SMPP Research
Research in the Department of Strategic Management & Public Policy
What happens when powerful companies work to change the rules of the game in their industry? How can organizations manage hybrid work and AI effectively, or address complex challenges like climate change and systemic inequality? Faculty in the Department of Strategic Management & Public Policy tackle these questions through research that sits at the intersection of business excellence and societal impact.
Their work examines not only how organizations compete, but how they can compete strategically while contributing to the public good. From ethics in the digital economy to sustainable development and corporate responsibility, faculty bring a multifaceted lens to pressing challenges. This scholarship informs state and government policy, aligns with GW Business’s commitment to ethical practices, and reflects the university’s broader mission of public service and positive societal impact.
Research Centers and Institutes
The work of the department is tethered to the Institute for Corporate Responsibility at the School of Business. At the university level, faculty members are involved with the Trustworthy AI Initiative at GW, the Alliance for a Sustainable Future, and the GW Global Food Institute.
Research Highlights
Against the backdrop of a rapidly changing business landscape, faculty research focuses on the questions that matter most to today’s leaders: how to lead ethically in the age of artificial intelligence; how to build diverse and equitable organizations despite persistent systemic biases; and how to tackle challenges—like climate change—that no single organization can solve alone. Drawing on expertise across strategy, ethics, and public policy, these scholars examine bring a multifaceted lens to a range of issues.
Explore how their innovative work is shaping solutions to some of the most complex challenges facing organizations and communities today:
Herman Aguinis, one of the leading scholars in corporate social responsibility (CSR), generates highly influential research focusing on how CSR impacts organizational stakeholders, employee meaningfulness, and the so-called triple bottom line: economic, social, and environmental performance. Recent projects examine domestic and international workforce diversity, the future of work, leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship, human capital development, performance management and star performance, and innovative methodologies for developing and testing theories. His top-ranked studies examine how managers mediate between individual employee experiences and macro-level policy in organizations. Every year since 2018, he has ranked among the world’s 100 most impactful researchers in economics and business, and his work is supported by high-profile organizations, including the National Science Foundation. His research has been published in all seven journals of the Academy of Management.
Avram Tucker Distinguished Scholar & Professor of Management
Assistant Professor of Strategic Management & Public Policy
Pushback to social media and artificial intelligence (AI) has raised policy and ethics concerns, the wheelhouse of Vikram Bhargava. His research examines the ethical issues that touch social media platforms and operations and the unjustifiable harms that result. His areas of interest include technology addiction, mass social media outrage, hiring algorithms and the future of work, and autonomous vehicles. His research has been published by the Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, and the Oxford University Press.
Jorge E. Rivera, trained in environmental economics, has published extensively on business responses and adaptation to climate change, including how natural disasters and industrial accidents influence where multinationals invest. His work on environmental entrepreneurship, the regulatory pressures faced by corporate sustainability officers, and the effectiveness of green certification programs have brought attention to the school. He is the author of three books, and his research has appeared in Strategic Management Journal, Conservation Biology, World Development, the Policy Studies Journal, and Policy Sciences. He is the founding co-editor of the Cambridge University Press book series on ;Organizations and the Natural Environment.
Professor of Strategic Management & Public Policy
Vontrese Pamphile conducts research on organizational theory, focusing on business-society tensions, corporate philanthropy, and how organizations navigate paradoxes. She has studied how organizations manage conflicting demands, such as balancing social impact with financial goals. She has also examined how the giving strategies of companies affect their stakeholders, including during crises. Known for analyzing employee responses to organizational values and DEI, her work has been published in Organization Science and the Academy of Management Journal; she brings her research to the practitioner community through the Harvard Business Review and other media outlets. Poets & Quants in 2025 named her one of the Best 40 Under 40 MBA Professors for her contributions to research and teaching. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation.
Networking dynamics are a research concentration of Jorge Walters, whose work appears in Organization Science, Journal of Management, Strategic Management Journal and other top-tier journals. He has examined the professional benefits of resuscitating dormant relationships and the many ways social networks can enhance organizational performance and knowledge sharing. He also studies hybrid workplaces and AI, with an eye on how organizations can effectively execute strategies around their growing prevalence. Among other things, he has explored these issues in examining unconventional shale gas development, the natural or biodynamic wine industry, and social entrepreneurship. Walters is GWSB’s vice dean for faculty and research.
Vice Dean for Faculty and Research; Professor of Strategic Management and Public Policy
Chair, Department of Strategic Management & Public Policy; The Lindner-Gambal Professor of Business Ethics
The research of Department Chair Joel Gehman sits at the intersection of organization theory, strategy, and sustainability, focusing on how organizations manage grand challenges. His work explores B Corporations and their effort to remake capitalism into a profit-making enterprise that also is committed to rigorous social and environmental goals, ESG performance, social license to operate, and innovation in sustainability practices. He has explored some of these issues in in unconventional shale gas development, the natural or biodynamic wine industry, and social entrepreneurship. Walters is GWSB’s vice dean for faculty and research.
The early careers of professional managers and labor market inequality are among Jennifer Merluzzi’s research interests. She has also gained attention for her examination of the obstacles that young, single women with high potential face in advancing to leadership roles, especially in male-dominated fields; her analysis of how social networks influence difficult work relationships; and her studies on how masculine identities in professions—such as law enforcement—affect performance, promotion, and the use of force. Her work appears in Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Discoveries, and Social Science Research, as well as& Fast Company and Harvard Business Review.
Associate Professor of Strategic Management & Public Policy
Avram S. Tucker Endowed Professor of Strategy & Leadership
The intersection of sociology and strategic management is the purview of James Wade, who looks at the effects of race and gender on career mobility—including studies on NFL and NCAA coaching hires. He also is an expert on CEO status—the power, influence, and positional authority that CEOs wield in relation to their boards, executive teams, and employees.
The research of Everlyne Misati examines institutions, networks, and business ecosystems organizations’ strategies and performance. She brings a macro-approach to understanding the impact of environmental factors on business strategy and performance and turns a micro foundation lens on the role of individual managers’ backgrounds, incentives, and behaviors in shaping firm-level outcomes. She also studies how firms build legitimacy. In looking at the firm-stakeholder relationship, including expansion, growth, and legitimacy in emerging markets, she has a particular interest in entrepreneurship in Africa. Her work appears in the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of International Business Studies, and Journal of Business Research.
Assistant Professor of Strategic Management & Public Policy