Institut für Marketing & Management

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Artificial intelligence and corporate ideation systems
(2026) Lehmann, Selina L.; Dahlke, Johannes; Pianta, Valentina; Ebersberger, Bernd; Lehmann, Selina L.; University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany; Dahlke, Johannes; University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands; Pianta, Valentina; University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany; Ebersberger, Bernd; University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
Many companies leverage the creativity of their employees to gather ideas for innovations. These ideas are collected, saved, and evaluated via platforms known as corporate ideation systems. Moderated ideation systems (ideation 2.0) emerged as a solution to address the limitations of traditional, rather passive ideation systems (ideation 1.0). In this study, we apply a qualitative mixed‐method approach (literature review, company case studies, expert interviews, and focus group workshops) to examine how artificial intelligence (AI) technology may relieve the remaining pains of stakeholders in collaborative, moderated ideation systems. This leads to a new framework of corporate ideation systems, termed AI‐based ideation systems (ideation 3.0). We identify five major pains suffered by stakeholders in today's moderated ideation systems: creativity pain, content formulation pain, search pain, analytical pain, and administration pain. We find that AI agents act as pain relievers when serving five supporting functions: inspirer, stylist, matchmaker, analyst, and organizer. The interconnected nature of pains means that employing AI agents in certain functions within corporate ideation systems can create positive externalities across the entire system. Practical insights into AI agent implementation and application in corporate ideation systems are provided by six mini‐case studies, which lead to the proposition of two organizational principles: the contextualization of AI usage and the generalization of AI implementation as the requirements for successful ideation 3.0.
Empowering the digital individual: design and analysis of information systems for work effectiveness and well-being
(2025) Lahmer, Stefanie; Gimpel, Henner
Information systems (ISs) have become deeply embedded in our everyday lives, transforming both professional and private domains. This development is driven in part by the growing recognition that ISs and their designs can significantly improve individuals’ lives. Today, it is nearly impossible to imagine working without ISs. Even in our private lives, for instance, smartphones are essential for staying connected. However, this ongoing digitalization of the individual presents not only opportunities, but also substantial challenges. While ISs can improve work effectiveness, such as creativity and performance, they are also associated with harmful effects, most notably technostress. To effectively address these harmful effects, it is crucial to understand the underlying causes and consequences of technostress as well as how to cope with it. In this context, IS offer promising stress management approaches by fostering humanistic outcomes such as health and well-being. Ultimately, IS design plays a central role in shaping how these systems function and what they aim to achieve, offering pathways to both lever the opportunities and counter the challenges of the digitalized individual. The increasing presence of ISs in our lives has been conceptualized through the Digitalization of the Individual (DOTI) framework, which captures the digitalization of individuals along two key dimensions. First, it identifies the various roles an individual may assume in the IS research, such as an employee. Second, it outlines three complementary research angles: the design of ISs, behaviors, and the consequences of digitalization. This dissertation is situated within the DOTI framework, and focuses on the analysis and design of ISs tailored to individuals in diverse professional and private roles. This dissertation aims to develop design knowledge for IS that supports both instrumental outcomes (such as creativity and performance) and humanistic outcomes (such as health and well-being) by addressing challenges such as technostress faced by digitalized individuals. To achieve this, the dissertation applies qualitative, quantitative, and mixed research methods, including interviews, online surveys, experiments, and field studies. Several methodological approaches are embedded in higher-level design science research. This dissertation has two parts. Part A analyses workplace and IS design, focusing on individuals in their roles as employees. Chapter 2 examines how ISs in hybrid work influence creativity, presenting insights into workplace designs, technological tools, and methods for creative collaboration. Chapter 3 narrows the focus to a specific IS, illustrating how an IS can enhance group performance, offering a design. Chapter 4 addresses technostress in organizational contexts by conceptualizing and operationalizing tech-nostress creators (TSCs), aiming to improve theoretical clarity and the measurement of technostress. Part B of the dissertation develops IS design knowledge to address technostress and promote individual health and well-being through health behavior change support systems (HBCSS). Chapter 5 introduces design knowledge for HBCSSs that support the management of stress by detecting it through physiological and contextual data and providing personalized coping strategies. Chapter 6 builds on this by identifying users’ preferred gamification elements to foster long-term engagement with HBCSSs for sustainable behavior change. Chapters 7 and 8 narrow the focus to interruption overload as a specific TSC, presenting design knowledge for interruption management systems that support personalized coping. These chapters emphasize individual differences in technostress perceptions and contribute to human-centered IS design. In sum, this dissertation contributes to the development of IS design knowledge that supports opportunities for IS use and addresses the challenges of technostress, fostering individual health and well-being. It offers theoretical and practical insights into the design of ISs that support creativity, consistent performance, and stress management. By exploring both broad and specific aspects of IS design and proposing tailored, human-centered design solutions, this dissertation supports responsible and sustainable digitalization in the evolving IT landscape of everyday life.
Selective coupling or genuine integration? Startups in the twin transformation
(2026) Kuckertz, Andreas; Hinderer, Sebastian
Startups actively shape innovation during the twin transformation to sustainability and digitalization. Our analysis of >21,000 ventures reveals that genuine twin-transformers, i.e., startups able to integrate digital and green technologies, are rare and primarily driven by software. While sustainable ventures readily adopt digital tools, digital ventures rarely embrace sustainability. This asymmetry reflects different configurations of complementarities between digital and sustainable technologies, which investor preferences reinforce. Eventually, this may lead to superficial coupling rather than deep integration. To address the issue, we offer targeted recommendations for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers aiming to foster scalable, hardware-based solutions critical for sustainability.
Markentransformation im Kontext der Servicetransformation
(2025) Ruthardt, Daniel; Hadwich, Karsten
In der Literatur wurden Marken im Kontext der Servicetransformation noch nicht ausreichend untersucht. Darüber hinaus existiert nur wenig Forschung zu Goods-to-Service Markenerweiterungen und die bestehende Forschung betrachtet nicht den transformativen Charakter von Marken in der Servicetransformation. Damit stellt der Wandel von Marken im Kontext der Servicetransformation ein unerforschtes Thema dar. Die kumulative Dissertation untersucht die Markentransformation im Kontext der Servicetransformation und entwickelt damit Konzepte für diese Forschungslücke. Die Arbeit ist in 5 Kapitel unterteilt: Kapitel 1 stellt die Einleitung dar und zeigt die Relevanz des Themas auf. Kapitel 2 bis 4 sind wissenschaftliche Beiträge, die in wissenschaftlichen Zeitschriften bzw. Sammelbänden eingereicht oder publiziert sind. Kapitel 5 umfasst die Schlussbetrachtung und gibt Implikationen auf Basis der Erkenntnisse der gesamten Arbeit. In Kapitel 1 wird zunächst die Literatur zur Kundenperspektive der Servicetransformation dargestellt, da Marken maßgeblich durch die Kundenperspektive beeinflusst werden. Anschließend wird ein grundlegendes Verständnis für Markentransformationen geschaffen sowie die Literatur zu Marken in der Servicetransformation und zu Goods-to-Service Markenerweiterungen in einem Structured Literature Review analysiert. Abschließend werden die Ziele und Forschungsfragen der Arbeit aufgezeigt und der Gang der Untersuchung beschrieben. Kapitel 2 konzipiert das theoretische Fundament der Dissertation. Zunächst wird ein dynamisches Markenverständnis aus der Literatur hergeleitet und darauf aufbauend die Markentransformation definiert. Dieses Konzept bildet eine zentrale Prämisse für die folgenden Kapitel. Anschließend wird die Markentransformation im Kontext der Servicetransformation betrachtet. Dabei werden drei Transformationsoptionen identifiziert: Rebranding, Markenerweiterungen und die Integration einer neuen Marke in die Markenarchitektur. Zudem wird das Markendynamiknetz entwickelt. Dieses erfasst alle Akteure und deren Interaktionen im Kontext der Marke und ermöglicht die Analyse von Veränderungen der Marke im Transformationsprozess. Abschließend wird ein Managementprozess aufgestellt und ein Ausblick gegeben. Kapitel 3 erweitert das Konzept um die Kundenperspektive durch die Integration der Customer-Dominant Logic. Hierbei steht die Frage im Zentrum, welche Relevanz die Marke für Kunden hat, wenn sie den neuen Service eines Produktanbieters bewerten. Zu diesem Zweck wird die subjektive Markenwahrnehmung des Kunden mit der objektiven Perspektive des Markendynamiknetzes verknüpft. Dies erklärt, warum Kunden einer Marke bestimmte Eigenschaften zuschreiben. Anschließend wird die Customer-perceived Servitization Capability of a Brand (CSCB) als Eigenschaft einer Marke hergeleitet, um die kundenseitige Wahrnehmung der Servicetransformation nachzuvollziehen. Mit CSCB wird untersucht, warum Kunden einer Marke die Fähigkeit zur Servicetransformation zuschreiben. Zu diesem Zweck wurden 37 Tiefeninterviews (27 mit Kunden und zehn mit Experten) durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Kunden zwischen Prozess- (Perceived Service Process Capability) und Ergebnisdimension (Perceived Service Outcome Capability) bei der Bewertung eines neuen Service einer Produktmarke unterscheiden. Zudem nutzen sie bisherige Markenerfahrungen als Servicesurrogate zur Bewertung von CSCB. Abschließend werden die Ergebnisse diskutiert und Implikationen abgeleitet. Kapitel 4 fokussiert die strukturierte Konzeptualisierung und Operationalisierung von CSCB und der Servicesurrogate. Dazu wird die Literatur zu Perceived Capabilities, Markenerweiterungen und Servicetransformation analysiert. CSCB wird abgegrenzt und definiert. Die Zusammenhänge zwischen CSCB und den Servicesurrogaten werden literaturbasiert hergeleitet. Zur empirischen Prüfung werden Messinstrumente für CSCB und die Servicesurrogate entwickelt. Eine erste Validierung erfolgt durch einen Item Sorting Task mit Experten (n = 21). Anschließend wird die empirische Prüfung mit einer quantitativen Studie durchgeführt (n = 787). Die Ergebnisse zeigen den Einfluss der Servicesurrogate auf CSCB sowie dessen Relevanz für den Erfolg neuer Services einer Produktmarke. Schließlich werden die Ergebnisse diskutiert und Implikationen abgeleitet. In Kapitel 5 erfolgt die Schlussbetrachtung. Die Ergebnisse der Kapitel 2 bis 4 werden holistisch betrachtet und die Forschungsfragen beantwortet. Zudem werden die Bedeutung der Studienergebnisse für die Markentransformation aufgezeigt und die Konzepte weiterentwickelt. Limitationen der Arbeit, Forschungs- und Praxisimplikationen sowie Maßnahmen für die Markentransformation im Kontext der Servicetransformation werden aufgezeigt.
Seeds in rocky soil: the interactive role of entrepreneurial legacy and bridging in family firms’ organizational ambidexterity
(2023) Wilmes, Rolf; Brändle, Leif; Kuckertz, Andreas
Existing research on family firms emphasizes the importance of entrepreneurship across generations but leaves the role of entrepreneurial transmissions between predecessors and successors relatively unexplore. Building on the concept of entrepreneurial legacy, we ask how interactions of entrepreneurial mindsets and resources influence organizational ambidexterity in family firms. The study’s central argument (and metaphor) is that organizational ambidexterity thrives in multigenerational family firms if successors’ awareness of the family’s entrepreneurial legacy (the right seed) interacts with predecessors’ provision of entrepreneurial resources during succession (the fertile soil), also known as entrepreneurial bridging. We analyze a unique sample of successors from 296 multigenerational family firms in the agricultural sector. Our results point to the relevance of entrepreneurial resources in predecessor-successor collaborations to unlock the family firm’s ability to balance entrepreneurial exploration and exploitation.
AI-enabled information systems: teaming up with intelligent agents in networked business
(2024) Hofmann, Peter; Urbach, Nils; Lanzl, Julia; Desouza, Kevin C.
Emotions and entrepreneurial finance: analysis of venture capitalists’ and business angels’ digital footprints on Twitter
(2024) Kaiser, Manuel; Kuckertz, Andreas
Emotions are a central concept in previous entrepreneurship research, but this is mainly related to entrepreneurs and their entrepreneurial journey. However, venture capitalists (VCs) and business angels (BAs), two critical investors in the entrepreneurial finance literature, are essential actors in the entrepreneurial process. Still, little is known about investor emotions in this context. Therefore, in this study, we ask how venture capitalists differ from business angels in terms of their expressed emotions. To this end, we use an increasingly familiar research approach by examining the digital footprints of these investors on Twitter. For this purpose, we identify 822 investors from Crunchbase and analyze their 994,969 Tweets with Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) as a text analysis tool. Our results show that venture capitalists display more positive emotions on Twitter than angel investors, meaning that we find an association between VCs and emotional tone. Furthermore, in our post-hoc analysis, we explore further explanations for the differences between VC and BA. In doing so, we show differences in their expressed cognitive processes as well as in their communicated drivers. In both concepts, we find positive associations with the investor type of VC. To conclude this paper, we develop implications for practice and further research based on the results.
Advancing content synthesis in macro-task crowdsourcing facilitation leveraging natural language processing
(2024) Gimpel, Henner; Laubacher, Robert; Meindl, Oliver; Wöhl, Moritz; Dombetzki, Luca
Macro-task crowdsourcing presents a promising approach to address wicked problems like climate change by leveraging the collective efforts of a diverse crowd. Such macro-task crowdsourcing requires facilitation. However, in the facilitation process, traditionally aggregating and synthesizing text contributions from the crowd is labor-intensive, demanding expertise and time from facilitators. Recent advancements in large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated human-level performance in natural language processing. This paper proposes an abstract design for an information system, developed through four iterations of a prototype, to support the synthesis process of contributions using LLM-based natural language processing. The prototype demonstrated promising results, enhancing efficiency and effectiveness in synthesis activities for macro-task crowdsourcing facilitation. By streamlining the synthesis process, the proposed system significantly reduces the effort to synthesize content, allowing for stronger integration of synthesized content into the discussions to reach consensus, ideally leading to more meaningful outcomes.
Cultural change in servitization
(2025) Biesinger, Benjamin; Hadwich, Karsten
Manufacturers are increasingly transforming into industrial service providers. Driven by product commoditization and rapid technology cycles, they increasingly compete on value delivered to customers by shifting their business model to integrated solutions with advanced services. The phenomenon coined servitization can be a powerful engine for manufacturers to grow beyond their traditional product business. Since product and service businesses operate on a fundamentally different logic, servitization requires changes in manufacturers’ deep-rooted organizational beliefs, values and behaviors. Accordingly, creating a culture that supports servitization is critical. Cultural change is widely recognized in servitization research but remains poorly understood. While literature increasingly contributes to understanding “what” values and behaviors that support servitization, insights into “how” change processes shape servitization cultures remain limited. Aiming to support academics and practitioners addressing cultural change in servitization, this dissertation examines how manufacturers change their organizational culture as they transform into industrial service providers and the practices that facilitate the change process. Section 1 presents an overview of industrial and academic perspective on the challenges of cultural change in servitization. Content challenges involve conceptualizing the multiple layers of servitization culture, synthesizing existing concepts and constructs, and expanding digital and learning culture frameworks. Process challenges focus on integrating organizational and sociocognitive theories while identifying holistic change practices. Context challenges center on understanding the role of service-driven mergers and acquisitions, digital technologies and ecosystems, and the transformative shift toward resilience and sustainability. Building on these academic challenges, the section concludes by outlining the dissertation’s aims and structure to address them. Section 2, “Cultural change in servitization – a conceptual review and framework,” concerns the content and process of social construction as servitizing manufacturers change their culture. The article integrates organizational and sociopsychological theories to develop an organizational learning framework for cultural change, explaining the emergence and interaction of organizational and member-level concepts. Second, the framework guides a systematic literature review to integrate fragmented knowledge on cultural change in servitization and establish conceptual order. The article presents 12 propositions, revealing three major cultural orientations (service, digital and learning) and offering guidance for managing organizational and member-level change. Section 3, “The role of strategic and learning orientation in creating competitive advantage through digital service innovation,” concerns fostering organizational learning to drive digital service innovation. The conceptual article integrates recent advances in digital servitization and organizational learning within the resource-based and dynamic capabilities view. It challenges prior assumptions in the field by conceptualizing learning orientation as a moderator of strategic digital, service and innovation orientation to drive servitization performance. The article presents four propositions on the cultural antecedents and conditions, offering guidance for change management to achieve competitive advantage and resilience through digital service innovation. Section 4, “Path towards servitization culture: Unveiling the organizational learning practices to support the cultural change from product manufacturing to independent service provision,” concerns a manufacturer’s cultural change to become a leading independent service provider through service-driven M&A, internationalization and corporate restructuring. The article gathers data from interviews and company documents to obtain a dynamic view of cultural change in servitization. The in-depth, long-term single case study identifies three cultural streams permeating culture during the transformation: independent service orientation, customer orientation and entrepreneurial learning orientation. The organizational learning practices to freeze the emerging ISP culture, rebalance the global ISP culture and unfreeze the ISP learning culture offer guidance for managing continuous change processes. Section 5 provides a concluding analysis of the articles, deriving theoretical contributions, practical implications and a future research agenda. From a theoretical perspective, this dissertation introduces organizational learning as a framework to explore the emergent and human aspects of change in servitization and conceptualizes the servitization culture. Moreover, it extends the notion of continuous change, interorganizational change and servitization culture as a transformative response to technological and societal disruption. For practitioners, this research integrates its findings with prescriptive models of learning organizations to formulate principles for strategies and practices that support the creation of a servitization culture. The research agenda focuses on advancing research on servitization culture in Industry 5.0, extending multilevel research and introducing configuration and intervention as a research strategy for cultural change in servitization.
Generative KI in der Finanzbranche: strategische, technologische und organisationale Implementierung am Beispiel der DZ BANK AG
(2025) Breiter, Katharina; Lohmann, Tobias; Stahl, Bastian; Zilmans, Carolin; Reischl-Lenz, Birgit; Gimpel, Henner
Generative Künstliche Intelligenz (KI) ist ein entscheidender Wertschöpfungsfaktor in der Finanzbranche, da sie bestehende Prozesse optimiert und neue Geschäftsmodelle ermöglicht. Während zahlreiche Forschungsbeiträge technische, soziale und ethische Aspekte generativer KI untersuchen, adressiert dieser Beitrag insbesondere die strategischen, technologischen und organisationalen Herausforderungen bei der Implementierung generativer KI. Anhand einer Fallstudie bei der DZ BANK AG wird untersucht, wie ein hybrider Plattformansatz eine strategisch fundierte Einführung generativer KI ermöglicht. Technologisch stellt die zentrale IT standardisierte und wiederverwendbare Komponenten bereit, während die Fachbereiche eigenständig KI-basierte Lösungen entwickeln und anpassen. Organisational erfordert dies eine enge Abstimmung zwischen zentraler Steuerung und dezentraler Nutzung, um sowohl Skalierbarkeit als auch Flexibilität zu gewährleisten. Ein iterativer Rollout in „Wellen“ kombiniert technologische Absicherung mit einer stufenweisen Integration in bestehende Geschäftsprozesse. Die Plattform bietet nicht nur eine kontrollierte und sichere Infrastruktur, sondern adressiert auch Herausforderungen wie regulatorische Anforderungen, Datenqualität und die notwendige Qualifikation der MitarbeiterInnen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der Plattformansatz technologische Komplexität reduziert und gleichzeitig organisationale Agilität fördert. Finanzunternehmen profitieren von kürzeren Entwicklungszyklen, einer effizienteren Prozessgestaltung und einer breiteren Einbindung der MitarbeiterInnen. Abschließend werden praxisorientierte Handlungsempfehlungen für eine erfolgreiche Implementierung generativer KI in der Finanzbranche abgeleitet.
Idea evaluation for solutions to specialized problems: leveraging the potential of crowds and Large Language Models
(2025) Gimpel, Henner; Laubacher, Robert; Probost, Fabian; Schäfer, Ricarda; Schoch, Manfred
Complex problems such as climate change pose severe challenges to societies worldwide. To overcome these challenges, digital innovation contests have emerged as a promising tool for idea generation. However, assessing idea quality in innovation contests is becoming increasingly problematic in domains where specialized knowledge is needed. Traditionally, expert juries are responsible for idea evaluation in such contests. However, experts are a substantial bottleneck as they are often scarce and expensive. To assess whether expert juries could be replaced, we consider two approaches. We leverage crowdsourcing and a Large Language Model (LLM) to evaluate ideas, two approaches that are similar in terms of the aggregation of collective knowledge and could therefore be close to expert knowledge. We compare expert jury evaluations from innovation contests on climate change with crowdsourced and LLM’s evaluations and assess performance differences. Results indicate that crowds and LLMs have the ability to evaluate ideas in the complex problem domain while contest specialization—the degree to which a contest relates to a knowledge-intensive domain rather than a broad field of interest—is an inhibitor of crowd evaluation performance but does not influence the evaluation performance of LLMs. Our contribution lies with demonstrating that crowds and LLMs (as opposed to traditional expert juries) are suitable for idea evaluation and allows innovation contest operators to integrate the knowledge of crowds and LLMs to reduce the resource bottleneck of expert juries.
Web-based idea management systems – an investigation into better idea quality
(2023) Lehmann, Selina; Ebersberger, Bernd
Unternehmen nutzen webbasierte Ideenmanagementsysteme, um Ideen für neue Produkte, Dienstleistungen oder Prozesse von internen beziehungsweise externen Nutzergruppen zu erhalten. Im Durchschnitt wird nur jede fünfte Idee aus diesen Systemen umgesetzt. Dies zeigt, dass Firmen vor der Herausforderung stehen, qualitativ hochwertige Ideen zu erhalten. Nach dem Prinzip ‚Quantität fördert die Qualität der Ideen‘ haben viele Unternehmen lange Zeit die Generierung von vielen Ideen vorangetrieben. Dieser Ansatz spiegelt sich auch in zahlreichen Studien zum digitalen Ideenmanagement wider, in denen die Anzahl der generierten Ideen als Maßstab für den Erfolg oder die Qualität der Ideenfindung herangezogen wurde. Firmen haben mittlerweile erkannt, dass dieser Ansatz im Konflikt mit ihrer Absorptionsfähigkeit steht. Dieses Problem hat auch die Wissenschaft erreicht und Studien beschäftigen sich zunehmend mit der Frage, was ferner die Entstehung guter Ideen beeinflusst. Viele Themen zur Verbesserung der Ideenqualität sind bis dato unerforscht. Diese Dissertation schließt zentrale Forschungslücken, indem sie untersucht, welche Mechanismen (neben der Generierung großer Ideenmengen) einen Einfluss auf die Qualität von Ideen in webbasierten Systemen haben. Die kumulative Dissertation beinhaltet vier verschiedene Forschungsthemen in vier Forschungsartikeln, die unter dem zentralen Thema ‚Bessere Ideenqualität‘ miteinander verbunden sind. Die Artikel befassen sich mit (I) dem Zusammenhang extremer Erfolgserlebnisse von Ideengebern und deren zukünftigen Innovationsleistungen, (II) dem Effekt der Teamgröße auf die Ideenqualität, (III) Ideenmerkmalen und deren Auswirkungen auf den Ideenerfolg sowie (IV) dem Einfluss von Feedback auf die Qualität zukünftiger Ideen. Bei dem ersten Artikel handelt es sich um eine in Koautorenschaft erstellte quantitative Studie, deren Thema aus unschlüssigen Ergebnissen früherer Forschungen hervorgeht. Studie I geht von der Annahme aus, dass Erfolg im Ideenmanagement in Stufen auftritt, da monetäre Belohnungen für erfolgreiche Ideen variieren können. Mit anderen Worten: Wir gehen davon aus, dass die Erfahrung extremer Erfolge im Ideenmanagement zu ‚Overtrading‘ führt (d.h. zu Verhaltenszwängen, die von extremen Erlösen aus dem Handel mit Aktien an der Börse bekannt sind), was wiederum die Qualität der Ideen verringert. Wir testen unsere Hypothesen in einem Mediationsmodell mit 1.145 Ideen aus einem internen Ideenmanagementsystem. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass extreme Erfolge zu ‚übermäßigem Selbstvertrauen‘ und ‚Bestätigungsfehlern‘ (hohe Gewissheit über das eigene Denken) führen. Dies wiederum führt zu einer geringeren Innovationsleistung. Aus der Studie ergeben sich wichtige Implikationen zum Einsatz von monetären Belohnungen im Ideenmanagement—einem strategischen Instrument mit langer Tradition, um Mitarbeiter als Ideengeber zu gewinnen und zu motivieren. Der zweite Artikel beruht auf einem quantitativen Ansatz und ist in Alleinautorenschaft entstanden. In Studie II wird eine mögliche Ursache für frühere unschlüssige Ergebnisse zu der Größe von Ideenteams und der Ideenqualität untersucht. Anhand von 12.388 Ideen aus einem internen Ideenmanagementsystem wird untersucht, wie sich die Teamgröße auf zwei Messgrößen der Ideenqualität (die Umsetzungsentscheidung und die Einsparung) auswirkt. Die Ergebnisse der Heckman-Analyse zeigen eine umgekehrte U-förmige Beziehung zwischen der Teamgröße und beiden Messgrößen (Wendepunkt bei drei Teammitgliedern). Die Forschung liefert wichtige Erkenntnisse über die richtige Größe von Ideenteams für erfolgreiche Ideen. Der dritte Artikel ist eine in Mehrautorenschaft verfasste quantitative Studie, deren Thema zu Ideenmerkmalen aus früheren widersprüchlichen Forschungsergebnissen hervorgeht. Wir zeigen, dass Ideen in drei Phasen bewertet werden und dass die Intensität der Auseinandersetzung mit einer Idee phasenabhängig ist. Wir stützen uns auf das Elaborations-Wahrscheinlichkeits-Modell, das besagt, dass Informationen über zwei Wege verarbeitet werden: den zentralen Weg (tiefe Verarbeitung über zentrale Hinweise) und den peripheren Weg (oberflächliche Verarbeitung über Heuristiken). Wir nehmen an, dass Unsicherheit in der frühen Bewertungsphase die Elaboration von Ideen über den peripheren Weg vorantreibt, während der zentrale Weg in den späteren Phasen dominiert, wenn zusätzliche Informationen die Unsicherheit der Ideenbewerter verringern. Unsere Ergebnisse, die auf OLS-Regressionen mit 558 Mitarbeiterideen beruhen, bestätigen unsere Annahmen. Studie III liefert neue Erkenntnisse zu Merkmalen erfolgreicher Ideen. Der vierte Artikel, eine in Koautorenschaft erstellte Mixed-Methods-Studie, befasst sich mit der Rolle des Feedbacks (Charakteristika, Leserlichkeit und Zeitpunkt) und der Qualität zukünftiger Ideen. Wir stützen uns in Studie IV auf die Feedback-Interventionstheorie. Mithilfe einer qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse zu firmeninternen Ideendaten identifizieren wir drei Feedbackcharakteristika: Erfolgsfeedback sowie Misserfolgsfeedback, das sich inhaltlich auf den Einreicher oder auf die Idee selbst bezieht. Die Ergebnisse der anschließenden Probit-Regression mit 1.143 Mitarbeiterideen und die Ergebnisse aus einem Online-Experiment zeigen, dass Erfolgsfeedback und Misserfolgsfeedback, das auf die Idee bezogen und konstruktiv ist, die Qualität zukünftiger Ideen erhöhen. Misserfolgsfeedback, das sich auf den Einreicher bezieht, zeigt einen gegenteiligen Effekt. Feedback, das schlecht lesbar ist, schwächt die positive Wirkung von ideenbezogenem Misserfolgsfeedback. Feedback ist daher ein wichtiges strategisches Element, das die Ideenqualität in Ideenmanagementsystemen beeinflusst. Im Allgemeinen leistet diese Dissertation einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Literatur über die Qualität von Ideen in (internen) webbasierten Ideenmanagementsystemen. Sie macht deutlich, dass Unternehmen einen Stellhebel haben, um die Entstehung guter Ideen zu beeinflussen.
Degrowth attitudes among entrepreneurs hinder fast venture scaling
(2024) Hinderer, Sebastian; Kuckertz, Andreas
The degrowth paradigm has gained popularity in the sustainability discourse in recent years. Questioning the absolute decoupling of economic growth from environmental degradation, degrowth proponents suggest downscaling production and consumption to reduce resource extraction and energy consumption. However, this seems to be at odds with conventional wisdom about entrepreneurship. Thus, our research aims to shed light on the implications of the degrowth discourse on entrepreneurship. We answer how degrowth attitudes among (sustainable) entrepreneurs are associated with decision‐making on scaling strategies for their ventures. Differentiating between scaling fast and scaling slow strategies, we show that a degrowth attitude is negatively associated with scaling fast strategies, whether entrepreneurs consider themselves sustainable or not. However, sustainable entrepreneurship is positively associated with scaling slow strategies. Furthermore, we show that the development level of the economy an entrepreneur is active in is an essential factor in the decision‐making on scaling strategies.
Can feedback nudges enhance user satisfaction? Kano analysis for different eco-feedback nudge features in a smart home app
(2025) Berger, Michelle; Gimpel, Henner; Schnaak, Feline; Wolf, Linda
Digital nudging in smart home apps promotes energy conservation behavior in everyday life, helping to mitigate climate change. Prior research demonstrates the promising effect of the digital nudging element eco-feedback supporting behavioral change. However, the effect depends on adopting and using smart home apps with eco-feedback integrated. Hence, investigating user preferences concerning eco-feedback nudges is crucial in developing smart home apps that satisfy users. Considering the eco-feedback nudge features derived from a structured literature review, we conducted two user surveys approximately one year apart and assessed user satisfaction using the Kano model. The Kano model categorizes these features according to whether the user expects the feature or not, and whether the feature has a positive effect on user satisfaction when implemented or a negative effect when not implemented. As a result, we examine the impact of different eco-feedback nudge features on user satisfaction. Our study evaluates the robustness of user satisfaction over time and thereby adds another perspective to the traditional focus on the effectiveness of these nudges. Combining both perspectives – effectiveness and user satisfaction – is valuable for developers and providers of smart home apps to suggest which eco-feedback nudge features to incorporate.
Flooding the landscape of knowledge: perspectives on transitions to artificial intelligence in industry
(2024) Dahlke, Johannes; Ebersberger, Bernd
The progress in artificial intelligence (AI) technology is advancing at an unprecedented pace and its applications increasingly impact economic actors and society at large. As the world enters the fourth industrial revolution, the integration of AI technology into industries promises to become a crucial determinant of economic performance and qualitative change within the economy. It also requires to discuss the roles of humans and machines in the process of value creation. Against this backdrop, this doctoral dissertation investigates the current state and dynamics of AI transitions, with a pronounced focus on industrial regimes. It comprises three empirical studies, each depicting different levels of industrial transitions towards AI—moving from a consideration of micro-level technological niches, to meso-level industrial structures, to macro-level landscape trends. This dissertation contributes to our understanding of socio-technical transitions towards AI by showing that sustainable and just transitions towards AI-based industrial regimes require not only consideration of the technological characteristics, but also the sociomaterial context governing its integration, as well as reversely being altered by the diffusion of the technology itself. The work provides further insights for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers as it emphasizes the need for network-based analyses of complex diffusion dynamics within industries, and the need to integrate systemic socio-economic perspectives into extant concepts of responsible AI.
Leveraging digital technologies in logistics 4.0: insights on affordances from intralogistics processes
(2024) Albrecht, Tobias; Baier, Marie-Sophie; Gimpel, Henner; Meierhöfer, Simon; Röglinger, Maximilian; Schlüchtermann, Jörg; Will, Lisanne
Emerging digital technologies are transforming logistics processes on a large scale. Despite a growing body of knowledge on individual use cases ranging from collaborative robots to platform-based planning systems in the frontline industrial development of Logistics 4.0, organizations lack a systematic understanding of the opportunities digital technologies afford for logistics processes. To foster such understanding, this study takes an intra-organizational perspective as a central starting point for digitalization initiatives toward Logistics 4.0. It synthesizes current academic research and industrial insights from a systematic literature review and an expert interview study through an affordance lens. The result is a catalog and conceptual framework of ten digital technology affordances in intralogistics (DTAILs) and 46 practical manifestations. Thereby, this study contributes to understanding and leveraging the opportunities digital technologies afford in a leading-edge information systems application domain. It serves as a foundation for further theorizing on Logistics 4.0 and for structuring strategic discussions among organizational stakeholders.
Der Einfluss von digitalen Technologien auf Wissensarbeit: Kompetenzen im Wandel
(2024) Lanzl, Julia; Schnaak, Feline; Schöttl, Frederik; Gimpel, Henner
Die voranschreitende Digitalisierung und der technologische Fortschritt haben in der Arbeitswelt Auswirkungen auf die Ausbildung von Fachkräften und insbesondere auf die geforderten Kompetenzen für einen langfristigen Unternehmenserfolg. Neben klassischen Basiskompetenzen, wie beispielsweise kritischem Denken, treten Digitalkompetenzen wie beispielswiese die Verarbeitung von Informationen zunehmend in den Vordergrund. Deshalb bestehen die Fragen: Was sind durch die fortschreitende Digitalisierung relevante Digitalkompetenzen in der Wissensarbeit? Wie präsentieren und vermitteln Unternehmen und Hochschulen diese Digitalkompetenzen und welche Handlungsempfehlungen lassen sich diesbezüglich ableiten? Durch eine Literaturrecherche in praxisnaher und wissenschaftlicher Literatur wurden Digitalkompetenzen gesammelt, definiert und klassifiziert. Zwölf wichtige Digitalkompetenzen werden herausgestellt und es wird beobachtet, ob und wie sie in der Praxis bereits in betriebswirtschaftlichen Studiengängen, unternehmensinternen sowie -externen Off-the-job-Weiterbildungen und im Recruiting Beachtung finden. Dies ermöglicht das Ableiten von Handlungsempfehlungen für Hochschulen und Unternehmen, sowie deren Zusammenarbeit. Zusätzlich verhelfen die Ergebnisse Weiterbildungen entsprechend an die neuen Gegebenheiten anzupassen und die Wichtigkeit der Digitalkompetenzen für den Berufseinstieg und die berufliche Laufbahn zu verdeutlichen.
On capital and habitus: social class and its role in entrepreneurship
(2024) Rönnert, Anna-Lena; Kuckertz, Andreas
Entrepreneurship is often heralded as a pathway to upward mobility, epitomizing the ideal of the "rags to riches" narrative. However, recent research on marginalized entrepreneurs suggests that social class may play a significant role in shaping entrepreneurial outcomes, challenging the notion that entrepreneurship offers equal opportunities to all. Although research explicitly linking entrepreneurship with social class theories remains limited, social class appears to influence access to various forms of capital and shape the habitus that guides entrepreneurial behavior. Consequently, understanding these dynamics is essential to addressing inequalities in entrepreneurship. This dissertation explores how social class affects an individual’s entrepreneurial journey, with three studies included in this dissertation approaching the topic from different conceptual perspectives. Study 1 provides an integrative review of the literature on social class origin and entrepreneurship by seeking to understand: What is an entrepreneur’s social class origin? How does social class origin influence entrepreneurial outcomes and social class destinations? How should future entrepreneurship research address social class origin? In response, the study proposes a theoretical framework that outlines how entrepreneurs’ social class origin impacts entrepreneurial outcomes through entrepreneurial resources at hand, entrepreneurial habitus formation, and access to external resources and opportunities, and how these themes facilitate upward mobility, downward mobility, or class maintenance. In addition, this review establishes the foundations for future empirical research by developing a comprehensive future research agenda on social class in entrepreneurship. While Study 1 sets the broader theoretical context, Study 2 turns to the lived experiences of upwardly mobile entrepreneurs. Drawing on Lahire’s reconceptualization of habitus, this study seeks to explore how the internalized dispositions formed through social class origin and upward social mobility interact with the socio-cultural context of entrepreneurship and shape entrepreneurial behavior. Through life history interviews with 36 entrepreneurs, the study identifies seven entrepreneurial archetypes that reflect varying degrees of (mis)alignment tied to classed socio-cultural contexts and internal-ized dispositions and display distinct entrepreneurial behaviors in response. These findings highlight the socio-cultural barriers faced by upwardly mobile entrepreneurs, which persist despite the accumulation of capital through social mobility, and raise questions about the inclusivity of entrepreneurship as a viable pathway across different social hierarchies. In contrast to the focus on individual experiences of upward social mobility in Study 2, Study 3 examines the effects of educational attainment as a social class signal and the intersection with gender and migration backgrounds on the likelihood of obtaining different types of external financial capital. Analyzing 63,023 venture-year observations from Germany, this study shows that entrepreneurs without academic qualifications are less likely to secure equity capital but more likely to obtain debt financing. Additionally, the study underscores how intersectional factors, such as gender and migration background, interact with social class to influence financial capital acquisition. These results reveal the complex ways in which social class signals shape entrepreneurial access to resources, offering a broader perspective on structural inequalities in entrepreneurship. Overall, this dissertation provides a comprehensive examination of the role of social class in entrepreneurship, highlighting the intricate connections between class-based capital and habitus. By combining the broad theoretical perspectives of Study 1 with the personal life histories in Study 2 and the large-scale quantitative analysis in Study 3, this work offers a multidimensional understanding of how social class affects an individual’s entrepreneurial journey. The findings contribute to the emerging field of research on social class and entrepreneurship by shedding light on the structural barriers faced by entrepreneurs from different social backgrounds, as well as the unique strengths they bring to the entrepreneurial process. While this thesis makes significant strides in advancing our understanding of the interplay between social class and entrepreneurship, there remains much to uncover. Consequently, it lays the groundwork for future research by outlining a comprehensive agenda that addresses the complex dynamics of social class along the Bourdieusian concepts of capital and habitus, ultimately aiming to promote a more inclusive understanding of entrepreneurship.
Designing knowledge-driven digitalization: novel recommendations for digitally supported multi-professional collaboration
(2025) Meindl, Oliver; Peuten, Sarah; Striebel, Xena; Gimpel, Henner; Ostgathe, Christoph; Schneider, Werner; Steigleder, Tobias
Introduction: Palliative care is based on the principle of multi-professional collaboration, which integrates diverse competencies and perspectives to provide holistic care and support for patients and their relatives. In palliative care teams, there is an intensive exchange of information and knowledge; however, current documentation and hospital information systems often fall short of meeting the specific demands for effective collaboration and dynamic communication in this field. Methods: This action design research study is based on the three-and-a-half-year interdisciplinary research project PALLADiUM and aims to demonstrate the added value of knowledge-driven digitalization. Results and discussion: Our study provides novel recommendations for digitally supported multi-professional collaboration tailored to the specific requirements of palliative care and similar fields. Based on the analytical distinction between ‘information’ and ‘knowledge,’ we present design recommendations for co-creative, knowledge-driven development processes and multi-professional collaboration support systems. We further illustrate how these recommendations have been implemented into a functional technical demonstrator and outline how our results could impact future digitalization initiatives in healthcare.
The influence of social norms on expressing sympathy in social media
(2024) Graf-Drasch, Valerie; Gimpel, Henner; Bonenberger, Lukas; Blaß, Marlene
Increasingly, people are turning to social media to express grief. By and large, however, the social media community can do little more than improvise reactions, not quite sure how to use the old familiar social scripts as guides to lending effective support. To examine the role of social media in the grieving process, we used a mixed-methods approach: 12 interviews with “social media grievers” reveal the expectations of the bereaved regarding other users’ behavior. By way of two online experiments with 1058 participants, we tested how these expectations are met by the messaging of social media providers in accordance with social norm theory. We found that injunctive social norm messages are particularly effective, whereas descriptive social norm messages vary in their effectiveness, depending on which information is presented and how prominently so. What our study shows, then, is that both are potent socio-technical tools that can guide users towards more empathetic behavior when dealing with the bereaved, so while social media may not be a substitute for therapy, they can offer profound comfort for those of us dealing with bereavement and grief.

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