Thorsten Grohsjean
Associate Professor
Biography
Thorsten Grohsjean is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management and Technology and an ICRIOS fellow at Università Bocconi since September 2016. He worked between 2012 and 2016 as a Junior Professor for strategy and organization in technology-intensive industries at LMU Munich. From 2011 to 2012, he was a Research Associate in the innovation and entrepreneurship group at Imperial College London.
His research focuses on the question of how individuals and firms overcome the challenges associated with the acquisition and development of new knowledge, skills and abilities. He concentrates on employee mobility, problem solving and innovation as the main modes of acquiring and developing human and social capital. The challenges he is interested in include threats to identity, coordination, and cognitive biases. His work is published or forthcoming in Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, the Journal of World Business, and the International Journal of Industrial Organization. Practitioner-oriented versions of his research appeared in MIT Sloan Management Review and Harvard Business Review. Since 2020 he serves on the editorial review board of Strategic Management Journal.
Thorsten got a Ph.D. in Management and a Master of Business Research from LMU Munich and a Diploma in Management from the University of Mannheim.
Recent Publications
- 2025
Can You Go Home Again? Performance Assistance Between Boomerangs and Incumbent Employees
GROHSJEAN, T., G. DOKKO, P. YANG, "Can You Go Home Again? Performance Assistance Between Boomerangs and Incumbent Employees", Organization Science, 2025, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 918-939 - 2025
When colleagues compete outside the firm
GROHSJEAN, T., H. PIEZUNKA, M. MICKELER, "When colleagues compete outside the firm", Strategic Management Journal, 2025, vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 640-666 - 2025
How Competitive vs. Collaborative Team Familiarity Can Affect Creative Processes
BOËNNE, M., K. MERFELD, T. GROHSJEAN, "How Competitive vs. Collaborative Team Familiarity Can Affect Creative Processes" in The 85th Annual Meeting of Academy of Management, July 25-29, 2025, Copenhagen, Denmark - 2024
The new needs friends: Simmelian strangers and the selection of novelty
LAMPRAKI, A., C. KOLYMPIRIS, T. GROHSJEAN, L. DAHLANDER, "The new needs friends: Simmelian strangers and the selection of novelty", Strategic Management Journal, 2024, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 716-744 - 2024
Game-based formats as an apt mechanism to enforce competitive or collaborative team familiarity
MERFELD, K., M. BOËNNE, T. GROHSJEAN, "Game-based formats as an apt mechanism to enforce competitive or collaborative team familiarity" in EURAM 2024 - European Academy of Management Conference, June 24-28, 2024, Bath, Great Britain - 2023
Collaborations that hurt firm performance but help employees’ careers
PIEZUNKA, H., T. GROHSJEAN, "Collaborations that hurt firm performance but help employees’ careers", Strategic Management Journal, 2023, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 778-811 - 2021
The Sequence Effect in Panel Decisions: Evidence from the Evaluation of Research and Development Projects
CRISCUOLO, P., L. DAHLANDER, T. GROHSJEAN, A. SALTER, "The Sequence Effect in Panel Decisions: Evidence from the Evaluation of Research and Development Projects", Organization Science, 2021, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 987-1008 - 2021
New Insights on the Firm-Specific Human Capital Debate: Theoretically Decoupling KSAOs from Tasks
GROHSJEAN, T., D. KRYSCYNSKI, S. S. MORRIS, "New Insights on the Firm-Specific Human Capital Debate: Theoretically Decoupling KSAOs from Tasks" in 81st Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AOM 2021), 30 July-3 August, 2021, (online), United States of America - 2021
Better Ways to Green-Light New Projects
GROHSJEAN, T., L. DAHLANDER, A. SALTER, P. CRISCUOLO, "Better Ways to Green-Light New Projects", Mit Sloan Management Review, 7 December 2021, vol. 63, no. 2, pp. 33-38 - 2019
The Sequence Effect on the Selection of R&D Projects
CRISCUOLO, P., L. DAHLANDER, T. GROHSJEAN, A. SALTER, "The Sequence Effect on the Selection of R&D Projects" in 79th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, August 9-13, 2019, Boston, MA, United States of America
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Grants & Honors
Excellence in Research Award, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, 2024
Excellence in Research Award, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, 2023
Excellence in Research Award, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, 2022
Excellence in Research Award, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, 2021
Excellence inTeaching Award (Innovation) for the 2018-19 Academic Year for the PhD School, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, 2020
Excellence in Research Award, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, 2018
Excellence in Research Award, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, 2017
Jürgen Hauschildt Award 2016 for the Best Empirical Research Publication in Innovation Management with “Evaluating Novelty: The Role of Panels in the Selection of R&D Projects” with Paola Criscuolo, Linus Dahlander and Ammon Salter, 2016
European Business School Best Paper Award “Innovation Management” 2016 for “Evaluating Novelty: The Role of Panels in the Selection of R&D Projects” with Paola Criscuolo, Linus Dahlander and Ammon Salter, 2016
Excellence in Teaching Award, LMU Munich School of Management, 2014
Best Paper Proceedings 2013 (10% best papers) with “The Chosen Ones. The Selection of Capabilities in Professional Services Firms” with Paola Criscuolo, Tore Opsahl and Ammon Salter, Academy of Management, 2013
Best Paper Proceedings 2010 (10% best papers) with “The What, the Who and the How: Learning to Coordinate and Team Performance” with Cristian Dezsö and Tobias Kretschmer, Academy of Management, 2010
DRUID Best Paper Award 2009 for “Product Line Extension in Hypercompetitive Environments – Evidence from the US Video Game Industry” with Tobias Kretschmer, 2009
Excellence in Teaching Award, Universität Mannheim, 2006
