RSM Prof. Henk Volberda wins Emerald Citation of Excellence Award

Professor Henk Volberda from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) has been awarded with a ‘Citation of Excellence Award 2015’ by Emerald Group Publishing. The award is not only a recognition for the high number of citations, but also an expression of the publication’s novelty, multi-disciplinary interest and relevancy. The winning paper, Management Innovation and Leadership: The Moderating Role of Organizational Size, was co-authored by RSM professors Frans van den Bosch and Justin Jansen and Dr Ignacio Vaccaro, who completed his PhD at RSM in 2010. It was published in the Journal of Management Studies.

The awarded research explores what type of leadership behaviour is most effective to achieve management innovation and describes how company size matters. “Our results showed that both transactional and transformational leaders can realise management innovation,” said Prof. Henk Volberda.

Transactional and transformational leadership

“Smaller, less complex firms benefit most from transactional leaders when trying to achieve management innovation. Their strategy to motivate employees by incentives and rewards to maintain company performance is more effective in smaller, arguably simpler firms,” said Prof. Volberda.

Bigger organisations on the other hand, where a single leader potentially has a smaller influence, benefit from transformational leaders, the paper demonstrates. By persuading followers to identify with common purposes and goals they have a better chance to achieve management innovation in more complex, bigger firms.

Emerald Citation of Excellence Award

Each year, Emerald Group Publishing awards certificates to highly cited papers relating to business management, finance, accounting, economics and marketing . The selection process made by its editorial experts is based initially on the citations being given to papers published in a previous year (in this case 2012), but the judging panel also takes into account the content of the papers themselves in terms of novelty, interdisciplinary interest and relevancy in today’s world.

More information

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) is one of Europe’s top-ranked business schools. RSM provides ground-breaking research and education furthering excellence in all aspects of management and is based in the international port city of Rotterdam – a vital nexus of business, logistics and trade. RSM’s primary focus is on developing business leaders with international careers who can become a force for positive change by carrying their innovative mindset into a sustainable future. Our first-class range of bachelor, master, MBA, PhD and executive programmes encourage them to become critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinkers and doers. www.rsm.nl

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