Julia Brennecke is Professor of Innovation Management at the University of Liverpool and holds the Chair in Organization and Leadership at the University of Oldenburg in Germany. Her research examines how and why firms and employees form network ties, and how collaboration shapes performance and innovation.

Julia won the Best Network Paper Award for her Academy of Management Journal (2020) article, “Dissonant Ties in Intraorganizational Networks: Why Individuals Seek Problem-Solving Assistance from Difficult Colleagues.” The paper shows how a single relationship can be both valuable and difficult, advancing multiplexity theory by integrating social ledger theory to explain how “dissonant ties” form, how hierarchy shapes them, and why they matter for performance. Combining a novel conceptual framework with rigorous empirical analysis, the study has already influenced subsequent scholarship and deepened our understanding of complex relationships inside organizations.