Dr. Agnes Bäker is Associate Professor of Leadership at the department of Management and Organization of VU Amsterdam and Program Director of the bachelor program in International Business Administration. She is an Associate Editor at Human Resource Management (Wiley) and on the board of Health Economics Research Amsterdam (HERA). Agnes holds a PhD in Business Economics from the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen (2010). With an interdisciplinary background in economics and management, and a focus on healthcare, Agnes has been teaching in several leadership development programs for medical doctors, and in the executive MBA program at the VU.

Agnes’ research focuses on careers and leadership in higher education and healthcare. Specifically, she investigates the role of knowledge, skills, personality, and networks for successful careers and effective leadership. Furthermore, she studies humor use at work, teamwork, and peer effects, as well as behavioral economics in general. She strongly believes – supported by her research findings – that leaders within organizations are more effective and have more satisfied subordinates if they are experts in the core business of the organization. Her research is mainly empirical, relying on both experimental and econometric design. 

Research Interests: 

• Expert leaders - those with expertise in the core business
• Atypical leaders - e.g., introverts
• Accountability - antecedents and consequences
• Teamwork 
• Trust

Since 2025, Agnes is the Program Director of the bachelor program in International Business Administration at the School of Business and Economics, one of the largest undergraduate programs at the VU Amsterdam. In addition, she teaches executive and Master courses on leadership, culture, teamwork and communication. Agnes supervises PhD students, Master’s students, and Bachelor students.

Career division Outstanding Reviewer Award at the Academy of Management Conference 2022.

2022 Excellence in Reviewing Award 2022 for Human Resource Management (Wiley). Award winners were selected based on recommendations from the Associate Editors as reviewers who stood out in terms of providing exceptionally high-quality reviews. Of the hundreds of individuals, both Editorial Board members and ad hoc reviewers, who provide reviews for HRM, only a dozen were chosen to receive this recognition.

Best Paper Award of the OB SIG at the European Academy of Management Conference 2022

Best Reviewer Award of the OB SIG at the European Academy of Management Conference 2022

Editor's Choice 2021, BMJ Leader

Most downloaded paper 2020, BMJ Leader

Editor's Favorite 2016, Harvard Business Review

Short-listed for the W3-Professorship for Business Administration, particularly Business Politics at the University of Konstanz, 2015.

Best Paper Award of the Spring Meeting of Young Economists 2014

Visiting Fellow at the Department of Economics, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom, January 2013 to April 2013, Invited by: Professor Andrew Oswald (http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/)

Excellent Doctoral Thesis Award 2010 of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen

Guest Researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Economics in Jena, May 2010 and June 2011 (http://www.econ.mpg.de/english/)

PhD Scholarship of the German Research Foundation (DFG), 2006-2009 (www.dfg.de)

Principle Investigator on: Swiss National Science Foundation: “Interpersonal Humor for (Female) Retention and Success in Science”, with Jamie L. Gloor, 2018-2021. CHF 296,980.

Co-Investigator on: Leverhulme Trust Grant RPG-2014-020: “Leadership, the work environment, and scientific productivity”, with Amanda Goodall (PI), 2014-2016. £55,225.

Co-Investigator on: Cass Business School Pump Priming Grant: “Leadership in the Arts: A study of Orchestras”, with Amanda Goodall (PI), 2013-2014. £8,000.

Principle Investigator on: German Federal Ministry of Education & Research: “The Role of Human and Social Capital in Higher Education”, 2011-2014. €460,000.

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