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AI & Leadership Lab

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AI & Leadership Lab

Team: Dr. Robin Bachmann (Co-Lead), Dr. Rudolf Kerschreiter (Co-Lead), Gerion Spielberger (Researcher), Felix Schmirler (Researcher), Dr. Daniel May (Advisor), external researchers, and graduate students

We combine cutting-edge artificial intelligence with behavioral science to understand how leaders communicate, influence, and shape collective outcomes. Using advanced natural language processing (NLP) techniques, large language models (LLMs), and large-scale real-world communication and behavioral data — from corporate email communication to parliamentary debates — we reveal hidden patterns in language and behavior that drive effective leadership. Our work blends advanced computational methods with practical insight, delivering research that informs leaders in organizational, economic, and political contexts.

 

Projects

Cluster 1: Public contexts

This research examines language-based influence strategies used by public leaders at all levels, from top government heads to parliamentary representatives, in both German (e.g., Deutscher Bundestag, 1949-present) and international contexts. Analyses address both immediate audience responses and long-term success across public debates (e.g., financial debates) while considering leaders’ social and political backgrounds.

  • Group-focused linguistic nuances and leadership outcomes (ongoing)
    Robin Bachmann, Rudolf Kerschreiter with Fabiola Gerpott (WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management)

  • Status disparities in public leaders’ communication (ongoing)
    Robin Bachmann with Ruri Takizawa (ETH Zürich) and Ilka H. Gleibs (London School of Economics)

  • Moral reasoning in polarized political debates: An LLM-based classification approach (ongoing)
    Felix Schmirler and Rudolf Kerschreiter

  • Augmenting theory testing with AI: Identify blind spots between theory and data (ongoing)
    Gerion Spielberger, Rudolf Kerschreiter with Florian Artinger (Simply Rational GmbH) and Jochen Reb (Singapore Management University)

  • Coalition building in international crisis (ongoing)
    Robin Bachmann with Ilka Gleibs (London School of Economics) and Lea Rüsch (Universidad Instituto de Empresa)

  • Collectivity in public financial debates (completed)
    Robin Bachmann with Ilka Gleibs (London School of Economics)

  • Group signaling and election outcomes in Germany (completed)
    Robin Bachmann with Ilka Gleibs (London School of Economics)

Cluster 2: Corporate contexts

This research examines leadership styles and behaviors of senior management in corporate contexts. We analyze not only classic self-report data from a new angle but also original data from official communications that reflect intended messages and from everyday interactions that show authentic behavior. Observed patterns are linked to indicators of leader and organizational success.

  • Deployment of heuristics in leadership situations using agentic RAG (ongoing)
    Gerion Spielberger, Rudolf Kerschreiter with Florian Artinger (Simply Rational GmbH) and Jochen Reb (Singapore Management University)

  • Mapping leadership styles in corporate email communication using LLMs (ongoing)
    Gerion Spielberger, Felix Schmirler and Robin Bachmann

  • Team references in executive annual reports (completed)
    Robin Bachmann

  • Identity and organizational transformations (completed)
    Robin Bachmann, Rudolf Kerschreiter with Tabea Scheel (Europa-Universität Flensburg)

 

Ongoing graduate research projects

Supervision by Robin Bachmann:

  • Identity leadership: Word counts vs. LLM ratings (Mila Rangoonwala)
  • Effectiveness of identity leadership under different sentiments (Angelina Reimer)
  • Dimensions of identity leadership and gender (Theresa Augsburg)
  • Linguistic synchronization and leadership effectiveness (Ronnie Porterfield)

Supervision by Rudolf Kerschreiter:

  • AI-framing, occupational identity threat, and ingroup favoritism (Jonas Vollstädt)

Supervsion by Felix Schmirler:

  • Shared national identity and political polarization (Hanna Vangerow)
  • Misperceptions and anti-democratic attitudes (Rosa Haag)
  • Morality and partisan hostility (Lara Elena Schwarz)

  

Selected academic publications

  • Bachmann, R. (in press). Status und Sprache im politischen Diskurs. In L. A. Gierke & F. H. Gerpott (Eds.), Statussymbole im Wandel: Haben, was andere nicht haben können (Vol. 2). Nomos.
  • Bachmann, R. (2025). Money Silences “Us”: Financial Topics Erode Collective Identity in the German Parliament. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2025(1), 21012. https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/AMPROC.2025.277bp [Charles H. Levine Award for Best Conference Paper 2025]
  • Spielberger, G., Artinger, F. M., Reb, J., & Kerschreiter, R. (2025). Retrieval Augmented Generation for Topic Modeling in Organizational Research: An Introduction with Empirical Demonstration. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2502.20963 
  • Bachmann, R., & Gleibs, I. H. (2024). Uncovering the secret life of We-pronouns in the German parliament. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 232(3), 200-208. https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000564 [Special Issue: Natural Language Processing in Psychology]

 

Selected media publications