I am a Ph.D. candidate at
My research interests span technology, organizational studies, and strategy and organizational behavior in the legal environment. My dissertation is on one form of intellectual property, patents, that is at the intersection of technology, commerce, and the law. I employ a constructivist longitidinal approach. I define construction as creation and
engagement; and engagement as interpretation or utilization. My
research fills an important gap in academic scholarship. While legal scholars
have expanded on IP law and social scientists study issued patents or employ patent data, few have studied the creation of patents as organizational resources, documents, and information.
The unit of analysis in my dissertation is
the patent. I study the interorganizational process by which individuals and
groups create property resources. i employ a mixed method research design using the following types of data from three sources: semi-structured
interviews, informal discussions, observations, and archival data.
My research findings are not confined to
patenting as a phenomenon but also offer numerous theoretical contributions to
resource creation, decision-making, and the social construction perspective. By
revealing how individuals and organizations are embedded in the economic as
well as the legal environment, this dissertation draws attention to the need
for more research at the intersection of organization and legal studies.
Moreover, because there are few studies on how patents are created, policy
makers may find this study fundamental to designing policy.
My research interests include:
- organizational
behavior: organizational responses to legal rules, organizational behavior
in the legal environment, resource creation, decision-making under
uncertainty, and social construction of documents and information
- strategy:
decision-making under uncertainty, resource management
- work:
managing non-profits, telecommuting, work of IP managers, work of IP
attorneys, and work of strategizing
- research
methodology: social construction of data, mixed methods, and sequences of
activities (timing and order)
My research is supported by the NSF, Stanford Law School, and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
I have an M.B.A. with High Distinction from
University of Michigan Business School and a B.A. with Highest Honors in
chemistry from
Contact: Dana Wang, dxwang [at] stanford.edu.