My research explores the microfoundations of organization theory and strategy, a burgeoning area of scholarship that investigates the micro-mechanisms that drive macro-level phenomena. Within this broad space, my research focuses on three research domains:
- Institutional dynamics - why are some institutions so resilient, while others evolve and change? Some topics I've explored along these lines are how Federal Reserve and ECB communications shape financial markets, how fracking technologies covered in the media influence country-level policy, and how new societal beliefs emerge from nothing.
- Misconduct - why is misconduct within organizations so persistent? One context I've explored this question in is the Chicago Police Department, where misconduct has persisted for decades and many of their strategies for mitigating it (e.g., the use of more severe punishment) has backfired.
- Entrepreneurship and nascent markets - what's the role of entrepreneurial firms in the development and emergence of new markets? Several topics I've investigated here include how technology firms during the Dot.com boom were able to construct the very criteria by which they are evaluated today, how new ventures use ambiguity in their pitches to mobilize more support, and how SPACs actually raise more money by expressing more (not less) uncertainty.
My approach to research is interdisciplinary and methodologically diverse. Theoretically, I draw on work in sociology, psychology, economics, and linguistics. Methodologically, I utilize archival studies, lab experiments, and qualitative approaches. Most of my work leverages different forms of computational text analysis, such as word dictionaries, topic modeling, word embeddings, and semantic network analysis.
My published work appears in Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Management Science, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Strategic Management Journal, and Strategy Science (among others).
