Prof. Dr. David Wagner / Digital Business, Transformation and Communication

Professor in the Spotlight: Interview with David Wagner

I recently won the 2022 MBS Teaching Award and was appointed the Vice Dean of Research at Munich Business School, thereby joining the (extended) University Management. Below is the link to an interview that was published on the MBS website a little while ago, with some reflections on both achievements.

Of course, I am humbled, but also happy, excited, and proud. I hope to continue inspiring students to learn and explore, while further developing the institution’s research agenda to make an impact on both business and society.

Professor in the Spotlight: 3 Questions for Prof. Dr. David Wagner

Winning the MBS Teaching Award 2022

I self-identify as a Management Professor with head, heart and hand. I think this slogan represents nicely what I stand for in teaching. Of course, university courses are first and foremost about content – that’s the head. That means we need good texts, cases and other media as a basis for presentations and discussions. Next is the heart, the passion: I burn for the courses and the content I teach. The students also notice this and regularly feed this back to me. Finally comes the hand, the doing and trying out. Experimentation plays an important role, especially in digital contexts. That’s why I think it’s important that we build prototypes and websites, visit trade fairs, and invite practitioners to engage in dialogue. These type of experiences also distinguish MBS as a business school from many other higher education institutions, especially traditional universities.

Becoming the Vice Dean for Research

As Vice Dean for Research, I can now accompany and shape the research activities of MBS more closely, also from a strategic perspective. More specifically, we are positioning ourselves as a business school with the topics and content that we stand for. The selection is no coincidence, but the result of a collaborative process that must be supported by the entire faculty – and, ultimately, the entire university with all its stakeholders.

New Book Chapter: Assessing the PESO Model in the German Automotive Industry

In late 2023, the book “Holistische Social-Media-Strategien” was published by Springer. With the book, the editors, Professors Anne-Kristin Langner and Gabriele Schuster, both of International University (IU) in Germany, attempt to develop a holistic and strategic approach to social media. They have assembled an interesting mix of scholars who tackle this issue by looking at social media from multiple perspectives (e.g. economics, communication, and design) and incorporating recent trends (e.g. the superstar economy/influencer marketing and the Metaverse). I have previously worked with Professor Langner on the curriculum of the study program on social media which she runs at her university.

A chapter cowritten with Judith Zeeb, a graduate from Munich Business School, now at Oliver Schrott Kommunikation, an agency, made it into the book. The chapter’s title is: “Assessing the PESO Model in the German Automotive Industry: Results of an Expert Study and Introduction of the Content Flow Model“. Please find the abstract, some key insights, and the links to the full version of the chapter below.

Image of a car, reflecting the automotive industry.

New Journal Paper: A Review and Research Agenda for Brand Communities in Sports

The International Journal of Sport Communication recently published a special issue on social media in sport. The collection was edited by Gashaw Abeza, an Associate Professor at Towson University and Research Fellow at Munich Business School, and Jimmy Sanderson, an Associate Professor at Texas Tech University. I was invited to contribute a paper on communities in sport and chose to focus specifically on brand communities in sport for this scholarly commentary. The article, titled “A Review and Research Agenda for Brand Communities in Sports,” is out now.

New Conference Paper: Towards Domain-Specific Knowledge on Digital Transformation

In summer 2023, a joint paper, authored by Simon Zeiher, a doctoral student at Munich Business School, Professor Alexander Richter, a Research Fellow at Munich Business School and myself was accepted at the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), a premier international conference in the field of information systems, which took place in Kristiansand, Norway. In the paper, titled “Towards Domain-Specific Knowlegde on Digital Transformation – The Case of the Furniture Industry,” we are looking at digital transformation from an industry-level perspective. More specifically, we are focusing on the furniture industry, in which Simon works in his day job.

Expert Interview with Galileo: The German Fitness Industry

From 2018 until 2021, I ran the Master in Sports Business and Communication at Munich Business School. In different courses, we extensively discuss the shifts in the sport industry. A couple of months ago, I was invited as an industry expert by Galileo, a daily knowledge show, broadcast on Pro7, a private channel. They were planning a full episode on the German fitness industry, with a focus on McFit/RSG Group. Of course, we recorded the interview in a gym, based in Munich. You can find the full episode below, including some key take-aways and a couple of studies I cited in the interview.