Research | WHU

Research at WHU

Creating a research environment –
Stimulating, intellectual, and international on all levels.

High quality and groundbreaking research in the fields of management, economics, and business administration is one of the key pillars of excellence at WHU. The school places particular emphasis on creating a stimulating environment for independent research in business and economics topics, coupled with attracting and supporting high-profile researchers with the ultimate aim of delivering first-class research outcomes. WHU further pursues its mission by combining academic rigor with tangible, practical relevance in all its research activities.

WHU is home to 57 professors who are currently engaged in research and have received significant academic acclaim through their involvement in numerous research projects both at home and abroad. WHU is also committed to supporting young academics. These highly motivated assistant professors, postdoctoral, and doctoral students greatly enrich the research capabilities of our school.

WHU’s high level of research capability can be attributed to the strict adherence to three fundamental research principles: these are quality, internationality, as well as practical and academic relevance. The school’s consistent long-term focus on independent cutting-edge research has already borne fruit: WHU has now become one of the most renowned German research institutions in the field of management studies and is on the verge of joining the leading group of European institutions in the field.

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WHU faculty members have been consistently successful over the years in gaining both national and international awards for their outstanding research papers as well as for their performance as peer reviewers of renowned research journals. This major success story has been sustained with WHU researchers scooping numerous prestigious awards in the last 5 years.

Best Paper Awards

Best Reviewer Awards

153

Other Awards

Overview of all awards

Research Principles at WHU

Basing research on three principles –
Quality, internationality, and practical relevance.

WHU’s capability to conduct and deliver first-rate research in business and management topics is a consequence of its adherence to three key research principles: these are quality, internationality, as well as practical and academic relevance. WHU researchers recognize that the interplay of these three principles is paramount to achieving excellence in research and truly tangible outcomes. It is precisely for this reason that both WHU as an institution and its researchers steadfastly adhere to these three cornerstone research principles.

Quality

“Quality not quantity” is the guiding principle for our faculty members. This manifests itself in our excellent research results being published in some of the most renowned and leading international journals.

Delivering cutting-edge, premium research is of paramount importance to WHU. WHU faculty members are engaged in an ongoing process of exchange with the research community and regularly in attendance at international conferences. They also frequently accept invitations to visit internationally renowned universities and attend their research colloquia.

Ensuring the quality of research and good scientific practice is one of WHU's primary concerns. Moreover, the WHU is a member of the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG) and, therefore, required to comply with principles of good scientific practice. This is monitored by the Commission to Ensure Good Scientific Practice. The permanent members of the Commission are currently Professor Karl-Friedrich Meyer (Chairman), Professor Tillmann Wagner, Professor Burcin Yurtoglu and the doctoral student Alexander Broich.

The ombudsperson Professor Utz Schäffer (ombudsperson(at)whu.edu) and his deputy Professor Mei Wang is available to advise and support all members of WHU on matters of good scientific practice and issues regarding the violation thereof as a result of scientific dishonesty. He acts as confidential advisor for those who report suspected scientific misconduct and takes action on allegations that are brought to his attention.

Internationality

Researchers at WHU are aware that excellent research and outcomes typically are only achievable in an international research environment. This global research mindset motivates WHU to maintain close links to internationally renowned educational and research institutions such as the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University in Evanston Illinois, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, or the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai.

Practical Relevance

Research in management studies should not merely advance theoretical knowledge in the field, but also be of significant value to the practical side of the discipline. The firm conviction we hold motivates us to place significant emphasis on enhancing the practical relevance of our research activities. Our researchers work in close cooperation with companies, examining practical issues from a theoretical perspective and creating a nexus between academia and business. This is reflected in particular in the WHU research centers, some of which are sponsored by leading companies.

WHU’s research results are also directly incorporated into the programs the business school offers to its students. The close and ongoing cooperation between the individual university groups ensures that the diverse programs are regularly updated to reflect the latest theoretical findings.

WHU Knowledge

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Visit WHU KNOWLEDGE, the online knowledge platform of WHU!

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Doctoral Program

Have you ever thought about
our Doctoral Program?

Are you an academically excellent and highly motivated student interested in pursuing research in one of our fields of study?

We are delighted to receive applications from inspiring German and foreign candidates seeking to undertake doctoral studies in one of our fields of research:
Economics, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Finance & Accounting, Management, Marketing & Sales, and Supply Chain Management.

LEARN MORE

Doctoral Program

Have you ever thought about
our Doctoral Program?

Are you an academically excellent and highly motivated student interested in pursuing research in one of our fields of study?

LEARN MORE

Selected publications

Selected research articles –
Published by WHU researchers in renowned journals.

Explore the publications of our WHU research experts in peer-reviewed journals and books on management education and business-related themes to discover our research in detail.

Supply Chain Management Group
The value of flexible flight-to-route assignments in pre-tactical air traffic management

Künnen, J.-R., Strauss, A. (2022), Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Vol. 160, pp. 76-96

In European air traffic management, there are discussions regarding the future role of the network manager (NM): in particular, should the NM be able to assign flights to specific trajectories, should airspace users be allowed to freely choose their preferred trajectory, or something in between? In this paper, we develop a modeling framework that can be adapted to these settings to assess their effect on key performance indicators.

We focus on the pre-tactical stage of planning air traffic for a future departure day, meaning that airspace capacity budgets are given and incoming flight intentions need to be offered one or several ‘trajectory products’ for a (possibly dynamically determined) charge. These trajectory products differ in the amount of flexibility that they provide the NM to route the flight. Charges are set so as to reward greater flexibility of airspace users with lower charges. The airspace user chooses one of the offered trajectory products according to a choice model that reflects their preferences given, among others, the product charges. Shortly before the departure day, the NM decides simultaneously on the routing (within the limits defined by the purchased trajectory products) and on each airspace’s sector opening scheme (within the limits of the fixed capacity budgets) so as to minimize the overall displacement cost. Methodologically, the problem deviates from typical dynamic pricing problems in various major ways, e.g., featuring a boundary condition that we show to be NP-hard as well as fairness and revenue neutrality constraints. The problem is cast in the form of a dynamic program. We exploit a certain structure in the boundary condition to formulate an efficient heuristic. Based on a numerical case study, we find that the use of dynamically priced trajectory products achieves a cost performance close to the one obtained if the NM has a mandate to simply assign flights to trajectories. Therefore, this seems an attractive design for the role of the NM, giving airspace users some choice whilst achieving low overall costs.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trb.2022.04.004

Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group
The double-edged sword of CEO narcissism: a meta-analysis of innovation and firm performance implications

Kraft, P. (2022), Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 39 (6), pp. 749-772

Despite a growing body of research, the role of chief executive officer (CEO) narcissism for firm performance is subject to a controversial discussion in the literature. To help advance the discussion, I build on upper echelon theory to propose that innovation is a crucial mediating mechanism that helps explain how CEO narcissism may be beneficial for firm performance. To better understand the conditions under which CEO narcissism may be beneficial for innovation and ultimately firm performance, I investigate the moderating role of CEO gender and managerial discretion. Building on 68 studies, results from meta-analytical structural equation modeling confirm that CEO narcissism can be beneficial for firm performance through stimulating innovation. However, the results further caution that these performance benefits are likely to be canceled out by other detrimental actions pursued by narcissistic CEOs, indicating that they can be a double-edged sword for firms. Moreover, the results support that narcissistic female CEOs engage less in innovation (compared to their male counterparts). Interestingly, they seem to engage in other beneficial actions which ultimately improve overall firm performance, whereas their male counterparts engage in other harmful actions which hurt overall firm performance. The results further highlight that, while the upsides of narcissistic CEOs for performance through innovation increase in high managerial discretion contexts, their greater leeway enhances their downsides even more, so that they do not only offset the benefits of narcissistic CEOs, but even lead to detrimental effects for performance. This study contributes to the literature on CEO narcissism by theorizing and empirically demonstrating that the relationship between CEO narcissism and performance is more complex than previously depicted and requires a more nuanced investigation of the underlying mechanism as well as of potential contingencies. Building on these findings, future research opportunities are identified to further advance the literature on CEO narcissism.

https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12649

Finance and Accounting Group
The role of personal income taxes in corporate investment decisions

Jacob, M., Vossebürger, R. (2022), Journal of Corporate Finance, Vol. 77, 102275

This paper examines the role of personal income taxes (PIT) in corporate investment decisions. Since PIT reduce consumption and increase cost of labor, investment decisions can be affected because of the inevitable link of production input factors. Using data on PIT in 27 European countries and three within-country approaches, we find that personal income taxes substantially reduce investment. The magnitude is comparable to the effect of corporate taxes. We also document that the PIT-investment relationship can be explained by increased labor costs and by reduced consumption due to higher PIT.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2022.102275

Overview of all publications

Editorial Services

Editorial services –
Contributions to the academic community.

WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management is committed to achieving the best possible outcomes in both teaching and research, coupled with the determination to adhere to the principles of social responsibility. WHU also makes significant contributions to the academic community, as faculty members take on additional tasks such as being a departmental editor or member of an editorial board.

Overview of all editorial services

Research Experts

WHU research experts –
Conducting and delivering first-rate research.

Our WHU professors have received significant academic acclaim through their involvement in numerous research projects both at home and abroad. Feel free to browse through our expert database to find out more about the current main research areas of the WHU professors.

EXPLORE THE EXPERT DATABASE