Research | Matthew Lee

Published and Forthcoming

* equal authorship · † graduate student co-author

Conditionally accepted
Organizational civic culture: Workplaces as engines of democratic participation
Hurst, R., Kagan, M., Lee, M., and Frake, J.
Administrative Science Quarterly.
Do workplaces shape whether people vote?Read more ↓Show less ↑
Civic culture is usually studied at the level of countries, states, or cities. We introduce the concept of organizational civic culture: the norms and values within an organization about taking part in democratic institutions beyond the workplace. Using employment histories and voter turnout records for 28 million Americans, and following workers as they move between employers, we find plausibly causal evidence that coworkers' voter turnout raises a worker's own turnout. The influence is strongest in low-turnout elections, among workers who are less civically engaged, among college-educated workers, and where more coworkers share the worker's partisanship. The effects also spill over into workers' households, which suggests that civic habits acquired at work spread to other parts of social life. Organizations and employment emerge as overlooked but important supports for democratic institutions.
2026
Putting a price on mission: Social responsibility orientation and startup employment
Kim, J. D.* and Lee, M.*
Strategic Management Journal, 47(10): 2766–2791.
What is a mission worth to employees?Read more ↓Show less ↑
Socially responsible employers are widely believed to have an advantage in recruiting, but most of the evidence comes from temporary or hypothetical jobs. We test for the advantage using data from a structured recruitment process in which startups hired recent college graduates for full-time roles. Mission-driven employers attract more initial interest, especially from female candidates, and are more likely to have their offers accepted. Candidates with multiple offers are willing to forgo 13–18.5% of annual salary to work for one. After hiring, however, these employers show no advantage in retention or job satisfaction, which suggests that the benefit is concentrated at the front end of the employment relationship.
2026
Flowing with the current and making waves: A model of personal control and institutional migration
Lee, M. and Whitson, J.
Academy of Management Review, 51(3): 558–579.
What happens when people move between institutional worlds?Read more ↓Show less ↑
We develop a theory of institutional migration grounded in the basic human motive for personal control: the expectation that one's actions will yield predictable outcomes. Institutionalized ways of acting support that sense of control, so people who move into a new institutional domain suffer a deficit of it. They are motivated to restore control along two pathways: transposing the institutional knowledge they already have (primary control), and internalizing the rules of their new environment (secondary control). Characteristics of the individual and of the institutions involved moderate each pathway. The perspective illuminates a crucial moment in institutional dynamics and strengthens the psychological grounding of institutional theory.
2026
Why business leaders need to champion democracy
Battilana, J., Ramarajan, L., Lee, M., and Pons, V.
MIT Sloan Management Review.
What can business leaders do to protect democracy?Read more ↓Show less ↑
Democracy is in decline across the world, and business leaders largely agree that strong democratic institutions matter: in a 2022 survey by Morning Consult and the Business and Democracy Initiative, 96% of executives said a well-functioning democracy is important to a strong economy. Yet many are unsure what they can do, fear backlash, or see democracy as the domain of politicians. We argue that business leaders are well positioned to help contain democratic backsliding, and that supporting democracy is a strategic imperative as well as a civic obligation, because democracy gives businesses clear rules and freedom. We propose four actions: defend democratic institutions and processes; support independent civil society organizations without exercising undue influence; limit forms of political influence that are not aligned with democratic principles; and foster democratic practices within their own organizations.
2026
An exploratory study of mayoral transition work
Lee, M., Mayne, Q., and de Jong, J.
Public Administration Review, 86(2): 474–490.
2024
Community influence on microfinance loan defaults under crisis conditions: Evidence from Indian demonetization
Adbi, A.†, Lee, M., and Singh, J.
Strategic Management Journal, 45(3): 535–563.
2020
Categorical cognition and outcome efficiency in impact investing decisions
Lee, M., Adbi, A.†, and Singh, J.
Strategic Management Journal, 41(1): 86–107.
- Best Track Paper, Strategic Management Society Hyderabad Special Conference
2020
How the zebra got its stripes: Individual founder imprinting and hybrid social ventures
Lee, M. and Battilana, J.
In Organizational Hybridity: Perspectives, Processes, Promises (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, vol. 69), 139–165.
- Best Paper, NYU-Stern Social Entrepreneurship Research Conference
Open-access copy
2018
From protest to product: Strategic frame brokerage in a commercial social movement organization
Lee, M.*, Ramus, T.*, and Vaccaro, A.
Academy of Management Journal, 61(6): 2130–2158.
2018
Large corporations, social capital, and community philanthropy
Lee, M. and Marquis, C.
In S. Dorobantu, R. V. Aguilera, J. Luo, and F. Milliken (eds.), Sustainability, Stakeholder Governance, and Corporate Social Responsibility (Advances in Strategic Management, vol. 38), 197–226.
2018
Gender bias, social impact framing, and evaluation of entrepreneurial ventures
Lee, M.* and Huang, L.*
Organization Science, 29(1): 1–16.
- Winner, IACMR-RRBM Award for Responsible Research in Management
- Nominee, Best Paper, Strategic Management Society Annual Meeting
- Runner-up, Best Paper, R. H. Smith Entrepreneurship Conference
2017
Blurring the boundaries: The interplay of gender and local communities in the commercialization of social ventures
Dimitriadis, S.†, Lee, M., Ramarajan, L., and Battilana, J.
Organization Science, 28(5): 819–839.
2017
Different shades of green: Environment uncertainty and the strategies of hybrid organizations
Almandoz, J., Lee, M., and Marquis, C.
In M.-D. Seidel and H. Greve (eds.), Emergence (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, vol. 50), 31–67.
2015
Strategic responses to hybrid social ventures
Lee, M. and Jay, J.
California Management Review, 57(3): 126–147.
2014
Advancing research on hybrid organizing – Insights from the study of social enterprises
Battilana, J.* and Lee, M.*
Academy of Management Annals, 8(1): 397–441.
2014
Building an infrastructure for empirical research on social enterprise: Challenges and opportunities
Lee, M., Battilana, J., and Wang, T.
In J. Short (ed.), Social Entrepreneurship and Research Methods (Research Methodology in Strategy and Management, vol. 9), 241–264. Emerald.
2013
Who is governing whom? Executives, governance, and the structure of generosity in large U.S. firms
Marquis, C. and Lee, M.
Strategic Management Journal, 34(4): 483–497.
2012
In search of the hybrid ideal
Battilana, J., Lee, M., Walker, J., and Dorsey, C.
Stanford Social Innovation Review, Summer 2012.

Working Papers

Civil society activism and corporate human rights disclosure: Experimental evidence from the U.K. Modern Slavery Act
With J. Singh and D. Shukla†. Minor revision, Organization Science.
Can activists enforce disclosure laws?Read more ↓Show less ↑
In a randomized field experiment on compliance with the UK Modern Slavery Act, we show how civil society pressure on companies can spill over to their peers, including through board ties, acting as a socially mediated form of regulatory enforcement.
- Best Track Paper, Strategic Management Society Annual Meeting, Toronto
B Corporations and employee retention
Under third-round review, Academy of Management Journal.
Do stakeholder-oriented firms keep their employees longer?Read more ↓Show less ↑
Employees derive meaning and belonging from working for stakeholder-oriented firms, which leads to the expectation that such firms will retain employees at higher rates than others. This study suggests that those benefits compete with traditional career goals, so the retention benefit should be weaker for departures that offer hierarchical advancement. In a matched sample of more than 100,000 employees of Certified B Corporations, spanning the history of B Corp certification from 2007 through early 2025, I find that B Corp employees depart at rates only slightly lower than closely matched employees of other firms: a difference of roughly 4–5%, statistically distinguishable from zero only under the tightest matching. Beneath that aggregate is a larger, significant reduction in departures that are not a step up, while the rate of upward departures is undiminished. Among those who do leave, B Corp employees are more likely to leave for a position offering hierarchical advancement. The findings support a real but bounded retention benefit for stakeholder-oriented employers.
Strategic drift: Institutional pluralism, specialization, and organizational growth
With T. Ramus and S. Brusoni. Revise and resubmit, Organization Science.
Organization design for the management of institutional multiplicity
With T. Ramus, A. Vaccaro, and P. Versari†. Under review.
Two sides of the same token: How multitokenism shapes minority representation in organizations
Under review.