Chair of Entrepreneurial and Behavioral Decision Making
In BA teaching, the professorship for Entrepreneurial and Behavioral Decision Making mainly deals with the economic and psychological foundations of entrepreneurship, in the MA course with entrepreneurial decisions, but also with behavioral economics more generally, behavioral decision making, and methodological foundations, i.e. experiments. In research, it also deals with decisions, both entrepreneurial ones, but also in a more general perspective. Prof. Schade uses the basic principles of behavioral economics, experimental economics, and quantum decision making, which he himself helped to further and which he is also currently developing further. This comprises the question of free will. His research associates also work on these issue, but also deal with social decisions of entrepreneurs, cognitive psychological approaches and the problem of subjectivity/quantum decision making.
The chair is held by Professor Dr. Christian D. Schade.
The chair is located at Spandauer Straße 1, third floor. Admin. office room 302.
!!! IMPORTANT NOTICE !!!
Please note that Professor Schade’s regular retirement date will be March 31, 2028. This implies that the winter semester 2027/28 will be his last semester at HU Berlin. Moreover, this is planned to be a research semester. Thus, last teaching will be taking place at this chair in the summer semester 2027. He will, however, still be supervising a limited amount of master theses (not more than five) in the winter semester 2027/28.
For all students planning to write their thesis (bachelor or master) at this chair, this means that you will have to plan your study program as follows:
Bachelor:
Begin of studies at HU: latest winter semester 2025/26
Begin with courses offered by this chair: summer semester 2026, or winter semester 2026/27 at the latest
(E.g. "Economics of Entrepreneurship" in summer semester 2026, seminar "Innovative Entrepreneurship" in winter semester 2026/27 and "BA-Thesis-Seminar" in summer semester 2027, or alternatively
"Economics of Entrepreneurship" and seminar "Innovative Entrepreneurship" in winter semester 2026/27 and "BA-Thesis-Seminar" in summer semester 2027)
The pre-requisites for attending the Bachelor-Thesis-Seminar and writing your bachelor thesis at this chair are: completion of the "Pflichtbereich BWL or VWL" and successful completion of the lecture and seminar mentioned above. Therefore, BA students starting at HU in winter semester 2026/2027 will not, anymore, be able to write their thesis with us.
Master:
Latest participation in "Entrepreneurial and Behavioral Decision Making" in winter semester 2026/27 and in seminar "Entrepreneurship and Innovation Theory" in summer semester 2027 (or also in winter semester 2026/27: presumably the better strategy; see below!)
and/or "Design of Decision Experiments" and seminar "Entrepreneurship and Innovation Theory" in summer term 2027 (however, not recommended; see below)
Master Thesis in winter term 2027/28
The pre-requisites for writing your master thesis at this Chair are: successful completion of either "Entrepreneurial and Behavioral Decision Making" or "Design of Decision Experiments" AND the seminar "Entrepreneurship and Innovation Theory".
Due to a very limited personnel and teaching capacity in winter term 2027/28, we will have to – most probably – random draw between students interested in writing their master thesis with us in this semester. The safer strategy therefore is to plan your study in a way that your master thesis can be written with us in the summer term 2027, already. This requires an earlier start into the program. The safest strategy, in any case, is to do your seminar "Entrepreneurship and Innovation Theory" in the winter term 2026/27!
If in any doubt, please consult us, e.g., within the office hours!
News
- The registration deadline for the bachelor seminar "Innovative Entrepreneurship" has been extended until Oct. 13, 2025
- Publication:
Schade, C.D. (2023): Towards a Philosophy of Entrepreneurial Decision Making: Understanding the Nature of Innovations within the Framework of the Quantum Multiverse. In: Alain Fayolle and Saulo Dubart Barbosa (eds.): A Research Agenda for Entrepreneurial Decision Making. Edgar Elgar. In press. - Prof. Schades student office hour during the winter term 2025/26 will take place Tuesdays from 14.30 hrs. to 15.30 hrs in room 300. Please register by contacting the administrative assistant, Ute Ottenbreit.
Short term changes will be posted here. - For capacity reasons, Professor Schade is not currently accepting new doctoral students. If you are interested in the doctoral programme of the Berlin School of Economics, you will find further information here: https://www.wiwi.hu-berlin.de/en/research/bse/phd-program/general-information
Acceptance to this program does not guarantee supervision by Professor Schade!
Professor Schade is also currently not available for mentoring functions within the Berlin StartUp stipend or similar programs.