Chair / Junior Professorship for Sustainability Management
Chair / Junior Professorship for Sustainability Management
In an era defined by rapid change and global crises, it's time to rethink how we approach business. Today's leaders and entrepreneurs must develop mindsets and capacities to shift perspective and reshape strategies.
This will allow them to confront the complexity surrounding us and to lead organizations, teams and communities into a future where social and environmental concerns are integral to success.
Teaching
We offer the following courses:
Bachelor in
Management (BSc)
- Elective: Introduction to Sustainability Management & Social Entrepreneurship
- Elective: Introduction to International Business in the 21th century
Master in
Management(MIM)
- Core Course: Sustainability
- Advanced Organization and Management: Managing Change
PhD
Programme
- Emerging Topics in Sustainability (Paradox Theory)
- Research Seminar
Research
At the Junior Professorship for Sustainability Management, the research focus is on social entrepreneurship, sustainable development and innovation in nonprofit management. We are particularly interested in questions around organizational tensions (esp. paradoxes) and social evaluations (esp. reputation). Our research has been published in various peer reviewed journals, such as Organization Studies and Journal of Management Studies.
Current research topics
Paradox Thinking for Well-Being in Social Purpose Organizations (PATH4Well-Being)
Paradox theory suggests that effective leadership in complex, high-stakes environments requires the ability to hold seemingly contradictory goals in tension. In this project, we aim at better understanding how social purpose leaders' paradox mindsets affect their well-being, their performance, and their teams, and which and how leadership training programs and/or life experiences can cultivate a paradox mindset (funded by CHANSE/NORFACE; in Germany: DFG: 2025-2028).
Maturity Assessment Tool for Social Innovation Environments (MAT*SIE)
Nonprofit organizations benefit from an organizational environment that allows employees and organizational members to foster social innovation. For this project, we developed a maturity assessment tool and use it to explore how nonprofit organizations can create a “social innovation environment” (funded by ESCP-ERF: 2024 and 2025).
Social Entrepreneurship in the Global South
In this project, we explore how social entrepreneurship can contribute to sustainable development in the Global South, particularly sub-Saharan Africa (partially funded by Volkswagen Foundation: 2020 and 2022).
Reputation Building in Social Enterprises and Nonprofit Organizations
Nascent social enterprises oftentimes struggle to build a solid organizational reputation among customers and other stakeholders. In this project, we investigate how social enterprises can build, maintain, and improve their reputation (partially funded by DFG: 2016-2019).
Publications
Find an overview
Academic Articles
2025
Bureaucratic Reputation Theory: Micro-Level Theoretical Extensions
PERSPECTIVES ON PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE
Academic Articles
2025
Enabling local solutions to global challenges: The interplaybetween paradox knots and paradox salience in a Non-Governmental Organization working in Uganda
ORGANIZATION STUDIES
Academic Articles
2024
i5 Playbook - Transforming Business Education with 5 Impactful Methods by Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), 2023: https://i5.unprme.org/. 107 pages, online publication (open access)
ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT LEARNING AND EDUCATION, 23 (2)
Academic Articles
2024
Missing the Impact in Impact Investing Research – A Systematic Review and Critical Reflection of the Literature.
JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, 61(6), 2694-2718
Chapters
2024
Social Entrepreneurship und paradoxe Spannungsfelder
In: Social Entrepreneurship in Deutschland. Handbuch für Wissenschaft und Praxis, Kenel, Philipp, Eschweiler, Jennifer, Hackenberg, Helga, & Wihlenda, Michael transcript Verlag, 137-152
ESCP Impact Papers
2024
Towards sustainability transformation education: A mindset course for decision-makers Developed by ESCP’s STAR Centre
ESCP Impact Papers, 2024-8-EN
Academic Articles
2023
In the Centre of Attention: How Social Entrepreneurs Influence Organisational Reputation
JOURNAL OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP, 14(1), 50-72
Academic Articles
2023
Communicating Social Value: An Experimental Study on the Effects of Social Entrepreneurial Communication on Stakeholder’s Behavioral Intentions.
NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP, 33 (3), 511-533
Chapters
2023
Alternative Types of Organising for Corporate Sustainability
In: Corporate Sustainability: Managing Responsible Business in a Globalised World, A Rasche, M Morsing, J Moon, A Kourula Cambridge University Press, 170-189
ESCP Impact Papers
2023
AI and the future of academic writing: Insights from the ESCP Business School Prompt-o-thon workshop in Berlin
ESCP Impact Papers, 2023-24-EN
