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Professor Thomas Maak

Professorial Chair in Ethics

School of Business
Faculty of Business, Economics and Law
t.maak@business.uq.edu.au
+61 7 334 68181

Overview

Thomas Maak is the inaugural Professorial Chair in Ethics at the University of Queensland Business School. A business ethicist by training, he previously served as Director Centre for Workplace Leadership and Professor of Leadership at the University of Melbourne. Thomas is global authority in the field of responsible leadership, business ethics, and the micro-foundations of CSR. His research links the individual, group, and organizational levels, combining ethical theory, political philosophy, relational thinking and stakeholder theory. His research interests include ethical decision-making, political CSR, and organizational neuroscience. His work has been published in leading academic journals such as the Academy of Managment Learning & Education, Journal of Management Studies, Human Resource Management, Organizational Researdh Methods, and the Journal of Business Ethics.

Thomas has extensive experience in leadership development and has worked for several years with PricewaterhouseCoopers on their award-winning senior executive program ‘Ulysses’. He has also worked with other leading companies, including BMW, Volkswagen, Shell, UBS, Dong Energy, and Novo Nordisk. Through his work with leading social entrepreneurs in South Asia and South America, including Gram Vikas, Hagar, and Fundacion Paraguaya, he is also interested in social innovation and the advancement of human dignity in a fractured world. Before coming to Australia, Thomas started his academic career at the University of St. Gallen, home to the world’s best MSc in Management, and is a graduate from the INSEAD International Director’s Program. From 2004-2008 he held an appointment as Senior Research Fellow at INSEAD, France, and co-directed a research stream within the PwC-INSEAD initiative on high-performing organizations, before being appointed Full Professor at ESADE Business School in Barcelona, one of the top-ranked MBA schools in the world, and a leader in corporate executive education. In 2014 he was a visiting professor at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Thomas is the immediate past president of ISBEE, the International Society of Business, Economics, and Ethics and has chaired the 2022 World Congress in Bilbao, Spain.

Research Interests

  • Business ethics
    Ethical foundations of business Responsible agency Responsible management Corporate social responsibility ESG Stakeholder management and dialogue Political CSR
  • Responsible leadership
    Responsible leadership in a stakeholder context What makes a responsible leader? Developing responsible leaders Micro-foundations of CSR Relational ontology of leadership Responsible strategic leadership
  • Organizational cognitive neuroscience
    Teamneurodynamics Neuroscience of leadership Extended brain theory

Research Impacts

Professor Maak is the co-founder of responsible leadership theory and his work is cited widely across disciplines and sectors. Responsible leadership is now the most searched leadership concept on Google search.

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland

Publications

  • Book Chapter: Organisational integrity as wholeness

    Maak, Thomas and Pless, Nicola M. (2024). Organisational integrity as wholeness. Research handbook on organisational integrity. (pp. 352-362) Cheltenham, Glos, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781803927930.00029

  • Book: Responsible leadership

    Nicola Pless and Thomas Maak eds. (2021). Responsible leadership. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/b22741

  • Book: The Routledge companion to corporate social responsibility

    Thomas Maak, Nicola M. Pless, Marc Orlitzky and Sukhbir Sandhu eds. (2021). The Routledge companion to corporate social responsibility. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis. doi: 10.4324/9781003152651

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Supervision

  • Responsible Leadership as Shared Practice

    Doctor Philosophy

View all Supervision

Publications

Book

  • Responsible leadership

    Nicola Pless and Thomas Maak eds. (2021). Responsible leadership. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/b22741

  • The Routledge companion to corporate social responsibility

    Thomas Maak, Nicola M. Pless, Marc Orlitzky and Sukhbir Sandhu eds. (2021). The Routledge companion to corporate social responsibility. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis. doi: 10.4324/9781003152651

  • Good dividends: responsible leadership of business purpose

    Steve Kempster, Thomas Maak and Ken Parry eds. (2019). Good dividends: responsible leadership of business purpose. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis. doi: 10.4324/9781315102306

  • Responsible leadership

    Pless, Nicola M. and Maak, Thomas (2012). Responsible leadership. Springer Netherlands. doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-3995-6

Book Chapter

  • Organisational integrity as wholeness

    Maak, Thomas and Pless, Nicola M. (2024). Organisational integrity as wholeness. Research handbook on organisational integrity. (pp. 352-362) Cheltenham, Glos, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781803927930.00029

  • Developing global leaders who make a difference

    Maak, Thomas, Borecká, Markéta and Pless, Nicola M. (2020). Developing global leaders who make a difference. Research Handbook of Global Leadership. Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781782545354.00024

  • Development of Employee Engagement through CSR

    Kidd, Andy, Maak, Thomas, Pless, Nicola and Harris, Howard (2020). Development of Employee Engagement through CSR. Employee Engagement in Corporate Social Responsibility. (pp. 28-46) 1 Oliver's Yard, 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP : SAGE Publications Ltd. doi: 10.4135/9781529739176.n3

  • Four Cornerstones That Underpin the Good Dividends

    Kempster, Steve, Maak, Thomas and Parry, Ken (2019). Four Cornerstones That Underpin the Good Dividends. Good Dividends. (pp. 11-29) Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315102306-2

  • Leadership of Purpose

    Kempster, Steve, Parry, Ken and Maak, Thomas (2019). Leadership of Purpose. Good Dividends. (pp. 3-10) Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315102306-1

  • Planetary Dividend

    Maak, Thomas and Pless, Nicola M. (2019). Planetary Dividend. Good Dividends. (pp. 139-153) Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315102306-10

  • Responsible Leadership

    Maak, Thomas and Pless, Nicola M. (2019). Responsible Leadership. Good Dividends. (pp. 30-36) Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315102306-3

  • The Good Dividends

    Kempster, Steve, Maak, Thomas and Parry, Ken (2019). The Good Dividends. Good Dividends. (pp. 37-50) Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315102306-4

  • Responsible Global Leadership

    Stahl, Günter K., Pless, Nicola M., Maak, Thomas and Miska, Christof (2017). Responsible Global Leadership. Global Leadership. (pp. 363-388) Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315232904-12

  • Mindfulness, Reperceiving, and Ethical Decision Making: A Neurological Perspective

    Pless, Nicola, Sabatella, Filomena and Maak, Thomas (2017). Mindfulness, Reperceiving, and Ethical Decision Making: A Neurological Perspective. Research in Ethical Issues in Organizations. (pp. 1-20) Emerald Publishing Limited. doi: 10.1108/s1529-209620170000017001

  • Levi Strauss & Co.: Addressing Child Labour in Bangladesh

    Pless, Nicola and Maak, Thomas (2016). Levi Strauss & Co.: Addressing Child Labour in Bangladesh. Readings and Cases in International Human Resource Management. (pp. 466-476) Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315668703-35

  • Responsible global leadership

    Stahl, Günter K., Pless, Nicola M. and Maak, Thomas (2011). Responsible global leadership. Global Leadership: Research, Practice, and Development, 2nd Edition. (pp. 240-259) Taylor and Francis. doi: 10.4324/9780203138014

  • Responsible leadership: pathways to the future

    Pless, Nicola M. and Maak, Thomas (2011). Responsible leadership: pathways to the future. Responsible leadership. (pp. 3-13) edited by Nicola M. Pless and Thomas Maak. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-3995-6_2

  • The leader as responsible change agent: Promoting humanism in and beyond business

    Maak, Thomas and Pless, Nicola (2009). The leader as responsible change agent: Promoting humanism in and beyond business. Humanism in Business. (pp. 358-374) Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511808395.023

  • Responsible leadership in a globalized world: A cosmopolitan perspective

    Maak, Thomas and Pless, Nicola M. (2008). Responsible leadership in a globalized world: A cosmopolitan perspective. Handbook of Research on Global Corporate Citizenship. (pp. 430-453) Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.. doi: 10.4337/9781848442924.00029

  • Responsible leadership: A relational approach

    Maak, Thomas and Pless, Nicola M. (2005). Responsible leadership: A relational approach. Responsible Leadership. (pp. 33-53) Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. doi: 10.4324/9780203002247

  • Weltkonsumbürger — Politische Konsumethik im Zeitalter von Globalisierung und E-Commerce

    Maak, Thomas (2003). Weltkonsumbürger — Politische Konsumethik im Zeitalter von Globalisierung und E-Commerce. Wirtschaftsethische Fragen der E-Economy. (pp. 360-375) edited by Peter Fischer, Christoph Hubig and Peter Koslowski. Heidelberg, Germany: Physica. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-57345-3_21

  • Integrative Business Ethics — A Critical Approach in St. Gallen

    Ulrich, Peter and Maak, Thomas (1998). Integrative Business Ethics — A Critical Approach in St. Gallen. The European Difference. (pp. 59-74) edited by László Zsolnai. New York, NY United States: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4615-5595-7_6

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Links

ResearcherID: F-7423-2015

ORCID: 0000-0002-6435-8146

Scopus ID: 57191421656

Personal Profile: Link

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