Christian M. Ringle

Christian M. Ringle is a German management scholar and quantitative methods researcher. He is a Chaired Professor of Management and Decision Sciences at the Hamburg University of Technology and a co-founder of the statistical software SmartPLS.

Education and career He completed his doctoral studies at the University of Hamburg, where he earned a PhD in business research methodology.

Ringle has held visiting and adjunct academic appointments at James Cook University,

Research Ringle’s research encompasses management, marketing, strategic decision making, organisational behaviour, and innovation management, with a strong emphasis on the development and application of quantitative research methods.

His scholarly articles have appeared in high‑impact peer‑reviewed journals, including Information Systems Research, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, MIS Quarterly, Journal of Business Research, and Organizational Research Methods. These publications address both methodological innovations and substantive applications of quantitative models in empirical research. SmartPLS has been adopted by academic researchers, consultants and corporate analysts worldwide, supporting modelling in areas such as marketing research, organisational strategy, consumer behaviour and innovation studies.

Ringle’s work on SmartPLS and his associated methodological literature has significantly influenced how quantitative methods are taught and applied in business schools and research institutions. His contributions have helped bridge the gap between complex statistical techniques and practical empirical research.