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Research

I am broadly interested in how organizations learn and how it impacts their ability to innovate and adapt. I view myself as an organization theorist with a keen interest in entrepreneurial settings. My research uses learning theories to study interesting and unexplored questions in the domain of innovation and change within established firms.

Published paper

1. “The Diffusion of Differences: A Review and Reorientation of 20 Years of Diffusion Research.” 2021. Academy of Management Annals Forthcoming. (with I. Noumovska & H. Greve).

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2. "Discontinuous Changes in Organizations and Fields.” 2020. In Oxford Handbook of Organizational Change. Edited by Poole, M.S. & Van de Ven, A. Forthcoming (with Alan Meyer).

3. “Organizational Structure, Information Processing, and Decision Making: A Review and Research Agenda” 2020. Academy of Management Annals. 14(1): 267–302 (with John Joseph).

4. "Safe or Profitable? The Pursuit of Conflicting Goals” 2019. Organization Science, 30(4): 647-867 (with Henrich Greve).

5. “Performance Feedback in Organizations and Groups: Common Themes.” 2017. In the Handbook of Group and Organizational Learning, Oxford University Press (with Henrich Greve).

6. “Learning to let go: Social influence, learning, and the abandonment of corporate venture capital practices.” 2016. Strategic Management Journal, 37(8): 1558–1577 (with Gina Dokko).

7. “The Fog of Feedback: Ambiguity and Firm Responses to Multiple Aspiration-Levels.” 2015. Strategic Management Journal, 36(13): 1960–1978 (with John Joseph).

8. "A Comparison of Milestone-Based and Buyout Options Contracts for Coordinating R&D partnerships." 2015. Management Science, 61(5): 963 – 978 (with Shantanu Bhattacharya and Sameer Hasija).

9. “Decomposing Uncertainty and its Effects on Imitation in Firm Exit Decisions.” 2013. Organization Science, 24(6):1847-1869 (with Ann Terlaak).

10. “Corporate Structure and Performance Feedback: Aspirations and Adaptation in M-Form Firms.” 2013. Organization Science , 24(4): 1102-1119 (with John Joseph).

11. "Aspirations, Innovation, and Corporate Venture Capital: A Behavioral Perspective." 2012. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 6: 178-199 (with Shantanu Bhattacharya).

12. "Venturing Into New Territory: Career Experiences of Corporate Venture Capital Managers and Practice Variation." 2012. Academy of Management Journal, 55(3): 563-583 (with Gina Dokko).

12. "Crossing Organizational Species Boundaries: How Venture Capital Infiltrated Information Technology Sector.” 2008. Academy of Management Journal, 51(5): 976-998 (with Alan Meyer).

13. "Organizing Far from Equilibrium: Non-Linear Change in Organizational Fields." 2005. Organization Science, 16(5): 456-473 (with Alan Meyer and Ken Colwell).

15. “The Timing of Entry in International Markets: An Empirical Analysis of U.S. Fortune 500 Firms in China.” 2002. Journal of International Business Studies, 33(1): 39-55 (with Yigang Pan, and Gerardo Ungson).

Working papers

16. “Prior Experiences of Managers and Responsiveness to Performance Feedback: Evidence from Mutual Funds Industry.” 2019. (R&R, Organization Science) (with S. Lee, P. Meyer-Doyle, & A.D. Zhao)

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17. “When Change Agents Change Their Minds: Network Diffusion and the Failure of Organization Change Efforts.” 2019. (with J. Clement & P. Puranam).

 

Research-In-Progress

18. “Emergence: How Organizations Learn from and Develop Novelty” 2019 (with Henrich Greve)

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19. “Asset or Liability? Examining Human Capital Effects in Disruptive Environments” 2019 (with Victoria Sevcenko & Philippe Meyer-Doyle)

20. “A Behavioral Theory of Firm Growth.” 2019 (with John Joseph)

21. “Stepping Stones to Career Change: How Experience and the Context of Work can Facilitate Entry to New Occupations.” 2018 (with Gina Dokko & Weiyi Ng)

Others

22. Entries in Economics. 2002. (with Pushan Dutt) In Craig Calhoun (ed.) The Oxford Dictionary of Social

Sciences. New York: Oxford University Press.

Citations

Google Scholar

Research Gate

By Topic

My work falls under two main streams of research:

Diffusion

My work in this stream of research tried to understand how novel ideas and practices spread across organizations, passing through the phases of adoption, customization, and abandonment. Specifically, I investigate how organizations’ utilize their own and others’ experiences to inform their adoption, assimilation, and abandonment decisions. I develop theory about how firms learn from others’ experiences and conditions under which learning from others’ may be offset or reinforced by their own experience.

  • Clement, J., Gaba, V., & Puranam, P. 2019. When Change Agents Change Their Minds: Network Diffusion and the Failure of Organization Change Efforts. Working Paper

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  • ​​The Diffusion of Differences: A Review and Reorientation of 20 Years of Diffusion Research” 2019. Academy of Management Annals, Forthcoming
  • Learning to Let Go: Social Influence, Learning, and the Abandonment of Corporate Venture Capital Practices. 2016. Strategic Management Journal, 37(8): 1558–1577
  • Decomposing Uncertainty and its Effects on Imitation in Firm Exit Decisions. 2013. Organization Science, 24(6):1847-1869
  • Aspirations, Innovations, and Corporate Venture Capital: A Behavioral Perspective. 2012. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 6: 178-199
  • Venturing Into New Territory: Career Experiences of Corporate Venture Capital Managers and Practice Variation. 2012. Academy of Management Journal, 55(3): 563-583
  • Crossing Organizational Species Boundaries: How Venture Capital Infiltrated the Information Technology Sector. 2008. Academy of Management Journal, 51(5): 976-998
  • The Timing of Entry in International Markets: An Empirical Analysis of U.S. Fortune 500 Firms in China. 2002. Journal of International Business Studies, 33(1): 39-55

Behavioral Models of Adaptation

My second stream of research focuses on aspirations driven change as well as discontinuous changes in organizations and fields. In line with A Behavioral Theory of the Firm’s emphasis on understanding organizational behavior as a result of lower level processes (individuals, groups, sub-units), I focus on understanding the implications of multiple goals and aspirations, organizational structure, and decision makers’ attributes on adaptive change. At the same time, I am also interested in understanding adaptive behavior in the context of disruptive environments. Accordingly, I use organization as my main unit of analysis but build and test theories that span both micro and macro levels of analyses.

Aspiration Level Change

  • Prior Experiences of Managers and Responsiveness to Performance Feedback: Evidence from Mutual Funds Industry. Organization Science, Revise & Resubmit.

See All

  • Safe or Profitable? Pursuing Conflicting Goals. 2019. Organization Science, 30(4): 647-867.
  • Performance Feedback in Organizations and Groups: Common Themes.” 2017. In the Handbook of Group and Organizational Learning, Oxford University Press.
  • The Fog of Feedback: Ambiguity and Firm Responses to Multiple Aspiration-Levels. 2015. Strategic Management Journal, 36(13): 1960–1978.
  • Corporate Structure and Performance Feedback: Aspirations and Adaptation in M-Form Firms. 2013. Organization Science, 24(4): 1102-1119.
  • Aspirations, Innovations, and Corporate Venture Capital: A Behavioral Perspective. 2012. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 6: 178-199.

Change in Discontinuous Environments

  • Discontinuous Change in Organizations and Fields. 2020. In Oxford Handbook of Organizational Change. Edited by Poole, M.S. & Van de Ven, A. (with Alan Meyer) Forthcoming

See All

  • A Comparison of Milestone-Based and Buyout Options Contracts for Coordinating R&D partnerships. 2014. Management Science, 61(5): 963 – 978.
  • Organizing Far from Equilibrium: Non-Linear Change in Organizational Fields. 2005. Organization Science, 16(5): 456-473.

Contact

Vibha Gaba

Professor of Entrepreneurship
The Berghmans Lhoist Chair in Entrepreneurial Leadership

INSEAD Asia Campus
1 Ayer Rajah Avenue
Singapore 138676

Tel: +65 6799 5268
Fax: +65 6799 5499
Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: View profile

Assistant: Siti Hajar S. Abdullah
Tel: + 65 6799 5107
Fax: + 65 6799 5445
Email: [email protected]