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Alexander Rustler

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

  • alexander.rustler@sbs.ox.ac.uk

Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation
Saïd Business School
University of Oxford
Park End Street
Oxford
OX1 1HP

Profile

Alexander Rustler is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation.  

He obtained his DPhil (PhD) in Management from Saïd Business School. His research was funded by the Saïd Business School Foundation, Skoll Foundation, Santander, the Malcom Deas Fund, and St Antony’s College. Alex also holds a Master of Science in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University. He has worked for the United Nations UNICEF Office of Global Insight and Policy and the Austrian Development Agency of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs.

 

Research

Alex’s research is theoretically grounded in the areas of strategy and organisation theory. His work deals with nonmarket strategy, firm-state relations, and legitimation processes in complex institutional environments. It examines how the private provision of public goods and services instead of states as nonmarket strategy influences relationships between citizens and firms, and citizens and the state, and what this means for firm performance. He is also interested in the strategies firms employ to obtain and maintain legitimacy in post-truth society. Empirically, Alex focuses on the extractive industries, supply chains, and human trafficking organisations. He has also published in the field of business and human rights.

Publications

Court of public opinion: Public perceptions of business involvement in human rights violations
Journal of Business Ethics  |   2022
Amengual, M, Mota, R, Rustler, A

Forthcoming: Rustler, A, Vaara, E, Aranda, A M, 'The Role of Language and Communication in Shaping Social Evaluations: The Case of Discursive Legitimation'. In Younger, R, & Zavyalova, A (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Organisational Social Evaluations.

Engagement

Alex’s work has been published in the Harvard Business Review, and he has authored articles in the Journal of International Affairs, the Public Sphere Journal of Public Policy, the International Affairs Review, as well as in the German-speaking press, such as Die Presse and Der Standard.

Teaching

  • Global Opportunities and Threats, MBA, 2020-2024, Teaching assistant
  • Global Strategy, MBA, 2024, Guest lecturer
  • The Challenges of Business in Emerging Markets, Diploma Programme, 2024, Lecturer
  • Introduction to Management Research Methods, DPhil (PhD), 2024, Guest lecturer
  • Professional Development, DPhil (PhD), 2024, Guest speaker