Robert Nason

Title: 
Associate Professor and Area Coordinator, Strategy & Organization; Director, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Academic title(s): 

William Dawson Scholar

Robert Nason
Contact Information
Email address: 
robert.nason [at] mcgill.ca
Alternate email address: 
nicoleta.anton [at] mcgill.ca
Address: 

Bronfman Building [Map]
1001 rue Sherbrooke Ouest
Montreal, Quebec
Canada
H3A 1G5

Degree(s): 

PhD, Syracuse University
MBA, Babson College
B.A., Wheaton College (IL)

Area(s): 
Strategy & Organization
Office: 
Bronfman 542
Biography: 

Robert Nason is a William Dawson Scholar and associate professor of Strategy and Organization at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University. He currently serves as the area coordinator for Strategy and Organization. Robert’s research has focused on the role of entrepreneurship in society covering areas of family business, behavioral strategy, growth, and the informal economy. His current research initiatives are particularly focused on entrepreneurship and economic inequality – examining entrepreneurial activity in contexts of poverty and wealth. Robert has received awards for research, including the Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division’s Emerging Scholar Award in 2020, and teaching, including Poets & Quants Best 40 Under 40 MBA Professors (2022) and the Desautels Core Strategy MBA Teaching Award (2022).

Robert’s research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Société et la Culture (FRQ-SC). His work has been published in leading academic outlets such as Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of Business Venturing, and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. Robert previously served as an Editor for Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice and is on the Editorial Board of Journal of Management and Journal of Business Venturing. In his commitment to research with practical relevance, Robert is actively collaborating in his research and its dissemination with non-governmental organizations including the Family Enterprise Foundation in Canada and the Sustainable Livelihood Foundation in South Africa.

Courses: 

MGPO 438 - Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation

MGCR 622 - Organizational Strategy

Group: 
Faculty
Tenured & Tenure Track
Research areas: 
Behavioural Strategy
Economic Inequality
Entrepreneurship
Family Business
Informal Economy
Graduate supervision: 

Jack Sadek

Rayan Chelli

Selected publications: 

Nason, R. & Bothello, J. (Forthcoming). Far from void: informal institutions and growth in the informal economy. Academy of Management Review. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2019.0170

Ye, Y., Yu, W., & Nason, R. (Forthcoming). Performance Feedback Persistence: Comparative Effects of Historical vs. Peer Performance Feedback on Innovative Search. Journal of Management. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206320916225

Bitektine, A. & Nason, R. (2019). Towards a multi-level theory of institutional contestation: Exploring category legitimation across domains of institutional action. Research on the Sociology of Organizations. Volume on the “Microfoundations of Institutions,” Edited by Haack, P., Wessel, L., and Sieweke, J.

Mazzelli, A., Nason, R., & Carney, M. (2019). Breadth and Depth In Family Business Research: A Response to Jaskiewicz, Combs, and Ketchen. Academy of Management Review. (Dialogue), 44(4): 918-922.

Nason, R., Mazzelli, A., & Carney, M. (2019). The Ties that Unbind: Socialization and Business-owning Family Reference Point Shift. Academy of Management Review, 44(4): 846-870.

Mazzelli, A., Nason, R., De Massis, A, & Kotlar, J. (2019). Causality rules: performance feedback on hierarchically-related goals and capital investment variability. Journal of Management Studies, 56(8), 1630-1654.

Bothello, J., Nason, R., & Schnyder, G. (2019). Institutional Voids and Organization Studies: Towards an Epistemological Rupture. Organization Studies, 40(10), 1499–1512.

Yu, W., Minniti, M., & Nason, R. (2019). Underperformance Duration and Innovative Search: Evidence from the High-Tech Manufacturing Industry. Strategic Management Journal, 40(5): 836-861.

Nason, R. Carney, C., Le-Breton-Miller, I., Miller, D. (2019). Who cares about socioemotional wealth? SEW and rentier perspectives on the 1% wealthiest business household. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 10(2):144-158.

Nason, R., Wiklund, J., McKelvie, A, Hitt, M., & Yu, W. (2019). Orchestrating Boundaries: The Effect of R&D Boundary Permeability on New Venture Growth. Journal of Business Venturing. 34(1): 63-79.

Nason, R., Bacq, S., & Gras, D. (2018). A Behavioral Theory of Social Performance: Social Identity and Stakeholder Expectations. Academy of Management Review. 43(2): 259-283.

Carney, M. & Nason, R. (2018). Family Business and the 1%. Business & Society. Special issue on Economic Inequality. 39(1): 7-18.

Nason, R. & Wiklund, J. (2018). An Assessment of Resource-Based Theorizing on Firm Growth and Suggestions for the Future. Journal of Management. 44(1): 32-60.

Gras, D., Nason, R., Lerman, M. & Stellini, M. (2017). Going offline: broadening crowdfunding research beyond the online context. Venture Capital. 19(3): 217-237.

Nason, R. & Patel, P. (2016). Cash is king? Market Performance and Cash during a Recession. Journal of Business Research. 69(10): 4242–4248.

Gras, D. & Nason, R. (2015). Bric by bric: The role of the family household in sustaining a venture in impoverished Indian slums. Journal of Business Venturing. 30 (4), 546-563.

Nason, R., McKelvie, A., & Lumpkin, G.T. (2015). The Role of Organizational Size in the Heterogeneous Nature of Corporate Entrepreneurship. Small Business Economics, 45: 279-304.

Zellweger, T., Nason, R., Nordqvist, M., & Brush, C. (2013). Why do Family Firms Strive for Nonfinancial Goals? An Organizational Identity Perspective. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 37(2): 229-248.  

Sciascia, S., Clinton, E., Nason, R., James, A., & Rivera, J. (2013). Family Communication and Innovativeness in Family Firms. Family Relations. 62(3): 429-442.

Zellweger, T, Nason R., & Nordqvist, M. (2012). From Longevity of Firms to Transgenerational Entrepreneurship of Families: Introducing Family Entrepreneurial Orientation. Family Business Review, 25(2): 136-155.

Sieger, P., Zellweger, T., Nason, R & Clinton, E. (2011). Portfolio Entrepreneurship in Family Firms: A Resource-based Perspective. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 5(4): 327–351.

Lumpkin, G.T., McKelvie, A., Gras, D., & Nason, R. (2010). Is Strategy Different for Very Small and New Firms?Journal of Small Business Strategy, 21 (2): 1- 26. Invited Article.

Zellweger, T. & Nason, R. (2008). A Stakeholder Perspective on Family Firm Performance. Family Business Review,21(3). 203-216.

 

Awards, honours, and fellowships: 

 

2022 Poets & Quants Best 40 Under 40 MBA Professors

2022 Desautels Core Strategy MBA Teaching Award

2020 Emerging Scholar Award, Academy of Management, Entrepreneurship Division

2020 Best Paper Award, Organizational Theory Division, Administrative Sciences Association of Canada Annual Meeting (with Hami Yousefdehi)

2016 Petro-Canada Young Innovator Award in the Strategic Research Cluster “The Person and Society,” Concordia University. 

2016 Emerald Citation of Excellence Award for Zellweger, T., Nason, R., Nordqvist, M., & Brush, C. (2013). Why do Family Firms Strive for Nonfinancial Goals? An Organizational Identity Perspective. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 37(2): 229-248.

2015 EGOS Conference Best Paper Finalist. Nason, R. & Gras, D. The impact of family household health on family economic activity. Athens, Greece.

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