I am a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University's Management Science and Engineering Department in the Work, Technology, and Organization program. I plan to graduate in June 2009.

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 Oberlin College.  My employment experience include for-profit as well as non-profits. I have worked for three non-profits as an art conservation scientist, a science educator, and a technology licensing associate.  My international experience include three years living and teaching in Japan; and backpacking in remote and urban areas in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji.

Contact: Dana Wang, dxwang [at] stanford.edu.