Carnahan honored with 'emerging scholar' award

Seth Carnahan, Olin associate professor of strategy, has been recognized with the biennial “emerging scholar” award by the strategic management division of the Academy of Management, the professional association for management and organization scholars.

The STR Emerging Scholar Award “will be a promising scholar who has established a research record of exceptional quality. The recipient will have a solid publication record and his/her scholarly contributions will already demonstrate an impact on the field of strategic management.” Only researchers who have received their terminal degree within six years of the award date are eligible.

“Seth’s publication record displays his open-mindedness, intellectual range in both micro and macro disciplinary streams, and mastery of empirical methodologies,” the organization said in its announcement. “His mainstream contributions anticipate the entrepreneurial challenge of growth through labor advantages and reflect the new economy issues ahead.”

Carnahan said the award—from the largest academic organization for strategy researchers—was particularly affirming to his work.

The folks on the awards committee are not necessarily working in my research area, so it is very encouraging to me that an audience like that would appreciate what I am working on.  

Seth Carnahan

“My research area is human capital, so I tend to study individual employees more often than the typical strategy researcher does. Consequently, there has always been some risk that the field would not view my work as mainstream,” Carnahan said.