Isabella Grabner

Professor, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business

Isabella Grabner is Professor of Strategy and Managerial Accounting at WU Vienna (Vienna University of Economics and Business). She obtained her PhD from WU Vienna in 2009 and rejoined the university in 2018 after serving on the faculty of Maastricht University.

Her research explores how performance management and management control systems enable effective decision making, strategy execution, and transformation in complex organizations. Key areas of interest include innovation and creativity, the identification, development, and retention of talent, and how organizations manage digital transformation (e.g., remote work and advanced analytics) and green transformation (e.g., ESG integration). She also studies the challenges firms face in adopting management innovations and new technologies.

Her work is published in leading scholarly journals, including Accounting, Organizations and Society, Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Management Accounting Research, Management Science, and The Accounting Review. She has received numerous international research awards, including the 2016 Best Early Career Researcher in Management Accounting (American Accounting Association), the 2014 Maastricht University Excellent Young Scholar Award, and the 2012 Management Accounting Section Midyear Meeting Outstanding Paper Award.

She teaches management accounting and strategy execution in BSc and MSc programs as well as MBA and Executive MBA programs. She works closely with organizations through company collaborations in both research and teaching, supporting leaders in the design and implementation of performance management systems that drive execution, innovation, and sustainability.