Step 1: Preliminary selection of the topic

Here you can get an overview of potential research foci and topics in which Master's theses are currently offered. We are generally open to your own suggestions for topics that are not directly included in the list but are related to our main research areas. Usually, master's theses include an empirical analysis in addition to a literature review. We highly encourage your Master's theses written in English.

• List of Topics for Master's Theses

  Four-Day Workweek

  • Possible subtopics and research questions:
    • What are the expectations of companies and employees regarding the four-day workweek?
    • How does a four-day workweek affect productivity?
    • How does a four-day workweek affect outcomes connected to wellbeing, such as stress or work satisfaction?
    • How do organizations and teams manage the change to a four-day workweek?
  • Methods: Qualitative
    You will conduct and/or transcribe interviews. Subsequently, you will qualitatively analyze these interviews and develop a conceptual model.
  • Note: This topic is connected to the German pilot study on the four-day workweek, which is scientifically monitored by the Chair for Transformation of Work. While the main data collection during the original pilot phase has been concluded, we can still integrate your master's thesis into the project. Depending on the starting date, you might collect data on long-term effects or follow-up studies.

   

  Antecedents and Outcomes of Gender Diversity and Female Leadership

  • Possible subtopics and research questions:
    • How do gender diversity and female leadership affect innovation in teams and organizations? How does this relationship depend on contextual contingencies regarding the institutional and organizational environment?
    • How does culture in the form of social gender roles affect female leadership? How do gender roles and stereotypes shape the view of external stakeholders on gender-diverse firms?
    • How does female leadership and gender discrimination affect firm internationalization processes? Can female entrepreneurs internationalize their businesses to escape adverse institutional cenvironments?
    • How does female leadership in family firms affect outcomes, such as innovation or social performance? Does the special dual role of female family leaders as family matriarchs (e.g., mothers) and business leaders lead to different effects of female leadership in family firms and non-family firms?
  • Methods: Quantitative
  • Depending on the topic, you will conduct a quantitative analysis based on a meta-analysis, survey data (e.g., a vignette study), or secondary data.

   

  Remote Work

  • Possible subtopics and research questions:
    • How does effective remote leadership look like? Which specific leadership challenges are caused by remote work and how should leaders respond to them?
    • How does remote work change working times? How do more flexible working times affect work life balance and wellbeing of employees?
    • How can organizations create a sense of belonging for employees who work from home to avoid loneliness?
    • What are the factors that influence technology usage and its consequences for employees who work from home versus in the office? How do individuals develop acceptance or rejection of technological tools in the workplace? What role do task demands and environmental factors play in explaining technology acceptance and usage among employees?
  • Methods: Qualitative or Quantitative (Focus on Quantitative)
    • For a qualitative work, you will develop a literature-based interview guideline, conduct interviews, and subsequently analyze the content of these interviews.
    • For a quantitative work, you will develop and execute a literature-based survey, and subsequently analyze the gathered data. Potentially, you can collaborate with a partner company.

   

  Determinants of Crowdfunding Success

  • Possible subtopics and research questions:
    • How do emotions influence the success of the crowdfunding campaigns? What factors influence, how emotions are perceived (e.g. text, image, video)?
    • How can entrepreneurs create successfull crowdfunding campaigns?
  • Methods: Quantitative, Meta-Analysis
    You will create a dataset based on existing studies and will analyze it via meta-analytic regression

   

  AI as a teammate

  • Possible subtopics and research questions:
    • How does the use of AI tools affect teamwork?
    • Which processes within teamwork are strengthened or weakened by the use of AI?
    • Does the use of AI have a creativity-enhancing or inhibiting influence?
  • Methods: Quantitative
    Depending on the topic, you will design an experiment or create a literature-based questionnaire and subsequently evaluate the results statistically.

   

  Digital Nomads & Workation

  • Possible subtopics and research questions:
    • How do digital nomads manage to maintain their working productivity? How does workation influence work engagement and productivity in the short term and the long term perspective?
    • What are the challenges for digital nomads and employees on workation?
    • How do digital nomads avoid or deal with possible adverse side effects of their freedom, such as loneliness?
    • What are the challenges when introducing workation into organizations?
  • Methods: Qualitative or Quantitative
    • For a qualitative work, you will develop a literature-based interview guideline, conduct interviews, and subsequently analyze the content of these interviews.
    • For a quantitative work, you will develop and execute a literature-based survey, and subsequently analyze the gathered data.

   

  Multiple Team Memberships

  • Possible subtopics and research questions:
    • How can teams deal with the challenges (e.g., stress, conflicting demands, lack of focus) and leverage the potential (e.g., learning, knowledge sharing, creativity, networking) of multiple team membership?
    • What is the right balance between the demands and potential adavantages of multiple team membership? What are context dependencies regarding its outcomes?
  • Methods: Qualitative Note: You will create a literature-based interview guideline, conduct interviews with multiple related team members, and subsequently analyze the content of these interviews.

Step 2: Application at the Chair

Once you have found a topic you would like to study (or even better, a shortlist of topics you would like to study), please contact Dr. Felix Hoch via this contact form. 

The application period at the Chair for Transformation of Work runs until one month before the end of the official registration period of the examination office (please find the exact deadlines below). We may not be able to take later applications into account.

We will give you feedback on your application as soon as possible and will provide you with necessary further details. 

Step 3: Registration at the Examination Office

After receiving the confirmation of the Chair for Transformation of Work, you must register your Theses at the examination office. Even if some details regarding your topic are still open, the registration at the examination office can still take place anyways.

These information are provided without guarantee and is for guidance only. Please inform yourself about the relevant deadlines of the Examination Office! Link

Step 4: Individual Support and Theme issue 

During the last month of before the term for the topic issues (e.g. in September for a topic issue in Q4), you will be connected with your individual supervisor.

Now you can contact your supervisor to prepare the start of your thesis ("Themenausgabe"). Together with your supervisor you can than specify your preferred topic and agree on a date for the topic issue. Starting your thesis can take place digitally or in person at the chair. Please submit a completed guidance card ("Leitkarte") to your supervisor. You will get all necessary information for the procedure of the topic issue with your confirmation of the chair. From this point on you can always reach out to your supervisor with further questions. 

For the topic issue, you will also be added to a Learnweb course with all further information, formal requirements and helpful tipps on topics from literature research to submission on your final theses. 

You will find more information on the formal criteria on the website of the examination office. You can calculate the exact start and submission dates for your specific thesis period in the online calculator here.

Contact:

Dr. Felix Hoch
Assistant Professor