Sarah A. Soule

Sarah A. Soule is the Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior, and the Sara Miller McCune Director of the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences. Sarah’s research applies social movement theory to organizational processes, and organizational theory to social movement processes. For example, some of her research has looked at how social movements matter to organizational practice and policy change, net of the effects of diffusion.  

Other research has examined the effects of network position on tactical innovation in protest and the role of coalitions and collaboration on protest tactic innovation. She is currently working on a study of how protest affects the outcomes of shareholder resolutions, and another study of how the public views symbolic statements by corporate leaders around social issues. She has written two books, the first with Cambridge University Press, entitled Contention and Corporate Social Responsibility, and the second with Norton, called A Primer on Social Movements. 

Recent published work has appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, Administrative Science Quarterly, the American Sociological Review, Organizational Studies, the Strategic Management Journal, and the Annual Review of Sociology. She is an editor for the Cambridge University Press Contentious Politics series. She has served on a number of boards of nonprofit organizations, is currently a member of the Faculty Advisory Board to the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (the Stanford d.school) and to the Stanford VMWare Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab, and is a Faculty Fellow at the Knight Hennessy Scholars Program.