Thomas Roulet

Research interests

Economic sociology; organisation theory; social evaluations; stigma, disapproval and scandals; institutional theory; stakeholder relationships; ethics; leadership.

Professional experience

Prior to starting an academic career, Thomas worked in Debt Capital Markets on a trading floor in London, and for the Center for Entrepreneurship at the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) in Paris.

His research focuses on negative social evaluations (stigma, disapproval) and their antecedents (misconducts, scandals). His work has appeared in a variety of scientific outlets in management, including the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Annals, Journal of Management Studies, British Journal of Management), ethics (Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, Business & Society), and more broadly in social sciences and sociology (Human Relations, Work, Employment & Society, Journal of Vocational Behavior). His work on covert research received the Best Paper Award in Organizational Research Methods in 2017. He also published in practitioner outlets such as Harvard Business Review, and MIT Sloan Management Review, and has been regularly featured in media outlets such as the Financial Times, The Economist, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, The Telegraph, The Guardian, ITV, Die Zeit, Le Monde, France 24 and BBC Radio London, in addition to writing a column for Forbes.

His book The Power of Being Divisive: Understanding Negative Social Evaluations was the runner-up for the George Terry book award of the Academy of Management in 2021, an award recognising the book having made the most important contribution to the field of management. The Financial Times described the book as “a fascinating study of the social-media fuelled and fast-changing landscape of public opinion, and the possible ways in which that might be beneficial”.

Since 2020, Thomas is a trustee of the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies (SAMS), a UK charity encouraging research in management and governing the Journal of Management Studies. He sits on the board of various journals including the Journal of Management, Organization Studies and the Journal of Management Studies. He is associate editor at Business & Society. From 2017 to 2019 he acted as co-editor in chief of M@n@gement – the first open access journal in the field of management, supported by the French National Science Foundation and the French Academy of Strategic Management. He previously sat on the editorial board of Work, Employment & Society, the journal of the British Sociological Association.

Thomas’ teaching has also been recognised by Poets & Quants (listed among the “40 under 40 Best Business School Professors” in 2020) and Business Because (“Business School Professors to Look for in 2020”). He received the CJBS teaching award for his leadership teaching in the MBA in 2021. In parallel to his teaching in the Business School, he teaches sociology in College, which earned him a honourable mention for the Supervisory Award attributed by the Cambridge Department of Sociology in 2020. Before joining Cambridge, he received a university-wide teaching award at King’s College London in 2018.

Thomas consults on a regular basis for a variety of clients around questions of diversity, uncertainty management, and wellbeing at work. Most recently, he was involved in questions of organisational culture in a major M&A operation in France. He has also given talks and run seminars in ministries and in the public sectors on the return to work and the hybrid office.

Education

• PhD + MA equivalent HEC Paris (2009 — 2014)
• Chazen Scholar Columbia University - Columbia Business School (2011 — 2012)
• Master of Philosophy (MPhil) Institut d'Etudes politiques de Paris
• Master in Management Audencia Nantes Ecole de Management
• American University
• Preparatory classes Lycée Montaigne
• Bac S Lycée Henri IV

Previous appointments

Before joining the University of Cambridge, Thomas was a Senior Lecturer and MSc Director at King’s College London. He has also taught at various levels from undergraduate to executives in a number of universities, including Oxford, SciencesPo, HEC Paris, Dauphine-PSL, and RMUTP in Bangkok. In 2011-2012, he was a Chazen Visiting Scholar at Columbia University in the City of New York. Thomas also holds a faculty affiliation with the Society & Organizations (SnO) Research Centre at HEC Paris, where he got his PhD, and with Audencia Nantes.

Awards & honours

• Runner-Up, George R. Terry Book Award, Academy of Management, 2021
• Cambridge Judge Business School Teaching Award, 2021
• Listed among the “40 under 40 Business School Professors”, Poets & Quants, 2020
• Listed among the “Business School Professors to Look for”, Business Because, 2020
• Honorable Mention, Supervisor Award, Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge, 2020.
• Runner-up, Best Paper on Environmental and Social Practices, Organization & Management Theory Division, Academy of Management, 2020
• Runner-up, Responsible Research Award, Organization & Management Theory Division, Academy of Management, 2020
• Shortlisted, Bracken Bower Prize for the Best Business Book Proposal by an Author under 35, Financial Times & McKinsey, 2019
• London50, Top 50 Professors in Management in the London area, 2019
• University-wide Teaching Excellence Award, King’s College London, 2018
• Best paper in Organizational Research Methods for 2017, Research Methods Division, Academy of Management, 2018
• ABCD Reviewer Award, OMT Division, Academy of Management, 2018
• British Academy/Leverhulme Grant, 2017
• Best paper nomination, Research Methods Division, Academy of Management, 2016
• Shortlisted, Bracken Bower Prize for the Best Business Book Proposal by an Author under 35, Financial Times & McKinsey, 2015
• Runner-up, Grigor McClelland Best Dissertation Award, EGOS, 2014
• Roland Calori Award (Best young scholar in strategy), AIMS (French Association for Management), 2014

Selected publications

Here are a selection of Thomas Roulet’s publications. Please see the “Selected publications” tab above for a more comprehensive list.

• Rodner, V., Roulet, T.J., Kerrigan, F. and Vom Lehn, D. (2020) “Making space for art: a spatial perspective of disruptive and defensive institutional work in Venezuela’s art world.” Academy of Management Journal (DOI: 10.5465/amj.2016.1030) (published online Aug 2019)
• Harmon, D.J., Haack, P. and Roulet, T.J. (2019) “Microfoundations of institutions: a matter of structure versus agency or level of analysis?” Academy of Management Review, 44(2): 464-467 (DOI: 10.5465/amr.2018.0080)
• Dahlin, K., Chuang Y.-T. and Roulet T. (2018) “Opportunities, motivation and ability to learn from failure and errors: review, synthesis, and ways to move forward.” Academy of Management Annals, 12(1): 252–277 (DOI: 10.5465/annals.2016.0049)
• Roulet, T.J., Gill, M.J., Stenger, S. and Gill, D.J. (2017) “Reconsidering the value of covert research: the role of ambiguous consent in participant observation.” Organizational Research Methods, 20(3): 487-517 (DOI: 10.1177/1094428117698745) (Winner of the ORM Best Paper Award in 2017)
• Shymko, Y. and Roulet, T. (2017) “When does Medici hurt Da Vinci? Mitigating the signaling effect of extraneous stakeholder relationships in the field of cultural production.” Academy of Management Journal, 60(4): 1307-1338 (DOI: 10.5465/amj.2015.0464)
• Clemente, M. and Roulet T.J. (2015) “Public opinion as a source of deinstitutionalization: a ‘spiral of silence’ approach.” Academy of Management Review, 40(1): 96-114 (DOI: 10.5465/amr.2013.0279)