Institute of Management and Psychology (IMP)

Management and psychology are closely intertwined: successful organizations often emerge where strategic thinking meets a deep understanding of human behavior and thought. At the Institute for Management and Psychology (IMP), both perspectives are combined to gain sound insights into how decision-making, leadership, and collaboration work.

WHAT WE DO AND WHY

The IMP combines management and psychology to better understand and effectively shape organizations. At the core is the question of how people think, decide, and act in work contexts—and how this behavior impacts leadership, collaboration, health and economic success. Through the close integration of both perspectives, we develop scientifically grounded approaches that are both theoretically relevant and practically applicable.

We put a special emphasis on current challenges such as demographic change, sustainability entrepreneurship, international human resource management, health, and the design of sustainable working conditions. We investigate how organizations can manage aging workforces, attract skilled workers, and create high-performing, healthy work environments in the long term along core topics, such as social relationships, motivation, and the effects of digital communication.

Furthermore, we explore individual and collective decision-making processes—for example, in negotiations, pricing decisions, or entrepreneurial action. Our work on entrepreneurship demonstrates how psychological factors influence startup success and how training programs can be effectively designed worldwide. This is complemented by experimental research on perception, social behavior, and self-control, which reveals the fundamental mechanisms of human action.

Our goal is to gain robust insights that have an impact beyond the academic context. That is why we rely on innovative methods such as experimental designs and international field studies and are committed to the principles of transparent, open science. In this way, we contribute to making organizations not only more efficient, but also more humane and sustainable.

To ensure that our findings are not limited to the academic community, we are also actively involved in science communication, making our research accessible and useful to businesses, policymakers, and the general public. In this way, we foster dialogue between research and practice and help ensure that scientific findings have a tangible impact.