Mr Dr. Andrew Isaak

Biography

Andrew Isaak joined the UNESCO Chair for Entrepreneurship and Intercultural Management, headed by Professor Christine Volkmann, in October 2025.

He studied economics at Bucknell University, earned his MBA in International Business from Pace University (USA), and received his PhD in Entrepreneurship (Business Administration) from the University of Mannheim, including a research stay at U.C. Berkeley. He subsequently held junior faculty positions at SolBridge International School of Business (South Korea), Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, and the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU).

In addition to his primary position at the UNESCO Chair, he is a Visiting Professor at EM Strasbourg Business School and a lecturer at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien) in the field of innovation (with a focus on AI). He is a member of the Editorial Review Board of the Information Systems Journal and regularly serves as a reviewer for international journals and conferences. He gained practical experience as a member of the supervisory board of Certiff b.V. (Netherlands, 2023-2024), as founder of the crowdfunding startup Tommoko UG (Mannheim, 2011-2014), and as a management consultant at Accenture Consulting GmbH (Kronberg im Taunus, 2008).

Research focus and thesis topics for Bachelor's and Master's theses:

• Crowdfunding and financing of sustainable startups
• AI-supported sustainability assessment
• Institutions in the emergence of new digital markets
• The role of founders' personalities Decision-making
• and succession in family businesses

In addition, individual topics are welcome by arrangement.

 

Publications

Isaak, A., Istipliler, B., Bort, S. and Woywode, M. (2025) Regulation, Corruption, and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations: Insights from Bitcoin Trading and Platform Founding Between 2011 and 2023. Organization Science, in press.
https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2023.18467

Koziol, K., Isaak, A. and Bort, S. (2025). Investment Risk Disclosure: How Platforms’ Campaign Ratings Impact Investors in Equity Crowdfunding. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2025, No. 1, p. 23366). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMPROC.2025.23366abstract

Lobo, R., Pigatto, M., Denes, D. and Isaak, A. (2025). The Role of Intermediaries in Sociotechnical Transitions: A Systematic Framework Towards Sustainability Management. Business Strategy and the Environment, 34: 4998-5018. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.4237

Dinh, J. M., Isaak, A. and Yahyaoui, Y. (2024). Investing for Good – Uncovering Crowd Investors’ Motivations to Participate in Sustainability-Oriented Crowdlending. Technology Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 207, 123584, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123584 

Theissen, M., Isaak, A. and Lutz, E. (2024). Organizational Homophily of Family Firms: The Case of Family Corporate Venture Capital. Journal of Small Business Management, ToFE Special Issue, 1-38. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00472778.2024.2349532

Dinh, J., Isaak, A. and Wehner, M. (2024). Sustainability-Oriented Crowdfunding: An Integrative Literature Review. Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 446, 141579. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141579

Isaak, A., Neuhaus, J. and Bostandzic, D. (2024). When Personality Pays: Observer Rating of Personality and Financial Success of Equity Crowdfunded Startups. Venture Capital, Vol. 26(1): 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691066.2024.2303663

Istipliler, B.; Ahrens, J.P., Bort, S. and Isaak, A. (2023). Learning the Bias? How Successor Pre-Succession Firm Experience Affects Family Firm Performance. Journal of Business Research, Vol 167, 114179.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114179

Gruba, M. C., Denes, D., Lobo, R. C., Isaak, A. (2022). Circular Economy Initiatives: Strategic Implications, Resource Management, and Entrepreneurial Innovation in a Brazilian Craft Beer Ecosystem during the COVID Era. Sustainability. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/11826

Isaak, A., Schwieren, C., and Iida, A. (2022). Reaching Agreement on Contribution Behavior in different Cultures – a Public Goods Game with Representatives in Japan and Germany. Journal of Behavioural and Experimental Economics.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2022.101894

Isaak, A., Neuhaus, J. and Bostandzic, D. (2021). Success Lies in the Eye of the Beholder: Personality Traits, Negativity Bias and Equity Crowdfunding. In Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings (Vol. 2021, No. 1, p. 164). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2021.164

Neuhaus, J.; Isaak, A. and Bostandzic, D. (2021). Million Dollar Personality: A Systematic Literature Review of Personality in Crowdfunding. Management Review Quarterly. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11301-021-00242-9 

Istipliler, B., Ahrens, J.P., Bort, S., and Isaak, A. (2020). Learning the Bias? How Successor Pre-Succession Firm Experience Affects Family Firm Performance. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2020, No. 1, p. 17032). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2020.17032abstract

Isaak, A., and Bort, S. (2019). Legitimacy, Government Regulations and the Emergence of the Market for Cryptocurrencies. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2019, No. 1, p. 11641). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2019.11641abstract

Isaak, A. (2019). Essays on Trust and Online Peer-to-Peer Markets. Universität Mannheim.