Michael T. Hannan

Professor Emeritus, Organizational Behavior

Michael T. Hannan

The StrataCom Professor of Management and Professor of Sociology, Emeritus

Academic Area:

Research Statement

Michael Hannan investigates change in the world of organizations. This work involves both formal theoretical treatments of organizational change and empirical studies of the emergence, change, and dissolution of categories and populations of organizations. His current theoretical research involves applications of dynamic logics and Bayesian models to sociological theory, exploration of the emergence of categories, and typecasting processes. His current empirical research investigates the dynamics of collective concepts ("genres") in market contexts.

Bio

Michael Hannan is the Stratacom Professor of Management Emeritus at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Professor of Sociology Emeritus in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University.

He received his PhD in sociology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1970. He came to Stanford as assistant professor of sociology in 1969, moved to Cornell in 1984 where he was the Scarborough Professor of Social Sciences, and returned to Stanford in 1991.

His major research interests include categories in markets, organizational ecology, sociological methodology, and formal sociological theory. His current theoretical and empirical research investigates the emergence of organizational categories and the implications of category membership for organizational identity in several domains, including winemaking in the Italian regions of Piedmont and Tuscany as well as Alsace in France.

Professor Hannan has published more than 150 articles in scholarly journals. Two of his books have received best book awards from the American Sociological Association. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has been a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences, the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Study, and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, and he received a Guggenheim fellowship.

Academic Degrees

  • PhD in sociology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1970
  • MA, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1968
  • BA, College of the Holy Cross, 1965

Academic Appointments

  • At Stanford since 1991, Emeritus since 2015
  • Scarborough Professor of Social Sciences, Cornell University, 1984–1991
  • Assistant Professor of Sociology to Professor of Sociology, Stanford University, 1969–1984
  • Professor of Organisation Theory, Durham University Business School 2005–2019

Awards and Honors

  • Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1991
  • Max Weber Award, American Sociological Association, 2002
  • Max Weber Award, American Sociological Association, 1991
  • Distinguished Scholar, Organization Theory and Management Division, Academy of Management, 1991
  • Best Paper Award in Mathematical Sociology, American Sociological Association, 2003
  • Theorodology Prize, Princeton Sociology Department, 2014

Publications

Journal Articles

Books

Book Chapters

Working Papers

Academic Publications

Teaching

Other Teaching

Programs and Non-Degree Courses

Stanford Case Studies

Stanford University Affiliations

  • Professor Sociology Department, School of Humanities and Sciences 1969–1984, 1991-present
  • Professor Emeritus Sociology Department, School of Humanities and Sciences 2015–present

Service to the Profession

Part-time Appointments

  • Professor of Organization Theory (part-time): Durham University, UK (2005–present)

Fellow

  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1991–present
  • Netherlands Institute of Advanced Study, 2000–2001
  • Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, 1977–1978

In the Media

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