Ulrich Lichtenthaler

Ulrich Lichtenthaler is a German economist and professor, currently holding the Chair of Management and Organization at the University of Mannheim.

Life

Ulrich Lichtenthaler studied European Economy at the Otto-Friedrich University in Bamberg and at the Universidad de Granada, graduating with a double degree as Dipl.-Kfm. and European Master of Business Sciences (E.M.B.Sc.). He went on to receive a doctorate at the WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management under Prof. Holger Ernst at the Chair for Technology and Innovation Management in 2006, writing a dissertation with the title Leveraging Knowledge Assets: Success Factors of External Technology Commercialization.

In late 2009, he received his Habilitation with a thesis by publication at the WHU before becoming a visiting professor at the Technical University Berlin for a few months. Then, he followed a call by his alma mater in February 2010 and became professor of the newly created Chair for Innovation and Organization at the WHU. Lichtenthaler holds the Chair of Management and Organization at the University of Mannheim where he succeeded Alfred Kieser in early 2011.

Work

Lichtenthaler had published in some of the most renowned publications of his specialization, among which the Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science and the Strategic Management Journal, though these publications were retracted (see Publications controversy, below).

His research focuses on organization theory, innovation management and strategic management. Concerning his empirical research, he mostly makes use of quantitative methods.

His research publications earned him different awards in Germany, chief among which are the Best Paper Award in Innovation Management, awarded by WHU, and the Nachwuchspreis des Verbands der Deutschen Hochschullehrer für Betriebswirtschaft, an award given to promising young academics in the field of business sciences. Compared with 2100 business economists in Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland in 2009 by the Handelsblatt based on publications since 2005, he achieved second rank among researchers - despite being only 30 years old -, first rank among researchers younger than 40 years and 17th rank according to the lifetime contribution of active researchers. These awards came before the retraction of many of his articles from that period.

Publications controversy

Early in 2012, a group of 20 scientists became aware of problems in some of Lichtenthaler's publications. This led the group to take a closer look at 50 other publications authored and co-authored by Lichtenthaler. The group's examination concluded with severe criticism of Lichtenthaler's work on the following points:

• lack of cross-referencing to publications of his own;
• diverging interpretation of the same data set in different publications;
• severe statistical mistakes, such as claiming statistical significance for non-existing results.

The controversy resulted in several of Lichtenthaler's articles being retracted from the journals Academy of Management Journal, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Strategic Organization, Research Policy, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of World Business, Organization Science, Journal of Business Venturing, Industrial and Corporate Change, Journal of Product Innovation Management. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, and Technological Forecasting and Social Change. As of August 2014, 16 articles of Lichtenthaler have been retracted. As a consequence of this controversy, both WHU and the University of Mannheim have created commissions tasked with investigating the suspected transgression of scientific standards by Lichtenthaler. As of June 2013, the commissions investigating a possible fraud had not yet come to a conclusion. However, his teaching certificate from WHU was revoked by a vote of the WHU Senate on September 11, 2013, because an "essential condition for the granting of the teaching certificate was not met.” Lichtenthaler may yet appeal this decision.