Researching transparency in action: Doctoral Student Lisa Knacker defends her dissertation

What do the EU taxonomy, ESG disclosures, and the strategic tone of corporate reports have in common? They are all topics of Lisa Knacker’s PhD thesis “Essays on Information Transparency”, which she successfully defended today.

Lisa’s dissertation dives deep into the role of transparency in corporate communication from examining whether the EU’s sustainability taxonomy is a suitable foundation for corporate decision-making and oversight, to analyzing how executives shape disclosure tone in 10-K filings and MD&A sections.

Her research has not only sparked national attention such as at the the Annual Conference of the German Economic Association of Business Administration (GEABA e.V.) in Konstanz but also reached a broad international audience at leading conferences like the European Accounting Association’s Annual Congress in Espoo and Bergen, the MAS Annual Meeting, and multiple DART Workshops.

Today, Lisa’s PhD journey culminated with the best possible grade: summa cum laude. A remarkable achievement - congratulations, Lisa!