Stephan Gebauer

Title of Dissertation: Reframing Compliance – investing in enabling conditions

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Andreas Suchanek
University: HHL – Handelshochschule Leipzig
Scholarship: sdw – Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft
Cohort: 8th Cohort, since 2021
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• Short Abstract

  For corporations, complying with the law is an essential prerequisite to do business: It signals trustworthiness to clients and can be a competitive edge, whereas non-compliance threatens severe sanctions. For the corporations’ workforce, complying is not equally rational but puts the entire company at risk: typically, an employee perceives compliance with the rules as an (unattractive) refrain. This often corresponds with a low probability of detection in the event of a compliance violation and hence a low risk of suffering drastic (personal) consequences.

  Considering existing legal efforts, I intend to provide employees with (rational) orientation, why to behave in compliance with the rules through complementary ethical means.

  In this conceptual work I use a transactional ethics with economic method i.e., facilitating game theory to examine (un-)ethical interactions with normative concepts from ethics.

  Reframing compliance from cost to an investment in future collaboration offers employees to understand, why compliance is the right thing to do. Employees need to recognize compliance as a worthwhile self-restraint. Compliance (self-restraint) becomes the rational alternative and an enabling condition if otherwise the basis for business (cooperation) erodes.

  
  

• Research Interests

  • Corporate Compliance
  • Integrity
  • Behavioral economics
  • Normative business ethics

• Education

  • 2017, Master of Laws, International Business and Company Law, SRH Hochschule Heidelberg, Germany
  • 2015, Bachelor of Laws, Business Law, Universität Kassel, Germany

• Professional and Academic Career

  • 2018-2021, Compliance Officer, Allianz Global Investors GmbH, Frankfurt a.M., Germany
  • 2017-2018, Trainee Compliance Management, DZ BANK AG, Frankfurt a.M., Germany
  • 2015-2016, Student Employee, Allianz Global Investors GmbH, Frankfurt a.M., Germany
  • 2015, Intern Governance, Risk & Compliance, PricewaterhouseCoopers WPG AG, Frankfurt a.M., Germany
  • 2013-2015, Student Assistant, Universität Kassel, Kassel, Germany

• Publications

  • Petrushevska, M. & Gebauer, S. (2022), Nudging Corporate Compliance und Integrität – Auf der Grundlage des ethischen Kompasses. comply 7(3), 14-16.

• Conference Contributions: Talks

  • N/A

• Conference Contributions: Posters

  • Poster from sdw-Promovierendenforum „Reframing Compliance – investing in enabling conditions”, summer 2022

• Memberships

  • Bundesverband der Compliance Manager (BCM) e.V.