Joel Gehman

Joel Gehman is the Thaddeus A. Lindner and Sergius Gambal Professor of Business Ethics and professor of strategic management and public policy at the George Washington University School of Business (GWSB).

Professor Gehman’s research investigates how businesses and other organizations can contribute to tackling grand challenges related to sustainable development through strategic practices, technological innovation, and institutional change. He is the author of more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and more than a dozen business school teaching cases, as well as the investigator, co-investigator, or recipient of more than $5 million in research funding. Professor Gehman’s past and current research examines these issues in a wide range of contexts, including B Corporations and benefit corporations; organizational values practices and codes of conduct; environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance; hydraulic fracturing and unconventional shale gas development; crowdfunding; natural and biodynamic wine; social entrepreneurship and innovation; and social license to operate, among others. In approaching these questions, Professor Gehman draws primarily on organization theory, together with insights from strategic management, and science and technology studies. His work also takes a process perspective, focusing on the emergence and evolution of organizational concerns over place and time.

Professor Gehman has taught students at all levels: undergraduate, specialized masters, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral. His teaching has covered topics such as management and organization; business, ethics, and society; managing corporate sustainability; innovating for sustainability; responsible leadership; strategic management; and organizing for grand challenges. At GWSB, he primarily teaches the core business ethics and public policy courses in a variety of MBA programs.

Professor Gehman is active in the field of management, including the Academy of Management, Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability, and European Group for Organization Studies. His past and current roles include editorial and board positions at the Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Business Venturing, Organization Studies, and Organization Theory. He also is a cofounder of B Academics, a non-profit organization committed to advancing the state of academic study into business as a force for good. Prior to joining George Washington University, he was on faculty at the University of Alberta School of Business as Professor of Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Management. He also spent 13 years in industry before becoming an academic. Professor Gehman graduated from Cornell University (B.S.) and the Pennsylvania State University (Ph.D.).