Suntae Kim, PhD

Suntae Kim is an Assistant Professor of Management and Organization at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. He studies the process whereby new forms of organizing emerge in the contexts of adversity, such as poverty, crisis, and discrimination. Specifically, Suntae has studied entrepreneurial efforts to revitalize Detroit, the evolution of a social entrepreneurship movement (B Corps), South Korean public health responses to COVID-19 pandemic, and North Korean refugee entrepreneurs. In studying these phenomena, he employs primarily qualitative research methods with a strong focus on unpacking and theorizing processes. Prior to joining Carey, Suntae was an Assistant Professor of Management and Organization at Boston College's Carroll School of Management.

Education

• PhD, Business Administration, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• MS & BS in Business Administration, Seoul National University

Research

Selected publications

• Kim, S. & Kim, A. 2022. Going Viral or Growing Like an Oak Tree? Towards Sustainable Local Development through Entrepreneurship. Academy of Management Journal. 65(5): 1709-1746.
  • Featured in Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2022, “Growing Locally and Deeply: Social enterprises do more for communities by eschewing the Silicon Valley model”
  • Featured in Forbes, Mar 2022, “Research Finds Conventional Accelerators Aren’t Good Fit For Social Entrepreneurs”
• Kim, S. & Schifeling, T. 2022. Good Corp, Bad Corp, and the Rise of B Corps: The Emergence and Development of Market Alternatives against Strategic Incumbents. Administrative Science Quarterly, 67(3): 674-720.
  • Featured in Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall 2022, “The Dance Between B Corps and Incumbents”
  • Featured in Asparagus, Spring/Summer 2021, “In Good Company”
• Kim, S. 2021. Frame Restructuration: The Making of an Alternative Business Incubator amid Detroit’s Crisis. Administrative Science Quarterly, 66(3): 753-805.
  • Finalist for the 2021 Bradford-Osborne Research Award
  • Featured in Network for Business Sustainability, Sep 2017, “Startup Success: Why You Don’t Need to Create the Next Google“
• Davis, G. F., & Kim, S. 2015. Financialization of the Economy. Annual Review of Sociology, 41: 203-221.
• Leung, A. K.-y., Kim, S., Polman, E., Ong, L. S., Qiu, L., Goncalo, J. A., & Sanchez-Burks, J. 2012. Embodied Metaphors and Creative “Acts.” Psychological Science, 23(5): 502-509.
  • Featured in Wall Street Journal, Jan 2012, “Thinking Outside the Box – Literally”
  • Featured in National Public Radio, Mar 2012, “Thinking Outside The Box, With Our Bodies And Our Brains”
• Kim, S. & Schifeling, T. In-press. Good Corp, Bad Corp, and the Rise of B Corps: How Market Incumbents’ Diverse Responses Reinvigorate Challengers. Administrative Science Quarterly. [Published online: April, 2022]
• Kim, S. & Kim, A. In-press. Going Viral or Growing Like an Oak Tree? Towards Sustainable Local Development through Entrepreneurship. Academy of Management Journal. [Published online: July, 2021]
• Kim, S. 2021. Frame Restructuration: The Making of an Alternative Business Incubator amid Detroit’s Crisis. Administrative Science Quarterly, 66(3): 753-805. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0001839220986464
• Davis, G. F., & Kim, S. 2015. Financialization of the Economy. Annual Review of Sociology, 41: 203-221. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-073014-112402
• Leung, A. K.-y., Kim, S., Polman, E., Ong, L. S., Qiu, L., Goncalo, J. A., & Sanchez-Burks, J. 2012. Embodied Metaphors and Creative “Acts.” Psychological Science, 23(5): 502-509. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611429801

Working papers

• Kim, S., Lee, H., Yoon, S., & Pak, Y. (under review, Administrative Science Quarterly). Title removed for blind review.
  • Topic: investigation into how complex social systems can adaptively reconstruct itself amid an unfolding crisis, in the context of initial COVID-19 outbreaks in South Korea
• Young-Hyman, T., Kim, S., & Sobering, K. The Tenuous Emergence of Less Hierarchical Organizations: Dynamics Between Collectivist and Entrepreneurial Ideals. Preparing Manuscript.
  • Topic: emergence process of a fledgling worker cooperative amid tensions between ideals of democratic organizing and entrepreneurial organizing
• Lee, H., Kim, S., Yoon, S., & Pak, Y. An Inevitable Failure of “Infallible Entrepreneurship” for North Korean Refugees. Analyzing Data.
  • Topic: study of complex entanglement between refugee entrepreneurship and host country’s social entrepreneurship, in the context of a sudden failure of a once-renowned South Korean entrepreneurship training program for North Korean refugees
• Pak, Y., Kim, S., Yoon, S, & Lee, H. Need, Merit, and Script: How a Social Enterprise Molded Refugee Entrepreneurship. Preparing Manuscript.
  • Topic: the role of cultural scripts on determining success of North Korean refugee entrepreneurs in South Korea
• Kim, S., Lee, H., Yoon, S., & Pak, Y. Accomplishing Ongoing System Adaptation amid Unfolding Crisis: South Korea’s Negotiated Enactment during Initial COVID-19 Outbreaks. Preparing Manuscript.
• Young-Hyman, T., Kim, S., & Sobering, K. Democracy Ends at the Budget: How Resources Attenuate Tension between Competing Ideals in Emerging Democratic Organizations. Preparing Manuscript
• Yoon, S., Kim, S., Lee, H., & Pak, Y. An Inevitable Failure of “Entrepreneurship That Does Not Fail” for North Korean refugees. Analyzing Data.

Teaching

Current

• Behavioral Science: Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Honors and distinctions

• Carroll School Teaching Star, Boston College, 2019
• Carroll School of Management Kelly Research Grant, Boston College, 2018
• Carroll School of Management Faculty Fellowship, Boston College, 2017-2018
• Robert Kahn Fellowship for the Scientific Study of Social Issues, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 2014-2015
• American Council of Stock Plan Professionals Fellowship, School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University, 2014-2015 
• Rackham Graduate School Research Grant, University of Michigan, 2014
• Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship, University of Michigan, 2013-2014
• Best Symposium Award, Organization and Management Theory Division, Academy of Management, 2013
• Above and Beyond the Call of Duty Reviewer Award, Organization and Management Theory Division, Academy of Management, 2013
• Ross Doctoral Research Grant, University of Michigan, 2013
• Robert D. and Janet E. Neary Award, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, 2012
• Samsung Scholarship, 2009-2014

Impact and engagement

Business

Selected articles for business practitioners

• Kim, S., & Kim, A. January 2022. Research: How Entrepreneurship Can Revitalize Local Communities. Harvard Business Review.
• Kim, S., Karlesky, M.J., Myers, C.G., & Schifeling, T. June 2016. Why Companies are Becoming B Corporations. Harvard Business Review.