C.V. (click here)

Education

Ph.D. in Management & Organizations (Minor in Sociology), Northwestern University, 2018

M.S. in Business Administration (Concentration: Management), Korea University, 2009

B.A. in English Language and Literature, Library and Information Science, Yonsei University, 2002

Research interests: Strategic Management and Organization Theory; Tension between profit and social responsibility (legitimacy, reputation, identity orientation); Symbolic management; Institutional diffusion

Selected Research Projects

Lee, Sookyoung and Edward Zajac. Alternative Forms of Decoupling in the Diffusion of Controversial Practices: Theory and Evidence from Downsizing Korean Firms, Dissertation Chapter (In preparation for submission to Organization Science)

Lee, Sookyoung. Reputation, Stakeholders, and Controversy: How Stakeholder-specific Reputations Affect Controversial Strategic Actions, Dissertation Chapter (In preparation for submission to the Academy of Management Journal)

Lee, Sookyoung. Contingent-legitimization of a Contested Practice: Theory and Evidence from Downsizing Korean Firms after 1997 Asian Financial Crisis (Manuscript in preparation)

Lee, Sookyoung and Brayden King. The Role of Social Perceptions in Crisis Management: How Firm Status and Reputation Shape Shareholder Reactions to SEC Litigation (Data analysis in progress)

Lee, Sookyoung and Luc Paugam. Does Greenwashing Pay off? Contingent Returns of a Sustainability Certification (Data collection in progress)

Other Publications

Durand, Rodolphe, Zachariah Rodgers, and Sookyoung Lee (2019). Social Impact Assessment Strategy Report: HEC Paris Society &Organizations Center.

Lee, Sookyoung and Luc Paugam. Selection of Pay-as-you-go Solar Home Systems for the Schneider Electric Energy Access (SEEA) Fund: HEC Paris Teaching Case (to be taught from Spring 2019).

Teaching Interests

Strategy; Macro and Micro Organizational Behavior; Leadership; Negotiations; International Business; Business Ethics & Sustainability

A Little More about Sookyoung

I am a research fellow at the Society & Organizations (S&O) Center, HEC Paris. I have recently earned my Ph.D. degree in Management and Organizations from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. My research investigates corporate impression management strategies targeting different stakeholders and these stakeholders’ perception of the firm. I primarily draw on organizational theory to explore social and political dynamics between corporations and their stakeholders.

My dissertation develops theoretical frameworks to explain how societal expectations and stakeholders’ preferences are managed by firms when they adopt a controversial practice. I examine corporate downsizing, a context which involves ambiguity regarding how stakeholders would perceive it, in South Korea and the U.S. In three quantitative studies, I find evidence supporting the existence of a novel form of decoupling (i.e., actually implementing downsizing without public statement of adoption) instead of the usual form of decoupling (i.e., symbolically adopting a practice without implementation); the instances when corporate reputation limits a firm’s adoption of downsizing (and when it does not); and different media and market responses to downsizing contingent on the firm’s identity orientation. The results have important theoretical and practical implications for questions ranging from the socio-cultural forces that impact symbolic management strategies to the increasingly important role of stakeholders in corporate impression management.

Through my dissertation and other work on societal expectations arising from institutions and reputation, I contribute to the understanding of corporate reputation and impression management by highlighting the role of stakeholders’ evaluations. In future projects, I seek to deepen theoretical and empirical understandings of how corporations cope with competing demands from stakeholders and succeed in converting potential tradeoffs into synergies.

Prior to my doctoral studies at Kellogg, I have worked as a researcher and consultant at LG Economic Research Institute and as a government official at the Korean Broadcasting Commission in South Korea.