I am an Assistant Professor of Strategy & Innovation at Western University’s Ivey Business School.
I employ ethnographic and linguistic methods to study the socio-cognitive dynamics of social innovation, with a focus on development of sustainable local food systems and entrepreneur resource acquisition. At the organizational and field level, I ask how purpose-driven organizations develop strategies and business models to accomplish their mission. At the individual level, I examine how social entrepreneurs interact with and gain support from investors and other resource holders, acquiring financial, social, and human capital. My research has been published or is forthcoming in the Academy of Management Annals and the Strategic Management Journal and has been supported by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Strategy Research Foundation. My dissertation received the Best Paper Award at the 19th Annual Social Entrepreneurship Conference and was a finalist for the Academy of Management’s ONE Doctoral Dissertation Award. More recently, I’ve been interested in studying the emerging field of machine learning consulting.
At Ivey, I teach Power and Politics and Cross-Enterprise Leadership. Previously, I taught Strategy, Innovation and Global Competition and Leadership and Organizations at Boston University and New York University, respectively.
Prior to joining academia, I worked in Italy and Europe as a management consultant for Deloitte and Arthur D. Little. In the United States, I did research for the New York office of Corriere della Sera, the leading Italian newspaper and for the public affairs firm APCO Worldwide.
I have written for the Strategic Management Society’s Media Innovations Blog. Click on the links below to read my latest posts.
A strategy contribution to the immigration debate (2018)
Research Interests
- Qualitative research (ethnography)
- Social Innovation
- Entrepreneurship
- Institutional theory
- Field emergence
- Language
- Meaning making
- Machine learning consulting
Academic Background
- Ph.D., Management, New York University Stern School of Business
- M.S., with Distinction, in Public Relations and Corporate Communications, New York University
- Post-Graduate Diploma, Cum Laude, in Economics, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy
- B.S., Cum Laude, in Business Administration, University of Pisa, Italy
Esther Leibel 