zwischen den beiden Gruppen einen signifikanten Unterschied im Resilienzlevel auf. Die Strukturgleichungsanalyse bestätigt den Einfluss der Resilienz auf die Gründungsneigung bei Leistungssportlern und Nicht-Sportlern unter Einbezug der Theorie des geplanten Verhaltens. Außerdem wurde ein signifikanter Unterschied in der Beziehung zwischen wahrgenommener Verhaltenskontrolle und Gründungsneigung zwischen Leistungssportlern und Nicht-Sportlern festgestellt. Abschnitt 5 schließt die Dissertation mit einer Zusammenfassung der wichtigsten Ergebnisse ab. Die Ergebnisse werden in den Gesamtzusammenhang der Dissertation eingeordnet und der Beitrag zu den Forschungsgebieten Athleten-Gründertum, Karriereübertritt in das Unternehmertum sowie Förderprogramme und Ausbildung zum Unternehmertum werden herausgestellt. Dies zeigt die wegweisende Rolle dieser Dissertation in der frühen Entwicklung eines neuen und entscheidenden Forschungsgebietes.
Sustainable interaction with digital technologies : fostering pro-environmental behavior and maintaining mental health
(2023) Berger, Michelle; Gimpel, Henner
One of the most essential challenges of the twenty-first century is to realize sustainability in everyday behavior. Daily, partly unconscious decisions influence environmental sustainability. Such everyday choices are increasingly shifted toward digital environments, as digital technologies are ubiquitous in a wide variety of everyday contexts. This yields the great potential to positively influence the users’ behavior toward more environmental sustainability when interacting with digital technologies, for example, through the use of digital nudging. But besides these benefits, research indicates that interacting with digital technologies can lead to a specific form of stress, also known as technostress, that can cause adverse health outcomes. Individuals increasingly suffer from – or are at risk of – mental health issues like depression or burnout. This demonstrates that it is essential to ensure a sustainable interaction with digital technologies that is both environmentally friendly and healthy, especially for the mind. Addressing individuals’ interaction with digital technologies requires a broad understanding from all perspectives. The Human-Computer-Interaction (HCI) framework represents a guiding structure for studying the interaction of humans with digital technologies. Along with the guiding structure of the HCI framework, the seven research articles included in this dissertation aim to contribute to sustainable interaction with digital technologies. The focus is on two outcomes resulting from the interaction: First, fostering pro-environmental behavior and, second, maintaining mental health. After an introductory first chapter, Chapter 2 focuses on the outcome of fostering pro-environmental behavior when interacting with digital technologies using digital nudging. Chapter 2.1 contributes to a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of DNEs in different behavioral contexts (HCI perspective context) that influence the individuals’ pro-environmental behavior (e.g., e-commerce shopping behavior). Chapters 2.2 and 2.3 zoom in on two of the behavioral contexts described in Chapter 2.1 to investigate and test the design and effectiveness of specific DNEs in an e-commerce shop and a smart home app (HCI perspective technology) through online experiments. While prior research concentrated on the effectiveness of different “feedback nudge features” (FNFs) (e.g., different update frequencies), Chapter 2.4 investigates the influence of 25 identified FNFs on user satisfaction in a smart home app through a card sorting approach followed by an online survey based on the Kano model (HCI perspective human). Chapter 3 puts focuses on the outcome of maintaining mental health when interacting with digital technologies, thus avoiding technostress. Chapter 3.1 concentrates on the role of the organization in preventing technostress among their employees (HCI perspective context). It introduces and characterizes 24 primary and secondary technostress prevention measures and determines the relevance of primary prevention measures in reducing different sources of technostress (technostress creators). Out of the 24 technostress prevention measures, two specific measures (“adopt a stress-sensitive digital workplace design” and “use gamification”) are addressed in Chapters 3.2 and 3.3. Through a large-scale online survey, Chapter 3.2 derives an understanding of the characteristic profiles of technologies used at the digital workplace, their interplay, and how they influence technostress (HCI perspective technology). Chapter 3.3 focuses on the individual’s appraisal (HCI perspective human) of a demanding situation when interacting with digital technologies. After conducting an online experiment, Chapter 3.3 finds that the integration of gamification elements (e.g., points or levels) in digital technologies can reduce the individual’s threat appraisal. Lastly, Chapter 4 discusses the results of the seven included research articles and provides an outlook for future research. In summary, this dissertation aims to provide research and practice with new insights into creating a sustainable interaction with digital technologies to foster pro-environmental behavior and maintain mental health.
From passion to performance : entrepreneurial passion in the creative industries
(2022) Schulte-Holthaus, Stefan; Kuckertz, Andreas
Entrepreneurship drives progress, innovation, growth, and prosperity. Passion, in turn, motivates and energizes people to pursue meaningful activities on a sustained basis. In following their passion and in interacting with their proximal environments, people build up competencies, knowledge, experience, and social relations, which may result in peak performance. When passion develops and relates to the creation, discovery and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities, entrepreneurial passion emerges. The current state of research shows that entrepreneurial passion is a source of motivation, inspiration, creativity, and perseverance. In the cultural and creative industries, entrepreneurship often begins from a passion for an artistic or creative work that is pursued as a hobby or leisure activity, which professionalizes over time. Thereby, passion for a creative or artistic activity can also create tensions between ideational and economic-organizational imperatives in entrepreneurial contexts. However, how, and why an artistic or creative passion develops into an entrepreneurial one and how it affects entrepreneurial success is unchartered territory. Hence, the aim of this dissertation is to investigate and explain the development of passion and its effect on entrepreneurial performance of creative people whose venturing ambitions are primarily driven by a non-entrepreneurial passion. The first study identifies the current state of literature on entrepreneurship in the cultural and creative industries. The review elaborates the phenomenon of a non-entrepreneurial passion as central feature of creative industries entrepreneurship and outlines its potential for future research. The second study presents a review of the state of research on passion in the entrepreneurial context and develops a theory-based approach that explains how passion emerges, and how it can extend to entrepreneurship and lead to entrepreneurial performance. Based on 11 semi-structured interviews with successful entrepreneurs whose life paths are characterized by passion for music, the third study follows this assumption and generates mental maps using the Conceptual Causal Mapping method. The results explain the development of real-life passion over time, its current constitution and embeddedness within the personal, social, and entrepreneurial life context and the relation of passion to performance. Based on the person-environment fit theory, the final study develops a model that substantiates the positive effects of life context fit on entrepreneurial passion and performance. Life context fit is operationalized using personal project analysis and the hypotheses were tested on a sample of 406 creative entrepreneurs using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results demonstrate the effect of life context fit on entrepreneurial passion and its successive translation into performance in four subsegments that can be classified as artepreneurs, culturepreneurs, creative entrepreneurs, and lifestyle entrepreneurs. However, contrary to expectations, the analyses also indicate that neither the life context fit, nor the domains of entrepreneurial passion have uniform positive outcomes. Rather, these relations occur with compounded positive and negative effects. These results are surprising as the extant literature has found nearly consistent positive outcomes of passion on performance. Post-hoc analyses reveal the varying constitutions of life contexts and the existence of previously unmeasurable domains of entrepreneurial passion for products, for people, and for a social cause among creative practitioners and help explaining the positive and negative combination effects in the segments. Overall, this dissertation contributes to the cultural and creative industries literature, the state of research on passion in entrepreneurship and psychology, and the literature whose epistemological interest aim at capturing and explaining entrepreneurial contexts and environments. Findings reveal (a) the central importance, development, and impact of passion among creative and cultural entrepreneurs, (b) the influence of life context on passion and performance, and (c) the interplay of combined positive and adverse effects of the domains of entrepreneurial passion and their impact on entrepreneurial performance.
Unlocking the power of generative AI models and systems such asGPT-4 and ChatGPT for higher education
(2023) Vandrik, Steffen; Urbach, Nils; Gimpel, Henner; Hall, Kristina; Decker, Stefan; Eymann, Torsten; Lämmermann, Luis; Mädche, Alexander; Röglinger, Maximilian; Ruiner, Caroline; Schoch, Manfred; Schoop, Mareike
Generative AI technologies, such as large language models, have the potential to revolutionize much of our higher education teaching and learning. ChatGPT is an impressive, easy-to-use, publicly accessible system demonstrating the power of large language models such as GPT-4. Other compa- rable generative models are available for text processing, images, audio, video, and other outputs – and we expect a massive further performance increase, integration in larger software systems, and diffusion in the coming years. This technological development triggers substantial uncertainty and change in university-level teaching and learning. Students ask questions like: How can ChatGPT or other artificial intelligence tools support me? Am I allowed to use ChatGPT for a seminar or final paper, or is that cheating? How exactly do I use ChatGPT best? Are there other ways to access models such as GPT-4? Given that such tools are here to stay, what skills should I acquire, and what is obsolete? Lecturers ask similar questions from a different perspective: What skills should I teach? How can I test students’ competencies rather than their ability to prompt generative AI models? How can I use ChatGPT and other systems based on generative AI to increase my efficiency or even improve my students’ learning experience and outcomes? Even if the current discussion revolves around ChatGPT and GPT-4, these are only the forerunners of what we can expect from future generative AI-based models and tools. So even if you think ChatGPT is not yet technically mature, it is worth looking into its impact on higher education. This is where this whitepaper comes in. It looks at ChatGPT as a contemporary example of a conversational user interface that leverages large language models. The whitepaper looks at ChatGPT from the perspective of students and lecturers. It focuses on everyday areas of higher education: teaching courses, learning for an exam, crafting seminar papers and theses, and assessing students’ learning outcomes and performance. For this purpose, we consider the chances and concrete application possibilities, the limits and risks of ChatGPT, and the underlying large language models. This serves two purposes: • First, we aim to provide concrete examples and guidance for individual students and lecturers to find their way of dealing with ChatGPT and similar tools. • Second, this whitepaper shall inform the more extensive organizational sensemaking processes on embracing and enclosing large language models or related tools in higher education. We wrote this whitepaper based on our experience in information systems, computer science, management, and sociology. We have hands-on experience in using generative AI tools. As professors, postdocs, doctoral candidates, and students, we constantly innovate our teaching and learning. Fully embracing the chances and challenges of generative AI requires adding further perspectives from scholars in various other disciplines (focusing on didactics of higher education and legal aspects), university administrations, and broader student groups. Overall, we have a positive picture of generative AI models and tools such as GPT-4 and ChatGPT. As always, there is light and dark, and change is difficult. However, if we issue clear guidelines on the part of the universities, faculties, and individual lecturers, and if lecturers and students use such systems efficiently and responsibly, our higher education system may improve. We see a greatchance for that if we embrace and manage the change appropriately.
Bringing light into the dark side of digitalization : consequences, antecedents, and mitigation mechanisms
(2023) Schmied, Fabian; Gimpel, Henner
As digital technologies permeate all aspects of our professional and private lives, digitalization causes profound changes for individuals, organizations, and societies. The use of digital technologies makes many activities easier, safer, faster, or more comfortable. In addition to many positive changes, digital technologies are also associated with numerous risks and side effects. The use of digital technologies might come along with severe negative consequences for individuals, organizations, and societies. The negative consequences can be triggered by various antecedents. In addition to identifying the negative consequences of digitalization and their antecedents, it is particularly important to develop appropriate mitigation mechanisms. This dissertation provides novel insights for IS researchers to better understand the negative consequences of using digital technologies. It contains a broad overview of the risks and side effects of digitalization and investigates related antecedents and mitigation mechanisms. To reach this goal, regarding research methods, this dissertation relies on the structured analysis of (scientific) literature and (expert) interviews as well as the analysis and interpretation of empirical data. Chapter 2 contributes to the research on the negative consequences of digitalization. Section 2.1 provides a comprehensive multi-level taxonomy of the risks and side effects of digitalization (RSEDs). Section 2.2 builds on Section 2.1 and is a substantial expansion and improvement of Section 2.1. The iterative taxonomy development process was complemented by four additional cycles. The final taxonomy comprises 11 RSEDs and their 39 subtypes. Both articles show that there is a wide range of risks and side effects of digitalization that need to be explored in more detail in the future. Chapter 3 focuses on the antecedents of digitalization’s negative consequences. Section 3.1 sheds light on individuals’ concerns towards automated decision-making. The concerns are derived from academic literature and semi-structured interviews with potential users of algorithm-based technologies. Section 3.2 focuses on the evaluation of specific mHealth app features by potential users in Germany and Denmark. The study draws on survey data from both countries analyzed using the Kano method. Further, it comprises a quartile-based sample split approach to identify the underlying relationships between users’ characteristics and their perceptions of the mHealth app features. The results show significant differences between Germans and Danes in the evaluation of the app features and demonstrate which of the user characteristics best explain these differences. Both articles shed light on possible antecedents of negative consequences (i.e., user dissatisfaction, non-use) and thus contribute to a better understanding of the occurrence of negative consequences. Chapter 4 shows exemplary mitigation mechanisms to cope with the negative consequences of digitalization. Section 4.1 takes an organizational perspective and identifies data privacy measures that can be implemented by organizations to protect the personal data of their customers and address their privacy concerns. These measures were evaluated by analyzing data from two independent online surveys with the help of the Kano method. Section 4.2 focuses on an individual perspective by presenting the concept of a privacy bot that contributes to strengthening the digital sovereignty of internet users. With the help of the privacy bot, page-long privacy statements can be checked against previously stored individual data protection preferences. Both articles provide appropriate mitigation mechanisms to cope with users’ privacy concerns. These two examples show that there are a variety of ways to counter the risks and side effects of digitalization. The research articles included in this dissertation identify various risks and side effects of digitalization that need to be explored in more detail in future research. The two articles on antecedents help to better understand the occurrence of negative consequences of digitalization. The development of appropriate countermeasures, two of which are exemplified in this dissertation, should result in the benefits of digital technologies outweighing their risks.
Leidenschaft und Performanz im Unternehmertum von Kreativschaffenden
(2023) Schulte-Holthaus, Stefan
Die Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft ist geprägt von Menschen, deren Leidenschaft für eine kreative Arbeit den Beginn einer selbständigen oder unternehmerischen Tätigkeit darstellt. Dabei kommt es häufig zu Konflikten zwischen der eigenen Leidenschaft, den unternehme-rischen Anforderungen und dem persönlichem Lebensumfeld. Anderseits können sich Le-ben, Leidenschaft und Unternehmertum auch positiv ergänzen und die Herausbildung einer umfassenden unternehmerischen Leidenschaft begünstigen, die wiederum unternehmeri-sche Performanz fördert. Dieser Research Brief stellt die aktuellen Forschungsergebnisse zu Leidenschaft von kreativschaffenden Unternehmern dar und zeigt, wie die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse in der Praxis und in der Entrepreneurship-Ausbildung genutzt werden können.
Next match entrepreneurship : three studies exploring the career transition from professional athletes to entrepreneurs
(2022) Steinbrink, Kathrin Michaela; Kuckertz, Andreas
With great interest, society watches sports stars’ career transitions. However, not only famous Olympia winners and world champions have to reconsider their career paths in their younger years. All professional athletes, also those competing on a national level or top athletes proceeding niche sports, are confronted with the need for a completely different profession at some point in their sports career. Previous research finds a high intensity of entrepreneurship within the sports sector. Therefore, the question arises on what factors that high entrepreneurial density depends on. To better understand the specific starting position into career transition, support athletes on the way out of sports, and acknowledge the great potential of athletes with unique experiences, this dissertation is guided by the overall research question: What affects the career transition of professional athletes into an entrepreneurial career? Following the short introduction, athletes are introduced as potential second career entrepreneurs. The current state of the literature on athlete entrepreneurship in 1.2 shows that athlete entrepreneurship should be considered an own sub-research stream in deferral to the existing research on sports entrepreneurship. Section 1.3 gives a graphical overview of three studies conducted within this dissertation and provides an overview of the sub-research questions addressing different aspects of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). After that, section 1.4 shows the structure and scope of this dissertation. Study 1 in section 2 was co-authored with Andreas Kuckertz and Elisabeth S. C. Berger and addresses the suitability of top athletes as entrepreneurs. The big five personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness for experience, conscientiousness, and agreeableness) and risk-propensity are investigated over top athletes (practicing low-risk or high-risk sport) and non-athletes. The results are analyzed with an analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc tests and compared to the personality traits associated with entrepreneurship. The explanatory comparison builds upon the person-job fit theory, showing the similarities between the athletes’ and the entrepreneurs’ careers. The matching personality traits lead to the conclusion that entrepreneurship might be an appropriate second career choice for athletes. The first study builds a basis for the following research in studies 2 and 3. Study 2 in section 3 concentrates on the career transition process of top athletes into an entrepreneurial career. The explorative approach identifies numerous athlete entrepreneurs’ drivers and barriers within eleven semi-structured interviews. Comparative causal mapping was used to identify commonalities clustered into skills and traits, outcome expectations, transitions conditions, and effects. Findings support selection as well as socialization processes of careers by retaining the person-environment fit. Furthermore, exploiting different coping strategies on possible adversities is identified as a significant advantage for athlete entrepreneurs. After identifying influencing factors on the career transition of athlete entrepreneurs, study 3 within section 4, co-authored with Celine Ströhle, concentrates on the role of resilience influencing entrepreneurial intention. Based on the assumption of athletes higher resilience level than non-athletes, resilience is examined as a determining factor on entrepreneurial intention. First, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) shows a significant difference in the level of resilience between the two groups. The structural equation analysis supported the influence of resilience on entrepreneurial intention within the frame of the TPB for top athletes and non-athletes. Furthermore, the influence of perceived behavioral control on entrepreneurial intention was found significantly different between top athletes and non-athletes Section 5 closes the dissertation by summarizing the main findings. Placing the findings in the overall context of this dissertation and highlighting the contributions to the research areas of athlete entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial career transition, and support programs and entrepreneurship education accentuates the pioneering role of this dissertation in the early development of a new vital research stream.
The human side of digital transformation : understanding the changing role of employees and leaders. - Updated version
(2022) Krehl, Eva-Helen
In the last few years, digital transformation forced organizations to integrate digital technology into different business areas. While many companies undergoing a digital transformation focus on the technology-side, the more successful approach to tackle digital transformation is focusing on the people who make things work (Berlin, 2018; Kane, 2019). Digital transformation has tremendously changed the way people live and work (Larson & DeChurch, 2020). Employees are augmented or substituted by technology (Breidbach & Maglio, 2016; Breidbach et al., 2018; Huang & Rust, 2018) and hence, employee roles are changing, and new skills are required (Bowen, 2016). Moreover, leader roles are changing in the light of digital transformation (Larson & DeChurch, 2020; Schallmo et al., 2017). They find themselves confronted with challenging and complex situations, such as introducing a new agile mindset (Kane, 2019). In addition to the outlined challenges for employees and leaders, digital transformation was accelerated in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic. Employees and leaders were required to work from home to follow social distancing restrictions (Brynjolfsson et al., 2020). Suddenly, new daily routines such as the intense use of digital tools while working from home were established (Criscuolo et al., 2020). In their roles as pioneers, motivators, and mentors, leaders have a particularly decisive function during the pandemic (Bartsch et al., 2020). In sum, the challenges of digital transformation and the COVID-19 pandemic can be described as a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment, also referred to as VUCA world (Bennett & Lemoine, 2014). It is important to understand the required roles and skill set for employees and leaders acting in a VUCA world, to be able to improve skills by training or learning on the job (Peterson et al., 2001). However, existing research regarding the human side of digital transformation accelerated by a global pandemic and the changing roles of employees and leaders is stretched to their limits. Thus, this dissertation focusses on employees and leaders as key factors for a successful digital transformation (Kane, 2019), by answering the following research questions: (1) How do digital transformation and new technologies transform service employee and leadership roles? (2) What specific skills are required for service employees in technology-based service encounters? (3) What are appropriate leadership behaviors in the context of digital transformation? (4) Which leadership practices do leaders perform from home during the COVID-19 pandemic? (5) How can leaders be effective working remotely with the aid of digital tools during the COVID-19 pandemic? By answering the research questions, this thesis advances research on the human side of digital transformation in four important points. First, this research extends our understanding on the human side of digital transformation by focusing on the changing roles, skills and practices of employees and leaders in the light of a (crisis-induced) digital transformation. Second, this thesis contributes to our understanding of how technology is changing employees’ roles in the service encounter. Specifically, this thesis explores which particular skills service employees need to perform in the technology-based service encounter. Hence, a skill-based framework for frontline service employees is presented. Third, this thesis contributes to leadership research by providing a deeper understanding of leadership challenges resulting from digital transformation. Moreover, this thesis presents insights into digital leadership roles appropriate to the leadership challenges associated with digital transformation, including a measurement scale for the identified leadership roles. Fourth, this thesis contributes to existing virtual and crisis leadership literature. Existing findings are supplemented by demonstrating the suitability of video conferences to make up for face-to-face communication when leading from home. In addition, this thesis reveals several drivers and barriers with positive and negative impacts on leadership effectiveness when coping with crisis-specific challenges. Following an introduction (chapter 1), this thesis is divided into three main chapters with a concluding overarching discussion (chapter 5). Chapter 2 examines employee roles and skills in technology-based service encounters, Chapter 3 includes the conceptualization of a Digital Transformation Leadership Framework, and Chapter 4 explores the daily experience of leaders aiming to lead effectively while using digital tools and working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the global pandemic has pushed organizations to change current practices and embrace digital solutions while creating hybrid collaboration models, this research might encourage further research on the human side of digital transformation.
Communication and collaboration technology use at the digital workplace : antecedents, use processes, and consequences
(2021) Schoch, Manfred; Gimpel, Henner
Our world is becoming more and more digital and interconnected. Particularly new communication and collaboration technologies have changed the way we go about our daily life and work. Several technological and social developments are the driving forces for this change. On the one hand, technological advancements, such as portable devices, fast infrastructure, and constantly available software applications, transform the way employees communicate, collaborate, and transfer knowledge. On the other hand, social developments, such as an increase in knowledge-intense jobs and a workforce that has grown accustomed to increasingly modern and innovative technology from their private lives, contribute to the development. Further, during the COVID-19 pandemic, digital work and the use of communication and collaboration technology has increased unlike anything seen before. It is the organizations’ responsibility to care for their employees and leave no one behind in this transformation process of work as we know it. Yet, the management of increasingly complex portfolios of digital technologies, comprised of privately-owned and business-owned components, confronts individuals, IT departments, and management with challenges. To address them, organizations and individuals need to broaden their understanding of how and why employees use digital technologies and learn about the associated outcomes. Information Systems research has long been concerned with understanding digital technology use, which is among the most researched topics of the discipline. Research results on technology use have been summarized along the three categories antecedents, use process, and outcomes Antecedents describe factors that influence use. Insights into use processes provide us with details of how technology is used in practice. Use outcomes comprise different factors that can be positively or negatively affected by using technology, such as performance or stress. Within the field, a subset of studies has specifically focused on communication and collaboration technology. Yet, in light of the rise in ubiquitous digital work and the challenges that come with it, further investigation into this subject is necessary. This dissertation aims at providing novel insights into the use of communication and collaboration technology for organizations and individuals across the three categories: antecedents, use processes, and outcomes. In Chapter 2, this dissertation deals with important antecedents of use decisions of communication and collaboration technology. Chapter 2.1 does so by identifying factors that drive the choice of digital technologies in the context of knowledge transfer. Chapter 2.2 analyzes rationales for using privately-owned technology for business purposes based on a risk-benefit perspective. Chapter 3 analyzes individual use processes of communication and collaboration technology in more detail using digital trace data and user interviews. Different heterogeneous user roles are derived from the data in Chapter 3.1. Second, user behavior over time and the effect of external events on such behavior are examined (Chapter 3.2). Chapter 4 presents insights on outcomes of use behavior, particularly adverse outcomes. Insights are provided on the role of individual appraisal in the relationship between communication and collaboration technology use and associated stress (Chapter 4.1). Second, outcomes of the use of mixed IT portfolios comprised of privately-owned and business-owned components are investigated (Chapter 4.2). In summation, this dissertation contributes to the rich body of knowledge on technology use. It broadens our understanding of why communication and collaboration technologies are used, how they are used, and what consequences arise from their use. Thus, insights are provided to practitioners on how to manage technology use in a human-centered way while considering the risks of technology use and reaping its multifaceted benefits. The results of this dissertation may inspire future research on a topic that is potentially more relevant today than ever before.
Navigating the digitalization of individuals as employees, customers, and themselves
(2022) Nüske, Niclas; Gimpel, Henner
Digitalization has long since entered and transformed our professional lives, our interaction with companies, and our private lives. With the progress in digitalization in general and of individuals in particular, both opportunities and challenges arise. Digitalization represents a double-edged sword, with its vast potential on the one end and a number of risks and detrimental effects for individuals, such as technostress, on the other. Individuals need to navigate the opportunities provided by digitalization, as well as its risks, in all areas of their lives. Addressing digitalization in a way that is in the best interest of individuals requires a thorough understanding of developments, challenges, and possible interventions and solutions. Matt et al. (2019) propose a framework for studying the digitalization of individuals, which represents a holistic approach to structure, classify, and position research along different roles of individuals from a comprehensive set of research angles. By applying this framework as a guiding structure, this dissertation aims to advance knowledge for an improved, safer, and more deliberate navigation of digitalization for individuals in their roles as employees, customers, and themselves from the research angles design, behavior, and consequences. While building on and integrating qualitative research methods such as literature analysis and expert interviews, this dissertation mainly relies on the collection of empirical data and their quantitative analysis. This comprises several small- and large-scale surveys and field experiments, as well as analytical methods such as structural equation modeling, regression analysis, and cluster analysis. Chapter 2 of this dissertation discusses the digitalization of individuals in their role as employees. Chapter 2.1 covers workplace design in terms of equipment with digital workplace technologies (DWTs) and the user behavior of employees. It determines which DWTs exist and are used by individual employees in a comprehensive and structured fashion. Contributing to a deeper understanding of workplace digitalization, chapter 2.1 also demonstrates and elaborates how this overview of DWTs represents a basis for individualized digital work design as well as adequate interventions. Chapter 2.2 deals with the consequences of DWT user behavior. It focuses on the relationship between workplace digitalization, the negative consequence technostress, and possible countermeasures termed “technostress inhibitors.” By enabling a more detailed understanding of the underlying mechanisms as well as evaluating the effects of countermeasures, chapter 2.2 discusses the overall finding that workplace digitalization increases technostress. The dynamics of its different components and technostress inhibitors, however, require individual consideration at a more detailed level, as the interrelationships are not consistently intuitive. In chapter 3, the focus changes to individuals in their role as customers. As a response to increasing data collection by companies as well as increasing data privacy concerns of customers, chapter 3.1 focuses on the identification of a comprehensive list of data privacy measures that address these concerns. Furthermore, it is identified that the implementation of some of these measures would lead to increased customer satisfaction, demonstrating that there is an upside to data privacy for companies and that mutually beneficial outcomes for both involved parties are conceivable. Chapter 3.2 analyzes whether and how digital nudging can be applied to influence customers’ online shopping behavior towards the selection of more environmentally sustainable products in online supermarkets and how this influence differs with respect to individual customer characteristics. It determines the digital nudging element “default rules” to be generally effective and “simplification” to be effective among environmentally conscious customers. On a macro level, the findings contribute to a safer environment in which individuals live their lives, while at the individual level, they foster decision-making quality and health. Chapter 4 highlights the digitalization of individuals themselves. Chapter 4.1 deals with the design of a habit-tracking app that offers users autonomy in their goal-directed behavior. It is found that the provision of autonomy enhances well-being. Its exercise improves performance, which in turn positively affects well-being. Chapter 4.1 thus contributes insights into how digital technologies can foster the flourishing of users. As a summary, this dissertation aims to provide research and practice with contributions to a deeper understanding of how individuals as employees, customers, and themselves can successfully navigate digitalization.
The human side of digital transformation : understanding the changing role of employees and leaders
(2021) Krehl, Eva-Helen; Büttgen, Marion
In the last few years, digital transformation forced organizations to integrate digital technology into different business areas. While many companies undergoing a digital transformation focus on the technology-side, the more successful approach to tackle digital transformation is focusing on the people who make things work (Berlin, 2018; Kane, 2019). Digital transformation has tremendously changed the way people live and work (Larson & DeChurch, 2020). Employees are augmented or substituted by technology (Breidbach & Maglio, 2016; Breidbach et al., 2018; Huang & Rust, 2018) and hence, employee roles are changing, and new skills are required (Bowen, 2016). Moreover, leader roles are changing in the light of digital transformation (Larson & DeChurch, 2020; Schallmo et al., 2017). They find themselves confronted with challenging and complex situations, such as introducing a new agile mindset (Kane, 2019). In addition to the outlined challenges for employees and leaders, digital transformation was accelerated in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic. Employees and leaders were required to work from home to follow social distancing restrictions (Brynjolfsson et al., 2020). Suddenly, new daily routines such as the intense use of digital tools while working from home were established (Criscuolo et al., 2020). In their roles as pioneers, motivators, and mentors, leaders have a particularly decisive function during the pandemic (Bartsch et al., 2020). In sum, the challenges of digital transformation and the COVID-19 pandemic can be described as a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment, also referred to as VUCA world (Bennett & Lemoine, 2014). It is important to understand the required roles and skill set for employees and leaders acting in a VUCA world, to be able to improve skills by training or learning on the job (Peterson et al., 2001). However, existing research regarding the human side of digital transformation accelerated by a global pandemic and the changing roles of employees and leaders is stretched to their limits. Thus, this dissertation focusses on employees and leaders as key factors for a successful digital transformation (Kane, 2019), by answering the following research questions: (1) How do digital transformation and new technologies transform service employee and leadership roles? (2) What specific skills are required for service employees in technology-based service encounters? (3) What are appropriate leadership behaviors in the context of digital transformation? (4) Which leadership practices do leaders perform from home during the COVID-19 pandemic? (5) How can leaders be effective working remotely with the aid of digital tools during the COVID-19 pandemic? By answering the research questions, this thesis advances research on the human side of digital transformation in four important points. First, this research extends our understanding on the human side of digital transformation by focusing on the changing roles, skills and practices of employees and leaders in the light of a (crisis-induced) digital transformation. Second, this thesis contributes to our understanding of how technology is changing employees’ roles in the service encounter. Specifically, this thesis explores which particular skills service employees need to perform in the technology-based service encounter. Hence, a skill-based framework for frontline service employees is presented. Third, this thesis contributes to leadership research by providing a deeper understanding of leadership challenges resulting from digital transformation. Moreover, this thesis presents insights into digital leadership roles appropriate to the leadership challenges associated with digital transformation, including a measurement scale for the identified leadership roles. Fourth, this thesis contributes to existing virtual and crisis leadership literature. Existing findings are supplemented by demonstrating the suitability of video conferences to make up for face-to-face communication when leading from home. In addition, this thesis reveals several drivers and barriers with positive and negative impacts on leadership effectiveness when coping with crisis-specific challenges. Following an introduction (chapter 1), this thesis is divided into three main chapters with a concluding overarching discussion (chapter 5). Chapter 2 examines employee roles and skills in technology-based service encounters, Chapter 3 includes the conceptualization of a Digital Transformation Leadership Framework, and Chapter 4 explores the daily experience of leaders aiming to lead effectively while using digital tools and working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the global pandemic has pushed organizations to change current practices and embrace digital solutions while creating hybrid collaboration models, this research might encourage further research on the human side of digital transformation.
Personality traits and career success : a multilayered approach
(2022) Höflinger, Vivien Francesca; Büttgen, Marion
For years now career success emerged as one of the focal points in managerial psychology research. It still remains a key topic in contemporary literature. Personality has been identified as an essential predictor of work and career success. In examining associations between personality traits and professional outcomes, the Big Five represents the prevalent theoretical basis. This widely recognized framework stands primarily for bright and affirmative personality attributes. In more recent times, the rather negative side of the personality range received increasing scientific attention, not least triggered by severe scandals in the business world. Especially the Dark Triad personality construct consisting of Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism has attracted growing academic consideration. Surprisingly these rather undesirable personality characteristics do not only promote counterproductive outcomes. Consequently, the two topics of bright as well as dark personality traits and career success constitute the scope of the thesis. To split the topic up and to explore it as sophisticated as possible, a comprehensive scientific approach is required. Supported by a multilayered methodological procedure, the interplay of personality and career success was investigated on heterogeneous criteria: (1) multifaceted bandwidth of personality, (2) diversity of career success indicators, (3) varied decision-making levels, and (4) new work environment. In summary, this dissertation answers the following research questions in three interrelated essays: 1. How successful are both light and dark personalities in terms of objective success criteria? 2. Does a GFP-E specific for executives exist and how is it related to the Dark Triad, success and satisfaction measures? 3. Do paradox personalities, in particular narcissism and humility, succeed in new work environments? The first paper represents the basis for gain in knowledge. It takes a broad attempt by addressing both the bright and dark personality traits of the Big Five and the Dark Triad. Accordingly, the influence of these expansive personality attributes and the selected objective career success indicators budget responsibility and personnel decision-making authority were examined. Empirically, a dual approach with a German sample combining an AI-based automated speech analysis tool with self-reported survey data was chosen. The results indicate a positive relationship between psychopathy and personnel decision-making authority, as well as between narcissism and emotional stability to budget responsibility. In the second article, the interest shifts entirely to the top-management. Here, a narrower personality approach was considered. For this purpose, self-reported survey data from German top-managers were collected. The study demonstrates that a superordinate singular factor (General Factor of Personality, GFP) specifically for executives (GFP-E) exists that is characterized by high agreeableness, extraversion, conscientiousness and openness to experience as well as low neuroticism. Furthermore, the relationship of the GFP-E to the Dark Triad and to success and satisfaction indicators were examined. Positive correlations to these criteria as well as to narcissism were evident. In contrast, negative connections to Machiavellianism and psychopathy were apparent, indicating the existence of a Dark Dyad. Finally, the third essay highlights the impact of paradox personalities on career success, namely the combination of narcissism and humility. In order to reflect the current transformation in the business world, new work settings are integrated in this study as well. Methodologically, a dyadic approach relating self-reported and other-reported survey data of US-professionals was selected. Further, to represent career success in its entirety, especially in new work environments, four measures of objective career success as well as a multidimensional subjective career success scale were included. The interaction between narcissism and humility indicated negative effects on leadership position, project responsibility and salary. However, when the working environment is included, the humble narcissist is materially successful in the new world of work. In total these findings contribute to existing knowledge of both bright and dark personality by showing that psychopaths and especially narcissists can be quite successful in their professional life. Emotional stability and conscientiousness proved to be the relevant predictors in a professional setting. Supplementary to the important content-related insights, this thesis further contributes to an increasing body of research incorporating language and personality. It encompasses as one of the first studies that introduces elements of artificial intelligence to the research streams of personality and success by using an automated psycholinguistic analysis technology. This dissertation further contributes to the literature on paradoxes in the workplace by enhancing previous leadership approaches. While positive effects of paradoxical personalities have already been found at the top management level it was demonstrated that this phenomenon couldn’t be converted to the general career success perspective. Further, by expending the research focus to new modes of working it could be shown that the working environment in today’s organizations proves to be an essential contextual factor impacting an employee’s career.
Behind the scenes of emerging technologies – Opportunities, challenges, and solution approaches along a socio-technical continuum
(2021) Bayer, Sarah; Gimpel, Henner
Digitalization is a socio-technical phenomenon that shapes our lives as individuals, economies, and societies. The perceived complexity of technologies continues to increase, and technology convergence makes a clear separation between technologies impossible. A good example of this is the Internet of Things (IoT) with its embedded Artificial Intelligence (AI). Furthermore, a separation of the social and the technical component has become near enough impossible, for which there is increasing awareness in the Information Systems (IS) community. Overall, emerging technologies such as AI or IoT are becoming less understandable and transparent, which is evident for instance when AI is described in terms of a “black box”. This opacity undermines humans’ trust in emerging technologies, which, however, is crucial for both its usage and spread, especially as emerging technologies start to perform tasks that bear high risks for humans, such as autonomous driving. Critical perspectives on emerging technologies are often discussed in terms of ethics, including such aspects as the responsibility for decisions made by algorithms, the limited data privacy, and the moral values that are encoded in technology. In sum, the varied opportunities that come with digitalization are accompanied by significant challenges. Research on the negative ramifications of AI is crucial if we are to foster a human-centered technological development that is not simply driven by opportunities but by utility for humanity. As the IS community is positioned at the intersection of the technological and the social context, it plays a central role in finding answers to the question as to how the advantages outweigh the challenges that come with emerging technologies. Challenges are examined under the label of “dark side of IS”, a research area which receives considerably less attention in existing literature than the positive aspects (Gimpel & Schmied, 2019). With its focus on challenges, this dissertation aims to counterbalance this. Since the remit of IS research is the entire information system, rather than merely the technology, humanistic and instrumental goals ought to be considered in equal measure. This dissertation follows calls for research for a healthy distribution along the so-called socio-technical continuum (Sarker et al., 2019), that broadens its focus to include the social as well as the technical, rather than looking at one or the other. With that in mind, this dissertation aims to advance knowledge on IS with regard to opportunities, and in particular with a focus on challenges of two emerging technologies, IoT and AI, along the socio-technical continuum. This dissertation provides novel insights for individuals to better understand opportunities, but in particular possible negative side effects. It guides organizations on how to address these challenges and suggests not only the necessity of further research along the socio-technical continuum but also several ideas on where to take this future research. Chapter 2 contributes to research on opportunities and challenges of IoT. Section 2.1 identifies and structures opportunities that IoT devices provide for retail commerce customers. By conducting a structured literature review, affordances are identified, and by examining a sample of 337 IoT devices, completeness and parsimony are validated. Section 2.2 takes a close look at the ethical challenges posed by IoT, also known as IoT ethics. Based on a structured literature review, it first identifies and structures IoT ethics, then provides detailed guidance for further research in this important and yet under-appreciated field of study. Together, these two research articles underline that IoT has the potential to radically transform our lives, but they also illustrate the urgent need for further research on possible ethical issues that are associated with IoTs’ specific features. Chapter 3 contributes to research on AI along the socio-technical continuum. Section 3.1 examines algorithms underlying AI. Through a structured literature review and semi-structured interviews analyzed with a qualitative content analysis, this section identifies, structures and communicates concerns about algorithmic decision-making and is supposed to improve offers and services. Section 3.2 takes a deep dive into the concept of moral agency in AI to discuss whether responsibility in human-computer interaction can be grasped better with the concept of “agency”. In section 3.3, data from an online experiment with a self-developed AI system is used to examine the role of a user’s domain-specific expertise in trusting and following suggestions from AI decision support systems. Finally, section 3.4 draws on design science research to present a framework for ethical software development that considers ethical issues from the beginning of the design and development process. By looking at the multiple facets of this topic, these four research articles ought to guide practitioners in deciding which challenges to consider during product development. With a view to subsequent steps, they also offer first ideas on how these challenges could be addressed. Furthermore, the articles offer a basis for further, solution-oriented research on AI’s challenges and encourage users to form their own, informed, opinions.
Internationalization of Research & Development and Host-Country Patenting : The Dynamics of Innovation and Trans-Border R&D Flows between Developed and Emerging Countries
(2021) Sommer, Daniel; Gerybadze, Alexander
The international business world has profoundly changed through globalization in the last years and decades. The cross-border exchange of products and people, as well as information, technology and capital has increased. Furthermore, companies are faced with an increasingly distributed knowledge base which means that one centralized Research & Development (R&D) base, usually at the headquarters is not sufficient and a company’s success rather depends on its ability to identify and occupy selected locations across the globe for R&D activities. While the degree of R&D Internationalization of large multinational corporations (MNCs) has been increasing for the last decades, the group of source countries has remained small: the headquarters of the leading R&D conducting MNCs have been largely based in the US, Japan and several European countries (e.g. Germany, Switzerland) and R&D Internationalization had been remaining within this group. Since the beginning of this millennium, however, several emerging countries (e.g. China or India) have entered the stage and increasingly attracted foreign R&D investments as target countries. R&D has therefore not only increased in intensity, it has also increased in breadth, i.e. the degree of target country diversification has grown. This dissertation addresses and is driven by the following overarching research question: How can we capture even more precisely to what extent and in what fields MNCs conduct R&D abroad and how have the patterns changed in the time period 2000 – 2019? Six major trends can be identified to answer the research question: 1. The share of R&D conducted abroad by MNCs in relation to their total R&D has increased in the last decades. 2. The number of target countries and their technological diversification degree has increased. 3. A select number of target countries, particularly ambitious emerging countries (China, India and partly some Eastern European countries) have significantly increased in relevance as a base for R&D activities. 4. Target countries attract foreign R&D in respective specific technological fields. Particularly the uprising emerging countries have built up competences in certain areas and participate in R&D in these fields on a relevant global degree. 5. A strong shift across the R&D conducting industries can be observed. Particularly high tech industries (e.g. pharma and biotech) and new technologies (IT, internet, software) have significantly increased in relevance compared to classic manufacturing industries and account for an increasing share of R&D activities across all industries. 6. Conducting R&D abroad generally pays off compared to purely domestic R&D, although there is indication that too much internationality can be detrimental as well.
Individual information systems : design, use, and a negative outcome in the business and private domain
(2021) Lanzl, Julia; Gimpel, Henner
Digitalization increasingly changes individuals’ business and private lives. Today, individuals build and use ever more complex individual information systems (IIS) composed of privately-owned and business-owned components. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this development since individuals were forced to work from home due to the social distancing measures associated with the pandemic. The ongoing digitalization comes with great opportunities for individuals, such as higher mobility and flexibility, as well as for organizations, such as lower costs and increased productivity. However, the increased use of IIS at the workplace also bears risks for individuals. Such risks include technostress, which refers to stress that is caused by digital technologies. Technostress, in turn, can lead to health-related issues, reduced productivity, and higher turnover intentions. Thus, to leverage the positive opportunities of digitalization while reducing its associated risk of technostress, a better understanding of IIS, their use, and its effect on technostress, and of individual resources that may affect this relationship is needed. The aim of this dissertation is threefold: First, to contribute to a better understanding of layers of IIS and their different components. Second, since a negative outcome of IIS use can be technostress, this dissertation seeks to advance knowledge on technostress creators and how they can be influenced by IIS use and by various IIS characteristics. Third, this dissertation aims to reveal which resources of individuals may help mitigate technostress. This dissertation uses quantitative methods, such as online surveys and structural equation modeling, and qualitative methods, such as literature analyses and semi-structured interviews. Thereby, the methodological focus lies on quantitative data collection and analysis, while some papers use a mixed-methods approach as a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. Chapter 2 of this dissertation aims at providing a better understanding of IIS by investigating its various components. Therefore, Chapter 2.1 conceptualizes four layers of IIS: devices, digital identities, relationships, and information. It also considers that IIS have two more or less integrated subsystems: the business information systems with business-owned components and the private information systems with privately-owned components. An empirical validation supports this conceptualization as well as the definition of integration between the two sub-systems on each of the four layers. Chapter 2.2 studies IT consumerization, which refers to the use of private IIS components in the business domain and applies a risk-benefit consideration. The results imply that benefits of consumerization of IT services, such as better functionalities of a private IT service outweigh risks, such as the threat of sanctions for the use of private IT services. Chapter 3 focuses on technostress as a negative outcome of the increased IIS use. Chapter 3.1 analyzes how IT consumerization is related to the technostress creator unreliability of digital technologies. The results reveal a positive relationship between IT consumerization and unreliability and show that unreliability is perceived higher when the IT portfolio integration and the individual’s computer self-efficacy are low. Chapter 3.2 proceeds with studying characteristics of digital technologies and how these are related to technostress. It presents ten characteristics that are associated with at least one technostress creator. Chapter 3.3 extends the concept of technostress and introduces a framework of twelve different technostress creators, reveals four second-order factors underlying the twelve technostress creators, and brings them into relation with work- and health-related effects. Chapter 4 also deals with technostress and investigates resources to mitigate technostress. Chapter 4.1 focuses on organizational measures and finds different relationships of the investigated measures with different technostress creators. While some of the technostress creators can be inhibited by the implementation of organizational measures, others are found to be even intensified by the organizational measures. Chapter 4.2 focuses on social mechanisms that function as technostress inhibitors. Findings differ between technostress creators and the investigated social support dimensions. Furthermore, the results highlight the fact that some of the social support dimensions gain even greater importance in light of increasing telework. In summary, this dissertation provides new insights into IIS and their use, the emergence of technostress in digitalized workplaces, and organizational as well as social mechanisms that help mitigate technostress. Hence, this dissertation supports current efforts in both research and practice to reduce technostress while leveraging the positive opportunities of workplace digitalization.
Digitalization of the individual : consequences, design, and behavior
(2021) Waldmann, Daniela; Gimpel, Henner
In the past decades, digitalization has increasingly influenced our daily lives and habits in almost all areas and has even become indispensable for individuals, organizations, and society. The interactions between individuals and organizations have changed significantly as digitalization extends the boundaries of organizations to the point at which it affects individuals. Consequently, new research efforts and better understanding are essential to understand how the behavior of individuals is affected by the use of digital technologies, how customers’ demands change, and how the purchasing process of organizations needs to be adapted. Currently, the literature on digital transformation is mainly treating the organizational perspective. Nevertheless, organizations should not neglect the individual perspective as it is essential to understand customer needs and their consequences affected by digital technologies. Matt et al. (2019)1 present a holistic research framework with three research perspectives for the digitalization of the individual. This framework encompasses the behavior of individuals, the design of information systems, and the consequences that digitalization entails. Additionally, this research framework suggests that a digitized individual can take on different roles. The dissertation uses this framework of Matt et al. (2019)1 to structure and classify the covered contents and research objectives. The aim of this dissertation is to contribute to a comprehensive overview for organizations to understand their customers’ concerns regarding digital technologies, which design options they have to address these concerns, and how it influences their behavior to realize the potential of the technologies or reduce their harms. Therefore, this work applies pluralistic methodological approaches (qualitative methods, e.g., semi-structured interviews and qualitative content analysis, and quantitative methods, e.g., quantitative decision models and data collection from online questionnaires). With that, the dissertation provides novel insights for organizations to better implement digital technologies by regarding the consequences for individuals and the behavior of individuals. First, to contribute to an understanding of the negative consequences digitalization can bring along for individuals, part A of this dissertation presents two research articles that focus on the concerns of individuals. The research papers P1 and P2 show in two different domains what individuals are concerned about when using digital technologies and what prevents individuals from using them. Therefore, this dissertation presents knowledge about the fears and concerns of the individuals have and offers starting points to develop responsible and transparent digital technologies that address the concerns of the individuals. Second, to contribute to design approaches for information systems that enable organizations to increase customer satisfaction with digital products and services, part B presents design approaches that organizations can use to address individuals’ perceived consequences and change their behavior using digital technologies. Both research papers in part B present quantitative decision models as decision support for organizations. This dissertation offers two design approaches that provide organizations with information on designing technologies to serve digitized individuals and foster them better to make well-founded decisions when introducing digital technologies. Third, to contribute to the understanding of why and how individuals behave in certain ways and how this behavior can be influenced, Part C examines the behavior of individuals when using digital technologies. Research paper P5 develops a metric to better explore the privacy paradox. With that, this dissertation offers a basis, especially to researchers and individuals, to prevent unwanted behavior when using digital technologies. To sum up, this dissertation contributes to scientific knowledge in research on the digitalization of the individual and thus addresses a subject of fundamental importance in this digital age. The models and approaches developed in this dissertation explore ways to improve conditions for the digitized individual at all three research perspectives with equal regard for the individual as itself and the individual as a customer.

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