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Amir Goldberg
Amir Goldberg
Associate Professor, Organizational Behavior
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AmirGoldberg
Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior
Associate Professor of Sociology (by courtesy), School of Humanities and Sciences
Academic Area: 
Organizational Behavior

Research Statement

Amir Goldberg’s research lies at the intersection of cultural sociology, data science and organization studies. He is interested in understanding how social meanings emerge and solidify through social interaction, and what role network structures play in this process. The co-director of the computational culture lab, Amir uses and develops computationally intensive network- and language-based methods to study how new cultural categories take form as people and organizational actors interact.

Bio

Professor Goldberg received bachelors’ degrees in Computer Science and Film Studies from Tel Aviv University, and an MA in Sociology from Goldsmith’s College, University of London. Before pursuing a PhD in Sociology at Princeton University, he worked for several years as a software programmer, an IT consultant and a technology journalist. An Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior in Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, his research projects all share an overarching theme: the desire to understand the social mechanisms that underlie how people construct meaning, and consequently pursue action. His work has been published in the American Journal of Sociology, the American Sociological Review, Management Science and the Review of Financial Studies.

Academic Degrees

  • PhD Sociology, Princeton University
  • MA Sociology, Goldsmiths College, University of London
  • BA Computer Science & Film Studies (double major), Tel Aviv University

Academic Appointments

  • At Stanford University since 2011

Awards and Honors

  • Younger Family Faculty Scholar, 2016-2017
  • MBA Class of 1969 Faculty Scholar, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2014-2015
  • Harold W. Dodds Honorific Fellowship, Princeton University

Publications

Journal Articles

Duality in Diversity: How Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Cultural Heterogeneity Relate to Firm Performance
Matthew Corritore, Amir Goldberg, Sameer B. Srivastava. Administrative Science Quarterly. 2019.
Beyond “Social Contagion”: Associative Diffusion and the Emergence of Cultural Variation
Amir Goldberg, Sarah K. Stein. American Sociological Review. October 2018, Vol. 83, Issue 5, Pages 897-932.
Enculturation Trajectories: Language, Cultural Adaptation, and Individual Outcomes in Organizations
Sameer B. Srivastava, Amir Goldberg, V. Govind Manian, Christopher Potts. Management Science. March 2018, Vol. 64, Issue 3, Pages 1348-1364.
Searching for Homo Economicus: Variation in Americans’ Construals of and Attitudes toward Markets
Paul DiMaggio, Amir Goldberg. European Journal of Sociology. February 21, 2018, Pages 1-39.
Alignment at Work: Using Language to Distinguish the Internalization and Self-Regulation Components of Cultural Fit in Organizations
Gabriel Doyle, Amir Goldberg, Sameer B. Srivastava, Michael C. Frank. Proceedings of the 55th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics. August 2017.
Spillovers Inside Conglomerates: Incentives and Capital
Ran Duchin, Amir Goldberg, Denis Sosyura. Review of Financial Studies. May 2017, Vol. 30, Issue 5, Pages 1696-1743.
Culture out of attitudes: Relationality, population heterogeneity and attitudes toward science and religion in the U.S.
Paul DiMaggio, Ramina Sotoudeh, Amir Goldberg, Hana Shepherd. Poetics. 2017.
Fitting In or Standing Out? The Tradeoffs of Structural and Cultural Embeddedness
Amir Goldberg, Sameer B. Srivastava, V. Govind Manian, William Monroe, Christopher Potts. American Sociological Review. December 1, 2016, Vol. 81, Issue 6, Pages 1190-1222.
What Does It Mean to Span Cultural Boundaries? Variety and Atypicality in Cultural Consumption
Amir Goldberg, Michael T. Hannan, Balazs Kovacs. American Sociological Review. April 2016, Vol. 81, Issue 2, Pages 215-241.
In Defense of Forensic Social Science
Amir Goldberg. Big Data & Society. December 2015, Vol. 2, Issue 2.
Sociology in the Era of Big Data: The Ascent of Forensic Social Science
Daniel McFarland, Kevin Lewis, Amir Goldberg. American Sociologist. 2015.
Neither Ideologues, nor Agnostics: Alternative Voters’ Belief System in an Age of Partisan Politics
Amir Goldberg, Delia Baldassarri. American Journal of Sociology. July 2014, Vol. 120, Issue 1, Pages 45-95.
Mapping Shared Understandings Using Relational Class Analysis: The Case of the Cultural Omnivore Reexamined
Amir Goldberg. American Journal of Sociology. March 2011, Vol. 116, Issue 5, Pages 1397–1436.

Book Chapters

What is Cultural Fit? From Cognition to Behavior (and Back)
Sanaz Mobasseri, Amir Goldberg, Sameer B. Srivastava. Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Sociology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.

Working Papers

Situated Cultural Fit: Value Congruence, Perceptual Accuracy, and the Interpersonal Transmission of Culture | PDF
Richard Lu, Jennifer A. Chatman, Amir Goldberg, Sameer B. Srivastava, March 32019
Expressly Different: Discursive Diversity and Team Performance | PDF
Katharina Lix, Amir Goldberg, Sameer B. Srivastava, Melissa A. Valentine, March 2019
Distinguishing Round from Square Pegs: Predicting Hiring Based on Pre-hire Language Use
Sarah K. Stein, Amir Goldberg, Sameer B. Srivastava, January 2018

Teaching

Degree Courses

2018-19

HRMGT 203: People Analytics

How can we use big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence to inform design, hiring, promotion and human resource management processes in organizations? We will discuss the theoretical and practical challenges that these issues present...

HRMGT 503: People Analytics

How can we use big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence to inform design, hiring, promotion and human resource management processes in organizations? We will discuss the theoretical and practical challenges that these issues present...

OB 637: Modeling Culture

What is culture, and how can we model it? This course will survey theoretical frameworks for studying culture from a multidisciplinary perspective, ranging from evolutionary biology through sociology to economics. We will explore various methods...

STRAMGT 309: Strategies of Effective Product Management

This is a course about exploring the methods and processes for product management, largely in technology companies, and a look at what can lead to the most effective ways to coordinate customer needs, ensure accurate product development, and how...

2017-18

OB 637: Modeling Culture

What is culture, and how can we model it? This course will survey theoretical frameworks for studying culture from a multidisciplinary perspective, ranging from evolutionary biology through sociology to economics. We will explore various methods...

STRAMGT 309: Strategies of Effective Product Management

This is a course about exploring the methods and processes for product management, largely in technology companies, and a look at what can lead to the most effective ways to coordinate customer needs, ensure accurate product development, and how...

STRAMGT 539: Leadership in the Arts and Creative Industries

Leaders of arts and creative organizations face unique challenges. Taking the perspective of the CEO, Chairman of the Board and Artistic/Creative Director, and drawing on various cases and in-class exercises, students will learn about advancing...

Executive Education & Other Non-Degree Programs

Stanford Case Studies

Tableau: The Creation of Tableau Public | E632
Amir Goldberg, Robert Siegel, Matt Saucedo2017
The "New" SFMOMA: Meaning More to More People | SM258
Mary Ittelson, Amir Goldberg, Sheila Melvin2017
The Joffrey Ballet | SM259
Mary Ittelson, Amir Goldberg, Kara Riopelle2016
Zynga and the Launch of Farmville | SM239
Amir Goldberg, Debra Schifrin2016

In the Media

Should you hire for cultural fit or adaptability?
Google re:Work, December 6, 2016
They're Still Not Telling the Real Story: Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and the Analysis You Won't Hear on Cable News
Salon.com, May 7, 2016

Insights by Stanford Business

writtenBeyond Social Networks: How Cultural Beliefs Really Spread
December 11, 2018
From anti-vaxxing to gun control, the propagation of beliefs and behaviors is influenced as much by the meanings we ascribe to them as by our social circles.
written2018’s Most-Watched Stanford GSB Videos
December 3, 2018
Viewers sought advice from IBM’s Ginni Rometty and former CIA Director David Petraeus, as well as insights from faculty about what our emails reveal about us.
writtenHere’s What You Should Read over the Holidays
December 3, 2018
Seven Stanford business professors recommend their favorite books.
videoWhy Leaders Shouldn’t Ignore Company Culture
November 20, 2018
Should you hire the team player or the renegade?
videoWhat Our Emails Reveal
October 26, 2018
It’s hard to hide how you really feel in email.
writtenLook Beyond “Culture Fit” When Hiring
February 1, 2018
Research points to another important trait that can determine the success of a new hire.
writtenWhy You Really Got That Raise
September 26, 2017
Managerial pay may be influenced by social connections as much as performance.
writtenWhich Will Get You Further: Fitting In or Standing Out?
September 2, 2016
The most successful employees do a bit of both, striking a balance between integration and nonconformity.
writtenWhy the Most “Cultured” Among Us May Be the Most Resistant to Change
May 27, 2016
A professor finds that so-called cultural leaders aren’t leading at all.
writtenAmir Goldberg: Cracking the Cultural Genome
May 15, 2014
Every decision we make is deeply rooted in our social identity. A researcher explains a new, networked approach to understanding our cultural traits.
writtenResearchers: How Polarized Are U.S. Voters?
April 16, 2014
A pair of sociologists finds the answer — and uncovers political subcultures in the process.