About
I study the relationship between organizations and their environment. Theoretically, I am interested in two relationships: first, how do organizations respond when their environments change, especially suddenly and radically? Second, how do organizations initiate such large-scale changes in their environments? Empirically, I have studied a wide variety of organizational contexts and changes. Recent projects include a multi-site study of changes in product outputs and occupational identities in Indian craft clusters, led by design entrepreneurs who have dramatically altered the structure of craft production and the very nature of "craft." I have also extensively studied the operationalization of the "essential worker" category in the United States; in this context, I have studied both how policymakers delineated who and what was "essential" in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as how firms responded to this new label and its entailments. I have also studied a variety of healthcare settings, including how nurses in ICUS prioritize their work; how pharmacists and pharmacy technicians respond to the introduction of robots; how radiologists make sense of new technologies; and how the State pursues selective and strategic enforcement actions against pharmaceutical firms. In the future, I plan to study how war affects business firms, as well as how policymakers are thinking about necessary change in the face of massive human-caused climate change.