Platform Strategy - Platformization, Collaboration & Digital Management

This topic area addresses digital platforms as a new and increasingly dominant organisational form that has significant societal implications. Questions about platform strategy, power imbalance, and governance of platforms are central, both from a platform's internal as well as an overarching societal perspective. An important aspect is identifying sustainable and alternative models for platforms. Furthermore, we empirically and conceptually investigate the consequences for digital management and digital organizing.

Key publications 

• Holzmann, P., Gregori, P., Bohn, S., Reischauer, G., Friederici, N., Lehdonvirta, V. (2025). Institutional logics and business models of digital niche marketplaces. In: Information and Organization, 35(2). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2025.100575

• Bohn, S., Gümüsay, A., von Richthofen, G., Reischauer, G. (2023). Digital Organising. In: IPR - Concepts of the digital society. http://doi.org/10.14763/2023.4.1726

• Rashid, L., Möckel, C., Bohn, S. (2024). The Blessing and Curse of “No Strings Attached”: An Automated Literature Analysis of Psychological Health and Non-Attachmental Work in the Digitalization Era. In: PLoS ONE 19(2). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0298040

• Bohn, S., Friederici, N., Gümüşay, A.A. (2020). Too Big to Fail us? Platforms as Systemically Relevant. In: Internet Policy Review. https://policyreview.info/articles/news/too-big-fail-us-platforms-systemically-relevant/1489

Change - Digital & Sustainable Transformation 

Transformation has become the leitmotif of our society, especially with regard to sustainability and digitality. The aim of this topic area is to explore how established industries handle transformation processes and how they deal with lock-ins, path dependence, and institutional complexity during wide-ranging processes of technological and institutional change processes. 

Key publications 

• Bohn, S., Gümüşay, A. (2024). Growing Institutional Complexity and Field Transition: Towards Constellation Complexity in the German Energy Field. In: Journal of Management Studies, 61(7):3184-3225.  http://doi.org/10.1111/joms.13004

• Sminia, H., Bohn, S. Sydow, J. (2024). Path Release among Practices in the Process of Path Constitution. How the MP3-Path Appeared in the Field of Recorded Music. In: Research Policy, 53(8). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2024.105073

• Fecher, B., Gümüşay, A. A., Bohn, S., Jobin, A. (2023). Resilience without Accountability holds back Transformative Change. In: LSE Impact Blog. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2023/03/28/resilience-without-accountability-holds-back-transformative-change/

• Bohn, S., Braun, T. (2021).  Field-configuring Projects: How Projects Shape the Public Reflection of Electric Mobility in Germany. In: International Journal of Project Management, 39(6): 605-619. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2021.04.006

Sustainability - Organisation & Sustainable Management 

The research area on organisation and sustainable management deals with the strategies of companies when implementing sustainability, CSR, and ESG principles in their day-to-day business. The focus is on questions relating to novel practices in fostering a more sustainable management as well as how companies navigate potential conflicts and trade-offs. This area of research also encompasses questions of business ethics and examines the influence of normative values on corporate behavior and decision-making.

Key Publications

• Risi, D., Vigneau, L., Bohn, S., Wickert, C. (2023). Institutional Theory-based Research on Corporate Social Responsibility: Bringing Values Back in. In: International Journal of Management Reviews, 25, 3-23. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.1229

• Bohn, S., Galander, A., Walgenbach, P. (2015): The Creativity of Organizations in the Taking of Management Panaceas – On the Implementation of CSR in German High-Tech Firms. In: Ortenblad, Anders (Eds.) Handbook of Research on Management Ideas and Panaceas: Adaptation and Context. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. 259-284. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781783475605.00030  

• Bohn, S. (2014): Die Implementierung von CSR in High-Tech Unternehmen. Zum organisationalen Umgang mit divergierenden institutionalisierten Erwartungen. Wiesbaden: Springer-Gabler. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-06776-2

Strategic Framing -  Frame Dynamics in Technology & Innovation 

Framing is a key concept in understanding discursive struggles between different actors, and it is increasingly used to better understand the construction and diffusion of innovations and technology. The focus of this research area is on framing strategies and how digital and sustainable innovations, in particular, are framed in different discursive environments. This area aims to trace and map framing dynamics over long periods of time and to decipher the diverse framing strategies of corporate and societal actors in their interactions.

Key Publications 

• Bohn, S., Rogge, C. (2022). The Framing of Green Innovations—A Comparative Topic Modeling Study on the Public Frames of the Electric Vehicle in Germany and UK. In: Journal of Cleaner Production, 364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.132499