Shaping global futures!
In today’s globally connected business world, management activities are influenced by the dynamics of international markets. To support (future) managers and entrepreneurs in dealing with these dynamics, our aim is to provide a better understanding of the implications of internationality for their behavior and decisions. To do so, the professorship’s research and teaching consider, for example, different behavioral tendencies across different cultures, cultural stereotypes, and teamwork across international borders.
We hope you will join one of our courses, seminars, or workshops, and are looking forward to discussing current management challenges and/or recent research findings with you.
Research
The professorship’s research investigates international management focusing on effects of cross-cultural differences, cultural diversity, and team international dispersion, specifically effects on entrepreneurial and innovation behaviors. A central aim is to provide a better understanding of how new ventures can manage international teamwork, innovation, and growth, e.g., considering different cultural behavioral tendencies, cultural stereotypes, and international dispersion requiring remote work and technology interaction. Applied methodologies include qualitative and quantitative approaches, e.g., explorative interviews and observations as well as experiments and surveys. Research projects are interdisciplinary, at the intersection of international management, organizational behavior, entrepreneurship, innovation, leadership, HRM, and HCI. Current projects involve:
- Cross-cultural differences and diversity in entrepreneurial and innovation behavior (e.g., culture driving idea generation vs. idea implementation; cultural diversity influencing innovation behavior; entrepreneurial emotion and cognition)
- Leadership and HRM supporting new venture growth and internationalization (e.g., culture and gender stereotypes in recruitment; organizational experimentation during growth)
- Technology supporting human entrepreneurial behavior (e.g., virtual environments supporting internationally dispersed new venture teams; leadership behaviors in humanoid robots; collaboration with artificial intelligence to support entrepreneurial work)
Teaching
The professorship’s teaching concentrates on the core courses of the international business studies programs, i.e., “International Business” in the Bachelor and “International Management“ in the Master program. The educational activities focus on:
- Action & application: Working on concrete problems, project work in (international) teams, guest lectures by practitioners
- Evidence-based decision-making: Theory-based knowledge transfer, interpretation of scientific findings, participation in and implementation of studies
- International experience: International networking opportunities, experience abroad, integration of language learning
We participate in the central assignment procedure for theses. The procedure distributes the students who want to write a thesis fairly among the professorships: For further information click here.
Your bachelor or master thesis can be supervised at the professorship international management starting from April 2024. Topics will include:
- Supporting remote work in internationally dispersed startup teams
- Exploring culture stereotypes
- Female entrepreneurs’ international communication behavior
If you apply for a thesis, please tell me a topic you would like to write about and explain in two to three sentences at most why you are interested in the topic and/or which research methodology (e.g. quantitative survey, case study, interviews, literature review, etc.) you would like to use to work on the topic. You can also suggest topics yourself if they fall within the research area of the professorship (see "Research").
The supervision of the thesis includes (at least) monthly meetings with your supervisor. In these meetings, the topic and the research question, the methods of data collection and data analysis as well as the structure of the thesis are discussed. These meetings can take place online or in person. If you would like to find out more, feel free to contact me: sylvia.hubner.benz@uni-paderborn.de.
