Michael Frese

Prof. Frese holds appointments at Asia Business School (Malaysia) and Leuphana University of Lueneburg (Germany) and a visiting appointment (former Head of Dept. and Provost chair) at NUS Business School. Prior appointments were at NUS, at University of Giessen (chair for work and organizational psychology) and visitng professor at London Business School; professorial appointments also at University of Bremen, at University of Pennsylvania, at LMU (Munich) and at UvA (Amsterdam). He lectured internationally – as visiting professor in the USA (e.g., Maryland, Michigan State), Sweden, Zimbabwe, Brazil, China (Zheijang Univ), Uganda (continuous visiting professor at Markerere University Business School), and elsewhere. Prof. Frese was a student at Univ of Regensburg (BA=Vorplom), Free University of Berlin (Diploma = MSc) and Technical University Berlin (PhD).

Prof. Frese’s research spans a wide range of basic and applied topics within organizational behavior and work psychology. Most important are his longitudinal studies on psychological effects of unemployment, impact of stress at work, predictors of personal initiative, as well as psychological success factors of entrepreneurs. His field studies on errors, error management, and error management culture have received wide attention. He is also studying training - most importantly the concept of error management training, leadership training and training to improve entrepreneurial success and personal initiative. He studies cultural factors in organization and across nations, as well as success factors in entrepreneurs in developing countries (Africa, Latin America, and Asia). He is known for his (cross-national) research on innovation, most recentlty innovation processes in Asia.

Frese has authored 170 peer reviewed journal articles (in amongst other journals SCIENCE, AMJ, JAP, PP, AMLE, JPSP, JBV, ROB, JOB, JVB, JOOP, and APIR) and ca 250 book chapters, etc, and was editor/author of ca 30 books and special issues. A recent SCIENCE articls provides the results of a ramdomized controlled experiment of his training concept of Personal Initiative for Entrepreneurs. His edited books include Goal-Directed Behavior: The Concept of Action in Psychology, Psychological Issues of Human-Computer Interaction in the Work Place, Successful Entrepreneurs: Psychological Analyses and Practical Suggestions for Entrepreneurs in East and West Germany (German and Russian), Success and failure of microbusiness owners in Africa: A psychological approach, The Psychology of Entrepreneurship (SIOP Organizational Frontiers Series), and Errors in Organizations (SIOP Organizational Frontiers Series), The Psychology of Planning in Organizations: Research and Applications (Routledge), Gielnik, M. M. Frese, M., Cardon, M (Eds). (2021).

Awards: He received several university best scholar as well as best paper awards; he was also elected as Fellow by the German Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina); he is Fellow in the following organizations: Academy of Management, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Division 14 of APA), Association for Psychological Science, and International Association of Applied Psychology. In 2015 he received the Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award by SIOP and the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management Greif award for the most influential entrepreneurship publication of the last 6 years (ETP, 2009). In 2016 he received the Distinguished Career Contributions Award of the German Psychological Association (Leipzig), the Dedication to Entrepreneurship Award by the Entrepreneurship division of the Academy of Management (Anaheim), the 2016 Emerald Africa Academy of Management Trailblazer Award (Nairobi, Kenya); later he received the2018 Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award of the International Association of Applied Psychology (Montreal), the 2020 Path-to-Scale Award by Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-lab, MIT), and the 2021 Life Time Achievement Award of Organizational Behavior Division, Academy of Management.

Ranked third in life time publications among German management professors (BWL-Handelsblatt-Rankings 2012, 2014) and among the five most cited economists in Germany (Scopus Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Ranking on Research 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 - the German term economist includes management), he is the most frequently cited work and organizational psychologist and organizational behavior scientist in Germany and Asia and one of the most frequently cited Europeans (h-index =114; ca 69,000 Google Scholar citations with 16 articles cited more than 1000 times; i10=280; Web of Science: ca 15,500 cites, h=60, with two papers being in the top 1% of the field (2018); Scopus: ca 21,000; h=66). He belongs to the 15 most frequently cited active scholars in Management, Organizational Behavior, and Entrepreneurship and Work Psychology worldwide (Google) and the 2% best researchers in 2020 and 2021 Stanford Ranking by Ioannidis et al.Prof. Frese presented approx.. 90 invited congress keynote addresses, e.g., at ICP in San Francisco (1998), Stockholm (2000), Athens (2006), Melbourne (2010), BPS Occupational Psychology, Chester (2013) and Paris ICAP (2014), APS (2017), Montreal ICAP (2018), AoM, on-line (2021).

He currently serves on the following editorial boards of journals: Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Applied Psychology: An International Review, Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being; Journal of Business and Psychology, Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior. Prof. Frese served as field editor of Journal of Business Venturing – the most important entrepreneurship journal (until end of 2016). He was editor of the journal Applied Psychology: An International Review, Co-Editor of Psychologische Rundschau, and was on the editorial board of various book series (e.g., Management Series (Routledge)). He was President of the International Association of Applied Psychology and headed the division Work and Organizational Psychology of German Society for Psychology. In 2020, he was elected to be on the Board of Directors of GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness).

His research was supported by research grants (from 20 000 to a few million Euros) from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the German government, Volkswagenstiftung, European Union, Nederlandse Wetenschap Organisatie, Mercedes-Benz, Opel, and Accenture, Ministry of Education and SSRC in Singapore, UNESCO, DAAD, World Bank, and other science supporting organizations. He also served as consultant and lecturer to the management of many companies (e.g., banking, technology, automobile, utility, telecommunication, industry, with more than 500 talks given and consulting jobs done).

Education Qualifications

• Ph.D, Technical University of Berlin, Germany, 1978
• Diplom (Dipl.-Psych.), Free University of Berlin, Germany, 1976
• Vordiplom, University of Regensburg, Germany, 1971

Research Interest

• Basic And Applied Topics Of Organizational Behavior
• Entrepreneurship
• Innovation
• Studies On Errors, Error Management And Error Management Culture
• Training: The Concept Of Error Training, Leadership Training And Psychological Training For Increasing Entrepreneurial Success And Personal Initiative.
• Cultural Factors In Organization And Across Nations: As Well As Psychological Success Factors In Entrepreneurs In Developing Countries (africa, Latin America, And Asia) And In Europe.

Academic Experience

• Tenured Professor, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, 2009 - current
• Visiting Professor, Makerere, University of Business School, Kampala, Uganda, 2009 - current
• Tenured Professor, Luephana Universit of Leuneburg, Germany, 2009 - current
• Additional Adjunct Professor, University of Pennsylvania, 1984 - current
• Visiting Professor (part-time), London Business School, 1999 - 2009
• Chair for Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Giessen, 1991 - 2009
• Visiting Professor (sabbatical), Michigan State University, 2003 - 2004
• Visiting Professor (sabbatical), University of Maryland, 2003
• Visiting Professor, Zheijang University, China, 2000
• Chair for Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1995 - 2000
• Tenured Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Munich, 1984 - 1991
• Visiting Professor, University of Mannheim, 1989 - 1990
• Visiting Professor, Pennsylvania State University, 1988 - 1989

Membership & Professional Activities

• Editor, Psychologische Rundschau
• Editor, Applied Psychology: An International Review, 1991-1998
• Past President Officer, International Association of Applied Psychology, 2006-2010
• President, International Association of Applied Psychology, 2002-2006
• Elected Fellow, Academy of Management, 2014
• Elected Fellow , International Association of Applied Psychology, 2014
• Elected Member, German Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), 2014
• Fellow , Society for the Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) of Division 14 of the American Psychological Association, 2000
• Vice-President, Division of Work and Organizational Psychology in the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur psychologie (1992-1994)
• President (Speaker), Division of Work and Organizational Psychology in the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Psychologie, (1990-1992)
• Editorial Board, The European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychologist
• Editorial Board, Personnel Psychology - Editorial Board Member - On going
• Editorial Board, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
• Editorial Board, Journal of Small Business Management
• Editorial Board, Journal of Organizational Behavior
• Editorial Board, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology - Editorial Board Member - On going
• Editorial Board, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology
• Field Editor, Journal of Business Venturing - (1 Sep 2009-2016)
• Editorial Board, Journal of Business and Psychology - Editorial Board Member - On going
• Editorial Board, Journal of Applied Psychology - (current)
• Editorial Board, Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice - Editorial Board Member (2008-2014)
• Editorial Board, Human Relations
• Editorial Board, Human Performance - Editorial Board Member - On going
• Editorial Board, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice - Editorial Board Member - On going
• Editorial Board, Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being - Editorial Board Member - On going
• Editorial Board, Applied Psychology: An International Review - Editorial Board Member - On going
• Editorial Board, Academy of Management Journal (1 Feb 2011, on-going)
• The Summit Group of I/O Psychologies (by invitation only)
• The Society for Organizational Behavior (SOB, by invitation only)
• President Elect (Officer) , International Association of Applied Psychology (1998 - 2002)
• President , International Association of Applied Psychology (2002-2006)
• Honorary Member, Psychological Soceity of South Africa (PSYSSA)
• Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Psychology (former president of I/O group)
• Foreign Associate, American Psychogical Association
• Editorial Board, Academy of Management Journal (1 Feb 2011, on-going)