Demetrius P. Lewis
Demetrius P. Lewis
Research Statement
I use organization theory to study social and network processes occurring across organizations. My research on organizational networks focuses on venture capital and socio-political entrepreneurship. My current research on venture capital studies how entering into a particular part of the network leaves an imprint that influences the strategy and performance venture capital firms. I also study how firms use and reuse networks to fund complex projects in uncertain environments. My research on political entrepreneurship studies how social actors influence each other to form political parties. The core of my work focuses on studying network processes using rich longitudinal data on populations of organizations, often supplemented by natural experiments. I also use qualitative methods to understand the micro-mechanisms at work. My goal is to understand how inter-organizational networks work through a combination of empirical analysis, qualitative research, and experimental methods.