Isabel Neuberger

Dr Isabel Neuberger. is a Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at Southampton Business School, University of Southampton. She is also an Associate Research Fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation.

Isabel holds a doctoral degree in Organisation Theory from the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School and was a visiting doctoral researcher at Yale School of Management. Her doctoral research focused on advancing institutional perspectives on social change involving marginal actors and was sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council. Her research on social venture legitimation in authoritarian regimes was awarded the Best International Paper Award 2019 of the Academy of Management (OMT division). Isabel has previously worked for the United Nations Secretariat.

At Southampton Business School, Isabel leads the MSc Business Strategy and Innovation Management programme.

Research interests

Isabel’s research interests include social innovation, social entrepreneurship, sustainable development and institutional change. Her research is motivated by the desire to gain a better understanding of the strategies and processes that allow social ventures and other forms of organising in support of social progress to drive social and environmental change in challenging and adverse institutional environments. She explores these dimensions in various global contexts, such as Egypt and rural Indonesia.

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Cambridge Judge Business School (2015.10 — 2019.09)
• Master of Philosophy (MPhil) University of Cambridge (2014.10 — 2015.07)
• Master of Arts (MA) University of St. Andrews (2009.09 — 2013.06)

Article

• Neuberger, I., Kroezen, J., & Tracey, P. (2021). Balancing "protective disguise" with "harmonious advocacy": social venture legitimation in authoritarian contexts. Academy of Management Journal.

Book Chapter

• Bruggemann, I., Kroezen, J., & Tracey, P. (2020). Fighting “Factory Fiction”: the evolution of a marginalized institutional logic in UK trade book publishing. In Macrofoundations: Exploring the Institutionally Situated Nature of Activity (Research in the Sociology of Organizations) (Vol. 68, pp. 123-146). (Research in the Sociology of Organizations; Vol. 68). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Thesis

• Neuberger, I. (2019). Institutional Perspectives on Social Change at the Margins. University of Cambridge.