Governance and Compliance

The research focus of the Governance and Compliance Group deals with the conception and impact of institutions in relation to organizational management. Corporate governance is a prime example as it deals with questions relating to sustainability and responsible corporate management. Furthermore the framework of governance affects the implementation of legal norms. These formal legal norms, as well as organizational rules (such as company statutes or remuneration systems), rely on behavioural control which is in turn integrated into behavioural modeling. Thereby all economic actors require an insight into the behaviour of competitors, employees, customers or shareholders, in order to evaluate the altered framework conditions and to reorient strategies.

The "Homo Oeconomicus" design is a behavioural model that empirically examines and adjusts the methodology according to the varying conduct of actors. The methods implemented in this department range from statistical-econometric studies of large data sets, to experimental studies that analyze the behaviour and motivation of actors. Furthermore within behavioural economics, alternative behavioural models are tested using game theory experiments. For these experiments, the faculty has set up the "Göttingen Laboratory of Behavioral Economics", headed by the Professor of Microeconomics, Dr. Claudia Keser.

Within Governance, compliance is of particular interest as it examines how actors analyze the proposals of governmental and supranational processes, as well as those developed through voluntary or (mandatory) mergers. For example within a company this could be the implementation of fair compensation schemes, or an ecologically and ethnically sustainable purchasing and production policy. Another core area of research entails the normative development of institutions based on the principle of "Responsible Innovation" and the ensuing empirical approaches.