Rouven Kanitz is Professor and Head of the Institute of Leadership and Strategic Change (ILSC). Prior to joining WU Vienna, he served as Assistant Professor of Organizational Change at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, and held a postdoctoral position at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, where he also earned his Doctoral Degree in Management. Before entering academia, Rouven worked in the medical technology industry and in management consultancy, gaining experience with strategic change projects across a wide range of organizations.

Research

His research focuses on helping leaders understand and navigate the human side of change in organizations and society. He addresses questions such as: How do change agents design and implement transformation processes? How can leaders intervene effectively in change and constructively engage people with diverse and sometimes conflicting attitudes? How can employee responses to change be conceptualized, and what explains resistance and support?

He actively engages with the scholarly “change” community at the intersection of leadership, strategy, and psychology. Moreover, he is committed to producing impactful evidence by embracing open science principles. His work has been published in leading academic journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management,Journal of International Business Studies and Organization Science.
 

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• ORCID

Teaching

Rouven’s teaching spans Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Executive education programs and covers a broad range of topics related to organizational change. His courses address, among others, the science and art of leading change, the psychology of organizational change, and the management of large-scale transformation processes.

Impact

Beyond academia, his research has been featured in news outlets, podcasts, and management magazines, including the Harvard Business Review or Forbes. He received international awards for his research, such as Best Paper Awards from the Academy of Management’s Organizational Development and Change (ODC) division. Find out more about his publications here.