Designing Virtual Work that Works

Welcome to the homepage of the Assistant Professorship for Business Psychology at the School of Business, Economics, and Society at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg.

The Assistant Professorship for Business Psychology is part of the Institute for Labor Economics and Socioeconomics (IAS) at the School of Business, Economics, and Society at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg. In both research and teaching, we focus on human experience and behavior in the (increasingly digitized) workplace. Our research spands a range of current topics, such as virtual communication, teamwork and work design and addresses questions such as:

• How does the lack of a shared physical work environment affect communication, coordination or connectedness in teams?
• What should company agreements on mobile or hybrid work take into account in order to ensure both individual flexibility and intrateam coordination at the same time?
• How can we best study and design (virtual) meetings?

Recent Publications

Here are three of the most recent publications of the assistant  professorship (more publications can be found here):

• Tartler, D., Handke, L., & Kauffeld, S. (2025). Designing virtual meetings: Reviewing virtual meeting design through the lens of media naturalness. Electronic Markets, 35(1), 41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-025-00789-5
• Handke, L., Costa, P. L., Hincapie, M. X., & Johnson, M. D. (2025). Not even remotely close: How Co‐Location imbalance affects subgroup formation in hybrid teams. Journal of Organizational Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2875
• Handke, L., De Boeck, G., Parker, S. K. (2025). Exploring the use of ICTs as a tool for job crafting. Journal of Vocational Behavior, Volume 156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2024.104081

News

• 

  20NOV 2025

  general

  Courses in the winter semester 2025/26

  This semester, the junior professorship is offering a seminar in the Master’s degree programmes Socioeconomics as well as a lecture in the Bachelor’s degree programmes Socioeconomics.This semester, the junior professorship is offering a seminar in the Master’s degree programmes Socioeconomics as well as a lecture in the Bachelor’s degree programmes Socioeconomics.

  Read more about Courses in the winter semester 2025/26
• 

  12NOV 2025

  general

  Designing virtual meetings

  New publication in „Electronic Markets “ by Lisa Handke, Darien Tartler and Simone Kauffeld  In today’s work environment, more and more meetings take place virtually. But how can they be designed to ensure success? In their latest publication, the authors review 31 different studies to explore how the design of virtual meetings – in terms […]New publication in „Electronic Markets “ by Lisa Handke, Darien Tartler and Simone Kauffeld  In today’s work environment, more and more meetings take place virtually. But how can they be designed to ensure success? In their latest publication, the authors review 31 different studies to explore how the design of virtual meetings – in terms […]

  Read more about Designing virtual meetings
• 

  01APR 2025

  general

  Subgroup formation in hybrid teams

  New publication in the “Journal of Organizational Behavior” by Lisa Handke, Patrícia L. Costa, Maria X. Hincapie and Michael D. Johnson Hybrid work environments, in which some team members work on site and others work remotely, are widespread today. However, we know little about how this impacts team dynamics and the risks—particularly regarding subgroup formation—that […]New publication in the “Journal of Organizational Behavior” by Lisa Handke, Patrícia L. Costa, Maria X. Hincapie and Michael D. Johnson Hybrid work environments, in which some team members work on site and others work remotely, are widespread today. However, we know little about how this impacts team dynamics and the risks—particularly regarding subgroup formation—that […]

  Read more about Subgroup formation in hybrid teams

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