Research projects

Digitalisation

Analogous vs. digital negotiation

Researchers:	Mohnen, Alwine; Toporova, Nevena; Drobner, Christoph; Uhl, Matthias; Walkowitz, Gari; Bodenschatz, Anja;
Outline:	The new designed master’s seminar „Successful negotiation with digital communication channels“ is supported by the “TUM Lehrfonds 2018”. The cross-faculty applicable course will demonstrate the influence of analogous and digital communication channels on individual negotiation successes. Individual learning objectives and learning progress will be recorded with an innovative Track-Record-App. Students should work out negotiation strategies and conduct negotiations individually or in groups successfully considering modern means of communication. The course is based on the existing lecture "basics of negotiation" which is already offered in the bachelor's studies TUM-BWL and will be extended by the digital frame. Negotiation in the analogous area will be amplified to include the digital perspective and should be expanded to other faculties. Special attention is paid to the comparison of negotiation characteristics and results of personal and digital communication in the negotiation process.

Researchers:

Mohnen, Alwine; Toporova, Nevena; Drobner, Christoph; Uhl, Matthias; Walkowitz, Gari; Bodenschatz, Anja;

Outline:

The new designed master’s seminar „Successful negotiation with digital communication channels“ is supported by the “TUM Lehrfonds 2018”. The cross-faculty applicable course will demonstrate the influence of analogous and digital communication channels on individual negotiation successes. Individual learning objectives and learning progress will be recorded with an innovative Track-Record-App. Students should work out negotiation strategies and conduct negotiations individually or in groups successfully considering modern means of communication. The course is based on the existing lecture "basics of negotiation" which is already offered in the bachelor's studies TUM-BWL and will be extended by the digital frame. Negotiation in the analogous area will be amplified to include the digital perspective and should be expanded to other faculties. Special attention is paid to the comparison of negotiation characteristics and results of personal and digital communication in the negotiation process.

Sustainability

Circular Economy

Researchers:	Mohnen, Alwine; Ratay, Christoph
Outline:	CirculaTUM bundles the diverse expertise within TUM across all disciplines and locations, drives new research projects, supports systemic thinking in teaching, and helps to activate student engagement and entrepreneurial potential.

BürgerEnergie

Researchers:	Mohnen, Alwine; Pabst, Stefan; Wayand, Martina
Outline:	The subproject "BürgerEnergie" - Financial Participation of Citizens for a More Sustainable Energy Production is part of the joint project "Scientific Coordination of the BMBF Program: Environmental and Socially Compatible Transformation of the Energy System" funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Energy-efficient driving

Researchers:	Mohnen, Alwine; Schall, Dominik
Outline:	The project uses a field experiment to identify drivers of energy-efficient behavior of professional drivers in a business context.

Socially responsible investments in renewable energy

Researchers:	Mohnen, Alwine; Schall, Dominik
Outline:	The project aims to identify the main drivers of socially responsible investment (SRI) in Germany, especially regarding sustainable energy projects.

EU-InnovatE

Researchers:	Mohnen, Alwine; Wayand, Martina; Pabst, Stefan
Outline:	EU-InnovatE stands for "Sustainable Lifestyles 2.0: End User Integration, Innovation and Entrepreneurship." The key idea of the EU research project is to investigate the creative, innovative and entrepreneurial roles of end user to develop sustainable products, services and systems ("Sustainable Lifestyles 2.0"). The large-scale research project includes 14 leading institutions with around 40 researchers and receives funding from the European Commision. For more information go to our EU-InnovatE website.

Researchers:

Mohnen, Alwine; Wayand, Martina; Pabst, Stefan

Outline:

EU-InnovatE stands for "Sustainable Lifestyles 2.0: End User Integration, Innovation and Entrepreneurship." The key idea of the EU research project is to investigate the creative, innovative and entrepreneurial roles of end user to develop sustainable products, services and systems ("Sustainable Lifestyles 2.0"). The large-scale research project includes 14 leading institutions with around 40 researchers and receives funding from the European Commision. For more information go to our EU-InnovatE website.

Family Businesses

Human Ressource Management in Familienunternehmen

Researchers:	Mohnen, Alwine; Mückenhausen, Verena; Toporova, Nevena
Outline:	The focus of this project is on Germany's family businesses. In the context of this study, individual aspects of human resources management relating to globalization, digitization and the shortage of skilled workers will be examined in order to provide focused answers to questions that are particularly relevant to family businesses. The research project is funded by the Stiftung Familienunternehmen. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Researchers:

Mohnen, Alwine; Mückenhausen, Verena; Toporova, Nevena

Outline:

The focus of this project is on Germany's family businesses. In the context of this study, individual aspects of human resources management relating to globalization, digitization and the shortage of skilled workers will be examined in order to provide focused answers to questions that are particularly relevant to family businesses. The research project is funded by the Stiftung Familienunternehmen.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Compensation systems in family businesses

Researchers:	Mohnen, Alwine
Outline:	One focus of the project is the identification of individual and job-related factors influencing the level of compensation of managers in family businesses. For this purpose, the socio-demographic factors of the manager are matched with the specifics of the respective (family) company.

Personnel Economics

Stepping-stones and vicious cycles in temporary agency work

Researchers:	Toporova, Nevena; Hopp, Christian; Minten, Axel (RWTH Aachen University)
Outline:	Despite the growing importance of temporary work agencies, the benefits they bring to temporary agency employees (TAEs) are still disputed, and empirical findings are, by and large, mixed. Using a unique dataset comprising almost 12,000 TAEs on their first and second temporary work assignments, this work aims at disentangling the consequences of temporary agency work on the level of the individual TAE in Germany. We find that temporary agency work assignments act as learning devices for employers about the underlying ability of TAEs.

Researchers:

Toporova, Nevena; Hopp, Christian; Minten, Axel (RWTH Aachen University)

Outline:

Despite the growing importance of temporary work agencies, the benefits they bring to temporary agency employees (TAEs) are still disputed, and empirical findings are, by and large, mixed. Using a unique dataset comprising almost 12,000 TAEs on their first and second temporary work assignments, this work aims at disentangling the consequences of temporary agency work on the level of the individual TAE in Germany. We find that temporary agency work assignments act as learning devices for employers about the underlying ability of TAEs.

The motivation of temporary agency workers—An empirical analysis on the basis of appraisals compiled by hiring companies

Researchers:	Toporova, Nevena; Grund, Christian; Minten, Axel (RWTH Aachen University)
Outline:	We are investigating the relationship between individual and job-related characteristics and the motivation of temporary agency workers. To do so, we are using a unique dataset from one of Germany’s largest temporary work agencies. For 3,000 temporary agency workers, a subjective motivation appraisal is provided by the respective direct manager within the hiring company.

The Impact of Variable Payment Cuts on Performance and Satisfaction

Researchers:	Sittenthaler, Hanna; Mohnen, Alwine; Herbst, Virginia;
Outline:	We conducted a real effort experiment to analyze the impact of different levels of variable payment cuts on performance and satisfaction. In contrast to standard economic assumptions our results show that a piece rate cut does not necessarily have a negative impact on performance, but the level of the piece rate cut matters.

The Impact of Monetary, Non-Monetary & Mixed Incentives on Performance

Researchers:	Sittenthaler, Hanna; Mohnen, Alwine;
Outline:	This project aims to analyze the impact of monetary, non-monetary and the interaction of monetary and non-monetary incentives on performance in a real effort experiment. Furthermore our study sheds light on gender differences.

Performance evaluation

Objective metrics or subjective performance evaluation? Trading off controllability for congruence

Researchers:	Kachelmeier, Steven J.; Mohnen, Alwine; Ostermaier, Andreas
Outline:	Incentive contracts are preferably based on objective metrics. However, performance often cannot be measured objectively. Should the principal then contract on objective metrics, which measure performance imperfectly, or resort to subjective performance evaluation? The choice of objective over subjective metrics trades off congruence for controllability. The project explores this trade-off. The results potentially explain the parallel use of objective metrics and subjective performance evaluation in firms.

Researchers:

Kachelmeier, Steven J.; Mohnen, Alwine; Ostermaier, Andreas

Outline:

Incentive contracts are preferably based on objective metrics. However, performance often cannot be measured objectively. Should the principal then contract on objective metrics, which measure performance imperfectly, or resort to subjective performance evaluation? The choice of objective over subjective metrics trades off congruence for controllability. The project explores this trade-off. The results potentially explain the parallel use of objective metrics and subjective performance evaluation in firms.

Performance evaluation and creativity: Balancing novelty and usefulness

Researchers:	Ostermaier, Andreas; Uhl, Matthias
Outline:	The project examines the effect of performance evaluation on the tension between novelty and usefulness, which arises in creative tasks. Usefulness is important for ideas to be implemented and turn into innovation. The findings of the project will hopefully help firms design incentives to motivate the creation of ideas that are both novel and useful.