Dr. Benedikt Unger
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About
Dr Benedikt Unger has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Business Administration, specialising in Information Management, at the FernUniversität in Hagen since December 2025. He is pursuing a postdoctoral qualification.
He received his doctorate from the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (PhD in Management and Economics, cum laude) with a dissertation on corporate-startup engagement from an organisational and configurational perspective (‘Organising for Collaborative Success: A Novel Configurational Perspective on Corporate-Startup Engagement’). His doctorate was funded by a scholarship from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
His research focuses on digital and corporate entrepreneurship, start-up support systems, and the analysis of causal complexity in innovation and entrepreneurship contexts. He also examines how digital technologies and information systems can enable and systematically support entrepreneurial activities. His publications have appeared in the Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Organisation Design, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, and Business Strategy and the Environment, among others.
He is also the Paper Development Workshop Officer for EURAM SIG Entrepreneurship (SIG 03) and is actively involved in the European entrepreneurship research community.
Methodologically, he has a broad spectrum of qualitative and quantitative approaches at his disposal. He works in particular with configurational methods (fsQCA), longitudinal research designs and design science-inspired frameworks to investigate complex entrepreneurial phenomena and organisational formats.
He has teaching experience in entrepreneurship, innovation, project management and academic writing at bachelor's and master's level, in face-to-face, online and hybrid formats, and in working with students and practitioners. He teaches in German, English and Italian. In addition, he is involved in knowledge transfer, working with corporate partners, start-ups, innovation actors and the wider public, including disadvantaged groups.
| Professional Experience | |
|---|---|
| 2025 – Present | Postdoctoral researcher (habilitation candidate) at the Chair of B*IMA, FernUniversität Hagen |
| 2025 – Present | Contract Professor, Faculty of Economics, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy |
| 2025 | Contract lecturer, Wilhelm Büchner University, Darmstadt |
| 2020 - 2025 | PhD candidate in Management & Economics, Faculty of Economics, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy |
| 2025 | Visiting Scholar, University of Innsbruck, Austria |
| 2024 | Visiting Scholar, LUISS (Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli), Rome |
| 2019 - 2020 | Research assistant in the research project “SIAA: Social Impact for the Alps Adriatic Region” (Interreg V-A Italy-Austria), Faculty of Economics, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy |
| Education | |
|---|---|
| 2020 - 2025 | Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy - PhD in Management & Economics |
| 2016 - 2019 | Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy - MSc Entrepreneurship & Innovation |
| 2013 - 2016 | University of Passau - BA Media & Communication (specialising in Management) |
Selected Publications
Journal articles
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Schückes, M., Unger, B., Gutmann, T., & Fels, G. (2025). Innovation at the interface: A configurational approach to corporate venture capital. Journal of Business Venturing, 40(1), 106438.
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Unger, B. (2025). Toward a design science of corporate venturing modes: Diagnosing challenges and outlining a research agenda. Journal of Organization Design (forthcoming).
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Unger, B., & Gutmann, T. (2025). Deconstructing corporate accelerator programs: Insights from a systematic literature review. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 72, 784-799.
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Unger, B., & Nippa, M. (2024). Determinants of firms' initiative and inertia in pursuing climate neutrality strategies—Theoretical explanations and empirical evidence. Business Strategy and the Environment, 33(5), 4086–4107.
Conference papers (selection)
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EURAM 2025, Florence: Building Dynamic Capabilities through Intrapreneurial Action: Exploring Equifinal Pathways from a Multi-level fsQCA Study.
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AOM 2024, Chicago: Deconstructing Corporate Accelerator Programs: Insights from a CIMO-based Systematic Literature Review.
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Scaleup Conference 2024, Rome: Exploring Varied Accelerator Effects on Entrepreneurial Financing: The Critical Roles of Prior Funding, Startup Quality, and Contextual Venture Capital Activity.
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EURAM 2024, Bath: Value Dynamics in Corporate Startup Programs - Organizational Framework and Theoretical Explanations.
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WOIC 2023, Bilbao: Startup-Accelerator Fit --- Assessing the Interplay of Startup Characteristics and Accelerator Configurations.
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Sinergie-SIMA 2023, Bari: Corporate Acceleration Through the Ages: Reviewing its Origins, the Current Landscape, and Prospects for the Future.
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Sinergie-SIMA 2023, Bari: Examining Startup-Accelerator Fit: The Interplay of Startup and Accelerator Characteristics in Catalyzing Growth Across Market and Technological Uncertainties.
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AOM 2023, Boston: A Multidimensional Framework of Corporate Acceleration: Review, Propositions, and Research Agenda.
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EGOS 2023, Cagliari: Firms’ Exposure to Climate Change and Firm Structural Factors Affect the Pursuit of Climate Neutrality Strategies: Evidence from the Flash Eurobarometer Initiative.
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SEE 2023: On the impact of national exposure to climate change on the pursuit of climate neutrality by firms –Empirical Evidence from Europe.
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SFScon 2019, Bozen: Corporate Accelerators as a Strategy for Open Innovation.
Others
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Carrasco, A., Unger, B., Münzenrieder N. & Nippa M. (2022): Bridging the Gaps of Technology Transfer. Südtiroler Wirtschaftszeitung. 42 (22). p. 19.
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Eichler, G. & Unger, B. (2020): Building an Alps Adriatic social entrepreneurship ecosystem. In: Handbook Part II. Deliverable of the SIAA-Project. SIAA-Project: Social Impact for the Alps Adriatic Region (Interreg V-A Italy-Austria). Klagenfurt.
Selected Teaching
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caling-up, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
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Social Impact Lab, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
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Scientific Work, Wilhelm Büchner University
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Introduction to Start-ups and Social Entrepreneurship in the Context of Promoting Democracy, Summer Academy of the German National Academies
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Business@School, Saxon State Gymnasium Sankt Afra in Meissen
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#EUvsVirus Hackathon, European Commission
Selected Honors
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2025: Best Paper Award – EURAM Conference 2025
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2022: Doctoral scholarship from the Hanns Seidel Foundation (funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research)
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2020: Doctoral scholarship from the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (funded by NOI AG/S.p.A.)
Entrepreneurship
Dr Benedikt Unger is the founder of the initiatives forum novum | for entrepreneurial innovation and Impact Starter, through which he develops and implements formats for promoting entrepreneurship and innovation in business and society.
