Moritz Appels

Moritz Appels is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Department of Organisation and Personnel Management, Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University). He holds a doctoral degree from the University of Mannheim (2022). His research focuses on how corporate actors influence and are influenced by organizational and societal change, particularly CEO activism's impact on stakeholders and strategic leadership dynamics. Key interests include corporate sociopolitical activism, authentic leadership signaling, and hubristic CEOs' resistance to change.

Education: PhD from University of Mannheim (2022).

Research explores topics like CEO political statements (e.g., U.S. gun ownership debates), stakeholder behavior responses, and the interplay between leadership decisions and socio-political environments. Recent work analyzes how corporate activism shapes citizen political engagement through dual mediation pathways and how overconfident CEOs avoid organizational transformation.

Awards include the FIU Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Dissertation Award (2024), Best Paper in Management Education (2024), and Behavioral Strategy Awards (2023). He also received recognition for peer review excellence (2023) and conference contributions (2021).

His work has been featured in media coverage about overly self-confident CEOs' change avoidance and corporate political activism strategies. No grants or lab affiliations are explicitly mentioned in the provided text.