Thomas Gegenhuber

Professor Thomas Gegenhuber is affiliated with the Institute for Management & Organization (IMO) at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. He received his doctorate from Johannes Kepler University Linz and is set to become Professor of Socio-Technical Transitions at Johannes Kepler University Linz starting September 1, 2021, while continuing as a visiting professor at Leuphana University. His research focuses on organizational theory perspectives on digital transformation phenomena, including crowd-driven organizational forms, openness as organizational practice, and cultural entrepreneurship in the digital economy.

Professor Gegenhuber's research interests center around digital transformation, organizational theory, and entrepreneurship. His work examines how organizations adapt to digital changes, with particular attention to open strategy, open innovation, and open government practices. He investigates how digital platforms reshape work structures and how cultural entrepreneurship emerges in digital economies. His research combines institutional theory with practical applications in digital business environments, addressing critical questions about how organizations maintain legitimacy and effectiveness during technological disruption.

His publications span leading journals including Long Range Planning, Business & Society, Organization, Government Information Quarterly, and Information & Organization. His work shows a clear trajectory from examining foundational concepts of crowdsourcing and open innovation toward more complex analyses of institutional contexts in digital transformation and mission drift in scaling social enterprises. The research demonstrates increasing sophistication in understanding the interplay between digital technologies, organizational structures, and institutional frameworks.

• Dean's Ryerson University (2010)
• DOC Team Scholarship of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (2013)
• Prize of the Upper Austrian State Government for Interdisciplinary Research (2015)
• Research scholarship from the Upper Austrian state government (2016)
• Marietta Blau Scholarship (2016)
• Research grant from the Hans Böckler Foundation (2017)
• Science Prize of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor for Crowdwork Research (2017)
• Teaching Award for the module Digital Transformation (2018)

Professor Gegenhuber has been actively involved in significant research projects including Open Social Innovation studies related to UpdateDeutschland and WirvsVirus, examining participatory innovation during crises. He was appointed as an expert for the German Federal Government's third gender equality report focusing on digitalization (April 2019). His work connects academic research with practical applications, particularly in how digital transformation affects work structures and organizational practices. He has presented his research at numerous academic and practice-oriented conferences and has collaborated with digital transformation pioneer Don Tapscott.

Professor Gegenhuber leads research on decent platform work, digital entrepreneurship, and social innovation. His team investigates how institutional infrastructures can be built for fair working conditions in the platform economy, drawing on Germany's social partnership tradition. Current projects focus on socially innovative transformation through inclusive working environments and value-added systems for the circular economy.