Biographical Sketch

• 2021–current: Deputy head, WU Vienna, Research Institute for Urban Management and Governance

• 2021: Habilitation in business administration (Priv.Doz.), WU Vienna

• 2016–current: Senior scientist, WU Vienna, Research Institute for Urban Management and Governance

• 2013–2015: WU Vienna, Institute for Organization Studies

• 2010–2013: WU Vienna, Institute for Public Management

• 2010: Doctorate degree in social and economic sciences (Dr. rer.soc.oec.), WU Vienna

• Visiting professor, Center for Management Science, Mines Paris, PSL University; research fellow, Chair of Public Management & Public Policy”, Zeppelin University; former visiting fellow at Stanford University and guest lecturer at Leibniz University Hanover

• Deputy chair of the Austrian Association of Organization and Management (ÖVO)

Research Interests

Stephan’s research focuses on organizational governance, the emergence and transformation of organizational forms, and ethical questions in management. He studies how coordination works in the public sector – especially in urban contexts –, how organizations collaborate across sectors, and how concepts such as purpose and public interest shape corporate governance. His research covers a range of empirical settings, including collaborative approaches to addressing grand challenges in cities, the governance of urban housing, cooperation between public-sector organizations, decision-making in crisis situations, board composition and diversity, and organizational responses to the twin transition of digitalization and sustainability. With a background in business administration and ethics, Stephan combines analytical rigor with a strong interest in the practical implications of governance for society.

In the Media

Stephan's recent media appearences include the following:

• Leixnering, Stephan, Doralt, Peter. 2023. Öffentliches Interesse zählt auch am Strompreismarkt. Gastkommentar, 29.10. Die Presse, 27–28.

Research and Publications

Recent scholarly publications include:

• Blair, Margaret, Grandori, Anna, Leixnering, Stephan, Mahoney, Joseph. 2025. A strctural view of corporate purpose. European Management Review (forthc.).

• Kornberger, Martin, Leixnering, Stephan. 2025. Moral learning in organizations: An integrative framework for organizational ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 201, 253–264.

• Kornberger, Martin, van den Broek, Elmira, Leixnering, Stephan. 2025. AI ethics strategy lessons from H&M Group. MIT Sloane Management Review (online first).

• Kornberger, Martin, van den Broek, Elmira, Leixnering, Stephan. 2025. Caso Lecciones del Grupo H&M sobre la estrategia ética de la IA. Harvard Deusto Business Review, 358, 76–82.

• Leixnering, Stephan. 2025. Media Review: Anselm Kiefer and the power of real dystopia. Organization Studies (forthc.).

• Leixnering, Stephan, Höllerer, Markus, Polzer, Tobias, Schiffinger, Michael. 2025. The role of public auditing in delegated governance. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 49, 107281.

• Leixnering, Stephan, Jancsary, Dennis, Ayrault, Johanna, Gehman, Joel, Gray, Barbara, Linnenluecke, Martina, Meyer, Renate, Pavez, Ignacio. 2025. Collaboration for tackling grand challenges: A Curated conversation. Journal of Management Inquiry (online first).

• Leixnering, Stephan, Jansen, Stephan A. 2025. Ein Dialog: Digitale Daseinsvorsorge zwischen Renaissance und Revolution. dms – der moderne staat – Zeitschrift für Public Policy, Recht und Management(forthc.).

• Leixnering, Stephan, Doralt, Peter. 2024. Die Berücksichtigung des öffentlichen Interesses ist geboten, nicht verboten! Bemerkungen zu § 70 Abs 1 AktG aus Anlass der Energiepreiskrise. Der Gesellschafter: Zeitschrift für Gesellschafts- und Unternehmensrecht, 52 (2), 88–90.

• Meyer, Renate, Leixnering, Stephan, Kornberger, Martin, Jancsary, Denis, Höllerer, Markus. 2024. Ernst Cassirer and the symbolic foundation of institutions. Journal of Management Studies, 81 (8), 3824–3842.

• Muzio, Daniel, Dalpiaz, Elena, Jancsary, Dennis, Leixnering, Stephan, Höllerer, Markus, Phillips, Nelson, Kornberger, Martin, Meyer, Renate. 2024. Organizations, institutions, and symbols: Introduction to a Point-Counterpoint Conversation. Journal of Management Studies, 81 (8), 3786–3792.

• Leixnering, Stephan, Meyer, Renate, Kornberger. Martin. 2023. Krisenbewältigung durch Städte: Denkfiguren zur kollektiven Handlungsfähigkeit. Leviathan: Berliner Zeitschrift für Sozialwissenschaft, 51 (Sonderband 41), 267–279.

• Leixnering, Stephan, Höllerer, Markus. 2022. “Remaining the same or becoming another?“ – Adaptive resilience versus transformative urban change. Urban Studies, 59 (6), 1300–1310.

• Meyer, Renate, Leixnering, Stephan, Veldman, Jeroen, eds. 2022. The Corporation: Rethinking the iconic form of business organization (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 78). Bingley: Emerald.

• Meyer, Renate, Leixnering, Stephan, Veldman, Jeroen. 2022. Rethinking the corporation: Introduction. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 78, 1–12.

• Leixnering, Stephan, Meyer, Renate, Doralt, Peter. 2022. The past as prologue: Purpose dynamics in the history of the Aktiengesellschaft. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 78, 97–120.

• Mensi-Klarbach, Heike, Leixnering, Stephan, Schiffinger, Michael. 2021. The carrot or the stick: Self-regulation for gender-diverse boards via codes of good governance. Journal of Business Ethics, 170 (3), 577–593. 

• Leixnering, Stephan, Meyer, Renate, Polzer, Tobias. 2021. Hybrid coordination of city organizations: The rule of people and culture in the shadow of structures. Urban Studies, 8 (14), 2933–2951.

• Kornberger, Martin, Leixnering, Stephan, Meyer, Renate. 2019. The logic of tact: How decisions happen in situations of crisis. Organization Studies. 40 (2), 239–266.

• Kornberger, Martin, Leixnering, Stephan, Meyer, Renate, Höllerer, Markus. 2018. Rethinking the sharing economy: The nature and organization of sharing in the 2015 refugee crisis. Academy of Management Discoveries, 4 (3), 314–335.

• Meyer, Renate, Höllerer, Markus, Leixnering, Stephan. 2018. A question of value(s): Political connectedness and executive compensation in public sector organizations. International Public Management Journal, 21 (3), 477–500.

Recent popular-science publications include:

• Leixnering, Stephan. 2021. Management in der Krise? Vom taktvollen Umgang mit Menschen. WAS, 114, 111–123.

• Leixnering, Stephan. 2020. Eigentum verpflichtet: Ist der plurale Corporate Purpose wirklich eine Selbstverständlichkeit? zfo – zeitschrift führung + organisation, 89 (4), 247–249. Wien: Linde International.

Recently published teaching material:

• Leixnering, Stephan, Meyer, Renate. 2023. Governance. In Mayrhofer, Wolfgang, Furtmüller, Gerhard, Kasper, Helmut, eds. Personalmanagement – Führung – Organisation (6th ed.).

• Soule, Sarah, Leixnering, Stephan, Höllerer, Markus, Sutherland, Margot. 2020. Erste Group: Transformation of a Banking House – Change, Leadership, Space. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Publishing Education.

A comprehensive list of research projects in which Stephan Leixnering is involved as well as a list of his publications can be found in the PURE documentation.

Editorial Activities

Stephan holds editorial positions in various journals:

• European Management Review (editor)

• Organization Studies (editorial board)

• WAS – Zeitschrift zum Vor-, Mit- und Nachdenken (editorial board)

• zfo – zeitschrift führung + organisation (editorial board)

Courses

Undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral courses at WU Vienna:

• Diplomand*innen-Seminar

• Gesellschaftlicher Kontext wirtschaftlichen Handelns – Zukunft des Wirtschaftens II: Dimensionen ‚guter‘ Corporate Governance

• Grundlagen wissenschaftlichen Arbeitens

• Kompetenzfeld: Organizational Governance und Corporate Communication

• Kompetenzfeld: Steuerung und Management von öffentlichen und Non-Profit-Organisationen

• Masterarbeit Coaching

• Masterarbeit Defensio

• Organisationstheorien

• Research Seminar: Organization Studies

• SBWL Ethics for Management, Organizations and Society III: Values and Organization

• SBWL Organisation II: Organisationsanalyse und -gestaltung

• SBWL Organisation III/V: Die “gute" Organisation

• SBWL Public und Nonprofit Management I: Public Governance: Konzepte und Theorien der Steuerung öffentlicher und Nonprofit Organisationen

• SBWL Public und Nonprofit Management II: Konzepte und Instrumente des Public und Nonprofit Management

• SBWL Public und Nonprofit Management IV: Projekt- und Methodenseminar

• SBWL Public und Nonprofit Management IV/V: Public Corporate Governance

• Standards wissenschaftlichen Arbeitens und Zitierens

• Thesis seminar: How to write a thesis

• Wahlfach Public Management: Public Management I – Public Corporate Governance

• Wahlfach: Public Management