Tim Pollock is the Haslam Chair in Business, Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship and Kinney Family Faculty Research Fellow. He is also an international research fellow with the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation and a research fellow with Haslam’s Neel Corporate Governance Center. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Gx5_oVoAAAAJ&hl=de&oi=ao; http://www.timothypollock.com

Broadly defined, Pollock’s research focuses on the social construction of value in uncertain and ambiguous circumstances, particularly the contexts of corporate governance, executive compensation and entrepreneurial market environments, with a focus on the initial public offerings (IPO) market. He considers how social and political factors such as reputation, celebrity, social capital, impression management activities, media accounts and the power of different actors influence firm performance, survival, alliance formation activities, and executive recruitment and compensation. He is also interested in how entrepreneurs’ experiences and organizational resource endowments influence their strategic decision making.

His research has won numerous prestigious awards (e.g., the 1997 INFORMS/Organization Science Dissertation Proposal Competition, the 2009 IDEA Thought Leader Award from the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management, the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation Best Published Paper Award for 2010, Finalist for the 2010 Academy of Management Journal Best Paper Award, and the 2022 Academy of Management Review Managerial Practice Award). He has published articles in Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Strategic Organization, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Journal of Business Venturing, Human Communication Research, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Organizational Dynamics, Academy of Management Executive, British Journal of Management and Corporate Reputation Review.

Pollock served as associate editor for the Academy of Management Journal from 2010-2013 and is a member, or has been a member, of the editorial boards of the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Business Venturing, Organization Science and Strategic Organization. He received outstanding reviewer awards for his reviewing activities from the Academy of Management Journal in 2004 and 2010 and from the Journal of Business Venturing in 2010. He also co-edited “The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Reputation” and “Corporate Reputation: Critical Perspectives on Business and Management,” and authored the book “How to Use Storytelling in Your Academic Writing.” He served on the executive committee of the organization science division of INFORMS from 2006-2010, and served as representative-at-large on the executive committee of the organization and management theory division of the Academy of Management from 2006-2009.

Part 1 (2.30 PM) - Lecture

In his research talk, Professor Pollock will present an ongoing research project on “The American Idol Next Door: Conforming Behavior, Media Attention and Achieving Celebrity.” The paper is co-authored with Tan Kim. Here is an abstract of the paper:

We draw on the celebrity and categories literatures to explore how unknown actors’ conforming and non-conforming behaviors affect their ability to advance in a celebrity certification contest, the media’s role in this process, and how the timing of their conforming and nonconforming actions affect their influence. We use data on competitors during the first fifteen seasons of American Idol to explore how the extent to which competitors’ song and costume choices conform to their initial musical genre affects their ability to advance in the competition. We also explore how this relationship is affected by the media coverage they receive, and when the behaviors and coverage occur. We find that conforming to a certain genre increased the likelihood they advanced in the competition. However, this base relationship was influenced by both the individual’s media visibility and the timing of when it occurred. We found evidence that media visibility attenuates, and can even reverse, the effect of conformity, but only during the early phase of audiences’ exposure to the actor. Our study contributes to our understanding of celebrity’s antecedents, how conforming behavior can enhance celebrity, and the importance of temporal considerations when assessing non-conforming behavior.

Part 2 (5 PM) - Paper Development Workshop

After the presentation, Professor Pollock will offer feedback to papers submitted by the participants (see below). The idea is to organize the PDW as a “masterclass” where everyone participates in the discussion of maximum three ideas/papers. As such, the discussion of your paper will be on a first come first serve basis. However, note that listening in to the PDW will certainly be worthwhile, as Professor Pollock will address issues that will almost certainly be of value to all. You are also invited to contribute feedback and ask questions.

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Please, send a note by September 23 to ilonka.weinberger@uni-passau.de to let us know if you are interested in participating in the session and whether you want your idea/paper outline to be discussed. Those of you who want to present a paper and get selected will be notified on September 24. We will then forward your paper to Professor Pollock. Please also indicate any specific discussion points you would like Professor Pollock to consider when preparing your feedback. 

If you are not able to attend the PDW in person, we can send you the Zoom Link to participate virtually.

I look forward to seeing each other, and I am very grateful to Tim for his visit to Passau – and to ICEBS and Carolin Häussler for supporting the visit!

Prof. Andreas König