You are here

Adina Sterling

Adina Sterling
Assistant Professor, Organizational Behavior
Contact Info
AdinaSterling
Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior
Academic Area: 
Organizational Behavior

Research Statement

Adina D. Sterling specializes in the study of strategic HR practices, social networks, entrepreneurship, and race and gender stratification. Broadly speaking, her work shows how networks develop within and outside organizations, and the effects of these networks on individual and firm-level outcomes. For example, her work illuminates the ways firms strategically use the networks of employees to address timing issues when recruiting and hiring individuals. In her current work, she is examining tradeoffs between traditional methods of hiring and trial employment, and the longer-term implications of these tradeoffs for firm performance and social inequality.

Research Interests

  • Labor Markets
  • Strategic HR
  • Inequality
  • Entrepreneurship

Bio

Professor Adina D. Sterling graduated with honors from Ohio State University with a BS in chemical engineering in 2002 and graduated with her PhD from Emory in Organization and Management in 2011. She is an economic sociologist who specializes in studying the way firms and labor and product markets interact and the implications of these interactions on the prices firms get for their products, who gets hired and what they get paid, as well as the affects this has on social stratification. For instance, her work has investigated a) how initial networks evolve in organizations b) how hiring practices affect selection and wage decisions and c) how networks and prior employment affect the success of entrepreneurs.

Professor Sterling currently has projects investigating how traditional methods of hiring compare to trial employment, or when firms get the opportunity to observe individuals first-hand in organizations, such as internships prior to making hiring decisions. Her work has appeared in journals such as Management Science, Organization Science, and the Annals of the Academy of Management. Prior to academia, Professor Sterling worked at Procter and Gamble as a senior engineer on brands such as Pampers and Oil of Olay.


 

Academic Degrees

  • PhD, Organization and Management, Emory University, 2011
  • BS, Chemical Engineering, The Ohio State University, 2002

Academic Appointments

  • Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business, 2015 - present
  • Assistant Professor of Strategy, Washington University, Olin Business School, 2011-2015

Publications

Journal Articles

Adina Sterling. Organization Science. June 2015, Vol. 26, Issue 3, Pages 650–667.
Adina Sterling. Management Science. 2014, Vol. 60, Issue 9, Pages 2341-2354.
Adina Sterling, Matthew Bidwell, Forrest Briscoe, Isabel Fernandez-Mateo. Annals of the Academy of Management. 2013, Vol. 7, Pages 61-121.
Adina Sterling, Peter Roberts. Management Science. 2012, Vol. 58, Issue 7, Pages 1292-1304.

Courses Taught

Degree Courses

2015-16

This course examines fundamental issues of general management and leadership within an organization. You will learn about setting an organization's strategic direction, aligning structure to implement strategy, and leading individuals within the...

Insights by Stanford Business

September 8, 2015
First impressions follow new hires into their tenure at a job.

School News

October 6, 2015
New faculty and lecturers offer unique perspectives and experience to augment program offerings.