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

New Book Chapter: COVID-19 and the Bundesliga – A Study of Digital Fan Engagement Strategies

In late 2022, a Research Handbook on Sport and Covid-19 was published by Paul Pedersen, Professor of Sport Management at Indiana University (USA). About a year earlier he consulted the international sport management community about studies focusing on the impact of Covid-19 on sport organizations. We had just finished one on digital fan engagement strategies in the German Bundesliga. A book chapter with Laura Matz, a graduate from Munich Business School, now at Brands and Emotions, an agency, and Gashaw Abeza, Associate Professor at Towson University (USA) as well as a Research Fellow at Munich Business School, made it into the Research Handbook. Please find the abstract and the links to the full version of the chapter below.

New Book Chapter: Dynamic Capabilities – Celebrating the Plurality of Understandings

I graduated from a doctoral program in strategic management. Its key tenet was to explore the theme of “dynamic capabilities and relationships”, i.e. how organizations can adapt to a changing business environment with help of their (multiple) social relationships (think of buyers, suppliers, stakeholders, etc.). I’ve written up some thoughts on the program in a previous blog post.

The community of scholars involved in the doctoral program, including the founding professors and several doctoral students, have recently published a book entitled “Dynamic Capabilities and Relationships: Discourses, Concepts, and Reflections“, published by Springer. It was a fun project to work on. We were invited to reflect on our doctoral journey and share some core insights from our dissertations projects.

My section has the title: “Four Lessons Learnt from My Doctoral Journey and Some Advice for Emerging Dynamic Capabilities Scholars”. I hope that these learnings will resonate with early doctoral students, particularly with those who share my interest in emerging technologies. Below is quick summary. In order to dive deeper, feel free to explore the whole chapter (see download links and formal references below).

Conference Panel: Social Media as an Agent of Change in Sport

This week, the Annual Conference of the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) is taking place in Atlanta, GA. Gashaw Abeza and Norm O’Reilly have invited several authors of a recent book on Social Media in Sport to come together for a panel discussion. In the video statement below, just like in the book, I focus on the role of communities and community management in sport. In addition, you will also find the videos by Rebecca Achen (University of the Pacific), who speaks and writes about revenue generation and return on invest (ROI) on social media, as well as Evan Frederick (University of Louisville), whose panel contribution and chapter are about crisis communication on social media. The videos give you an idea of what is covered in the book – and of the discussions happening at the conference.

New Journal Paper: Reaping the digital dividend? Sport marketing’s move into esports

The European Journal of International Management published a special issue on international sport management earlier this year. The special issue was put together by Vanessa Ratten, an Associate Professor at La Trobe University, and a prolific researcher on sport management, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, among other things. A joint paper on esports with Kilian Kramer (now at ESL Gaming) and Barbara Scheck (Munich Business School) made it into the special issue.

Entwicklung eines Studiengangs: Bachelor Social Media

Im Frühjahr 2020 fragte die International University (IU) bei mir an, ob ich nicht Interesse an der Entwicklung eines neuen Bachelor-Studiengangs im Bereich Social Media hätte. Das hatte ich. So starteten wir wenig später mit der Entwicklung des Curriculums für das Studienprogramm. Zugeben: Die IU ist im Prozess der Studiengangsentwicklung recht routiniert – allein in 2020 wurden knapp 30 neue Studiengänge an den Markt gebracht hat (siehe dazugehörige Pressemeldung).

Mit der designierten Studiengangsleiterin, Prof. Dr. Anne-Kristin Langner, machte ich mir über den Sommer intensiv Gedanken, welche Kurse in solch ein Studienprogramm gehören. Wir griffen dazu häufig auf die BVCM-Verbandsstudien der vergangenen Jahre zurück, in denen wir Social Media Manager zu ihren täglichen Aufgaben, Kompetenzen und Herausforderungen befragten. So konnten die Insights der Praktiker direkt auch in Studieninhalte überführt werden. Ein bestehender Mangel ist laut der Befragten übrigens das Fehlen einer strukturierten Ausbildung, womit sich der Kreis schließt. Ich meine, das Produkt kann sich sehen lassen.