Research interests and publications

Core research areas

The Chair's research focuses on the optimization of incentive and control systems. For example, we conduct research on the role of incentive systems in the consideration of ecological, social and governance goals and on the significance of non-monetary preferences for the optimal design of management systems. Fields of application are board remuneration, internal incentive systems and other management systems such as budgeting systems. We use empirical-quantitative methods (experiments and empirical research with archival data, possibly supplemented by surveys and analytical models).

Publications

Publications in professional journals

• Schäfer, Peter: How much do boards learn about CEO ability in crises? Evidence from CEO turnover, Journal of Banking & Finance, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2025.107513.

• Schäfer, Peter: Influential Information Supply or Just a Modern Pillory? Investor Perceptions of the CEO Pay Ratio Disclosure Rule, Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, 2024 , https://doi.org/10.1111/jbfa.12864.

• Richter, Philipp: Shaping the rules of the game: How political capabilities affect financial performance, European Management Review, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12632.

• Schäfer, Peter: Relative Performance Evaluation and Strategic Differentiation. The Accounting Review, 2023, https://doi.org/10.2308/TAR-2021-0595.
• Brunner, Markus; Schäfer, Peter: Optimal Revision Rules of Cost-Based Transfer Prices in a Multi-Period Production Setting. European Accounting Review, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1080/09638180.2022.2125420.
• Ostermaier, Andreas; Schäfer, Peter: Do Good Intentions Pay Off? Employee Responses to Well-Intended Actions with Risky Outcomes. European Accounting Review, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1080/09638180.2022.2085132.
• Matthäus, David; Schäfer, Peter: Where did you get that from? Gender differences in bargaining for gifts and bought goods. Applied Economics Letters, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2022.2083057.
• Beck, Daniel; Friedl, Gunther; Schäfer, Peter: Executive Compensation in Germany. Journal of Business Economics, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11573-020-00978-y

Books and book chapters

• Cost Accounting - a Decision-Oriented Approach, with Gunther Friedl, Christian Hofmann, and Burkhard Pedell, https://doi.org/10.1142/13100.
• Valuing Research and Development Projects in Energy Markets, in Valuing Corporate Innovation, 2018. Springer, Cham, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64864-4_2

Conference papers and presentations

Conference papers

• Annual Conference of the European Accounting Association 2015, 2017, 2021, 2023

• Annual Conference of the American Accounting Association 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023

• Annual Conference for Management Accounting Research 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022

• Midyear Meeting of the AAA Management Accounting Section 2021, 2022, 2023

• Conference of the European Network for Experimental Accounting Research 2022

• Annual Conference, Association of University Professors of Business Administration e.V., 2015, 2024

Scientific lectures

• University of Melbourne, 2022

• SKEMA Business School, 2022

• IE University Madrid, 2022

• University of Southern Denmark, Odense, 2019

• Alatoo University of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, 2015