“If you don’t know what port you are sailing to, no wind is favorable” Appointment Preferences of Management Professors

Based on a survey of university management professors in German-speaking Europe, we analyze the relationship between individual and organizational characteristics and university academics’ preferences in appointment decisions. Senior faculty’s attitude towards change proves to be a particular robust predictor of differences in appointment preferences. Faculty who were satisfied with university structures before any reforms place greater value on high-quality monographs and the possession of the venia legendi. Faculty who welcome the aims of university reforms value prestigious journal publications and international experience in applicants. Our results confirm previous homophily and similarity research by showing that university professors value characteristics and qualifications that they themselves possess. Our results also show that differences in appointment preferences depend on whether universities are publicly or privately financed, and their rank in the CHE reputation ranking.