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My research centers around collaborative organizing in three innovation-related contexts: new venture teams, research and development collaborations, and open-source software communities. The conceptual foundation of my work lies in the intersection between organizational theory and organizational psychology.

Employing a broad spectrum of methods ranging from grounded theory to machine learning, my empirical studies focus on the fundamental challenges to collaboration, including goal asymmetry, information asymmetry, and conflict. I am particularly interested in the mechanisms that replace formal authority in addressing these challenges. My recent research focuses on how digital technologies shape the dynamics of collaboration (human-human or human-AI) and offer solutions to old and new challenges.

Academic Journal Articles

  1. Wesemann, H., Sirén, C., He, V. F., Grichnik, D., & Wincent, J. (2024) The two faces of hierarchy: CEO power and TMT learning diversity in technology venture innovation. Small Business Economics.

  2. He, V. F., *Tröbinger, M. & Murray, A. (2024) The crowd beyond funders: An integrative review of and research agenda for crowdfunding, Academy of Management Annals.

  3. He, V. F. & Puranam P. (2024) Some challenges for the “New DAOism”: A comment on KlimaDAO, Journal of Organization Design.

  4. *Tinguely, P., Lee, J.-H., & He, V. F. (2023) Designing human resource management systems in the age of AI. Journal of Organization Design.

  5. Clarysse, B., He., V. F., & Tucci, C. (2022) Special issue editorial: How the Internet of Things reshapes the organization of innovation and entrepreneurship. Technovation, 118, 102644.

  6. He., V. F., von Krogh, G., & Sirén, C. (2022) Expertise diversity, informal leadership hierarchy, and team knowledge creation: A study of pharmaceutical research collaborations. Organization Studies, 43(6), 907-930.

  7. He., V. F., von Krogh, G., Sirén, C., & *Gersdorf, T. (2021) Asymmetries between partners and the success of university–industry collaborations. Research Policy, 50(10), 104356.

  8. *Shrestha Y. R., He, V. F., Puranam P., & von Krogh, G. (2021) Algorithmic induction through machine learning: Can we use prediction models to theorize? Organization Science, 32(3), 856-880. (Shared first authorship)

  9. He, V. F., Puranam P., *Shrestha Y. R., & von Krogh, G. (2020) Resolving governance disputes in online communities: A study of license decisions in open source software projects. Strategic Management Journal, 41(10), 1837-1868. (Shared first authorship)

  10. Sirén, C., He, V. F., *Wesemann, H., *Jonassen, Z., Grichnik, D., & von Krogh, G. (2020) Leader emergence in nascent venture teams: The interplay between individual emotion regulation and team emotions. Journal of Management Studies, 57(5), 931-961.

  11. *Gersdorf, T., He. V. F., Schlesinger, A., Koch, G., Widmer, H., & von Krogh, G. (2019) Demystifying industry-academia collaborations in drug discovery. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, 18, 743-744.

  12. He, V. F., Sirén, C., Singh, S., Solomon, G. T., & von Krogh, G. (2018) Keep calm and carry on: Emotion regulation in entrepreneurs’ learning from failure. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 42(4), 605-630.

  13. Späth, S., von Krogh, G., & He, V. F. (2015) Perceived firm attributes and intrinsic motivation in sponsored OSS projects. Information Systems Research, 26(1), 224-237. (Shared first authorship)

    Media coverage at the World Economic Forum: What motivates open source coders?

Professional Journal Articles

  1. He, V. F. & Puranam, P. (2022) Organizing in the Metaverse. INSEAD Knowledge, June, 2022.

  2. He., V. F., (2021) What makes a successful partnership between industry and academia? ESSEC Knowledge, Oct, 2021.

  3. He, V. F., (2021) In the age of AI, do we still need researchers? ESSEC Knowledge, Special Issue “Artificial Intelligence and Technological Transformation,” April, 2021.

Book Chapters & Conference Proceedings

  1. He, V. F. & Puranam, P. (2023) Collaborative organizing: Managing conflict without authority. Forthcoming in Snow & Fjeldstad (Eds.) Designing Adaptive Organizations. Cambridge University Press. 

  2. He, V. F. & *Krähenmann, G. (2021)  (Not) Learning from failure? The heavy toll of stigma on entrepreneurs, in Todt, Backmann, & Weiss (Eds.) Work Life after Failure. Emerald Publishing. 

  3. *Wedl, C., Ben-Menahem, S., He, V. F., & von Krogh, G. (2018) What is innovation anyway? Creation of coercive and formal control for innovation processes. Academy of Management Annual Meeting Best Paper Proceeding.

  4. He, V. F., Sirén, C., Singh, S., & Solomon, G. T. (2012) Why do some entrepreneurs fail forward (while others do not)? A moderated mediation model of entrepreneurial learning, emotional intelligence, and goal orientation. International Council for Small Business World Conference Best Paper Proceeding.

Working papers in revision

  1. [Adaptive redesign of collaboration framework], R&R to Administrative Science Quarterly, with Massa, F.

  2. [Learning from collaboration failure], R&R to Organisation Science, with *Jonassen, Z. & von Krogh, G.

  3. [Machine learning in entrepreneurship], R&R to Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, with *Shrestha Y. R.

Working papers on SSRN

  1. Trust in virtual interactions, with Landau, D., Stern, I., & Vanneste, B.

  2. Searching together: A theory of human-AI co-creativity, with *Shrestha Y. R., Puranam, P., & Miron-Spektor, E.

* current/former student

Ongoing Projects

  • Design and governance of DAOs

    Project 1. Consensus building in DAOs. With Matthias Tröbinger (ESSEC) & Phanish Puranam (INSEAD)

    Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) constitute a new, technology-centric paradigm of organization design. While DAOs can facilitate a myriad of human activities using codified procedures, they cannot design or change these procedures without the participation of humans. In this study we design experimental interventions to improve consensual decision making in DAOs. We aim at developing a better understanding of 1) consensual decision processes in general, which are important to democratic institutions in organizations and societies at large, and 2) the conditions under which it can be an effective alternative to hierarchical decision making. 

    Project 2. Hybrid design of DAO startups. With Mike Lee (INSEAD)

    DAOs not only offer novel solutions to some of the fundamental problems of organizing, but they also transform human participation in organizations. Notably, some firms with non-financial goals are creating DAOs and delegating decision making to these communities as a way to help the firm maintain fidelity to its non-financial goals. In this study we adopt a multi-case approach to examine the role that firm hierarchies play in structuring the participation and decision-making of DAO communities and investigate how the ideology of techno-optimism informs the way firms attempt to utilize DAO communities to resolve the tensions of hybridity.

    Project 3. Conflict management in the Bitcoin community. With Felipe Massa (University of Vermont)

  • Collaboration in the Metaverse

    Project 1. Transferring trust across modality and reality. With Bart Vannest (UCL) &, Ithai Stern, Daniel Landau (INSEAD)

    The metaverse is a technology platform that allows for immersive social interaction across a variety of shared virtual spaces, mediated through avatars. Trust has been known as the lubricant of social interaction in psychical spaces and past research has shown the importance of trust when social interaction transitions from physical to virtual spaces. Can trust be developed in the metaverse and if so, what facilitates its development? In a series of lab experiments, we focus on two key elements of the metaverse—social copresence and avatar usage—and examine their effect on trust building. We are filming and developing experimental conditions in a virtual reality environment, which allows us a strong manipulation of both the digital representations of the interactors and social contexts where interactions take place.

    Project 2. Avatar mediated social interaction & team innovation. With Tianyu He (NUS) & Ella Miron-Spector (INSEAD)

    While some studies find that individuals who use avatars can explore multiple identities, are more engaged in their tasks, and can improve their creative thinking, new evidence suggests that interacting via avatars can be a barrier to effective collaboration in teams. Integrating research on creativity, identity work, and virtual communication, we explore how, when, and why using avatars in virtual collaboration can stimulate team creativity. We are currently conducting laboratory experiments in Singapore and Europe.

  • Resource mobilization on open platforms

    Project 1. Mobilizing collective effort in new venture teams, with Charlotta Siren (St.Gallen), Zoe Jonassen (NYU), & Henrik Wesemann (IE).

    Prior work has accumulated substantial insight into how lead entrepreneurs—individuals who envisage a venture idea—pitch their idea to potential investors to garner external resources. However, how lead entrepreneurs communicate their idea to mobilize startup team members to invest effort in developing the idea remains less well understood. Leveraging research opportunities found on a global platform for entrepreneurs to meet and find co-founders, we collected multisource data from around 100 startup teams over nine months. We use novel methods (facial expression analysis and lexicon-based natural language processing to analyze video data) to explore questions around resource mobilisation within and beyond the venture team.

    Project 2. Mobilizing resources for social causes. With Yash Shrestha (HEC Lausanne)

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