Matthew S. Bothner is a Professor and the Deutsche Telekom Chair in Leadership and HR Development at the European School of Management and Technology. He studies social status and its effects on performance-related outcomes in several settings, including the survival chances and strategies of venture capital firms, the effort levels of professional athletes, and the tuition-setting behavior of U.S. colleges and universities. He has also examined competitive crowding and risk taking in tournaments as well as innovation diffusion in the global computer industry. "My interest in status as an intangible asset was fueled by Merton's 1968 work on the Matthew Effect, which refers to positive feedback between scientists' prestige and research output over the course of their careers," explains Bothner.
The Academy of Management awarded Bothner the 2006 Glueck Best Paper Award for the most outstanding new research in Business Policy and Strategy. He was honored for his paper, "Status Volatility and Organizational Growth in the U.S. Venture Capital Industry," coauthored with Jeong-han Kang and Wonjae Lee.
Bothner, a recipient of the Chicago Booth's Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching in 2004 and 2008 and of Chicago Booth's Hillel J. Einhorn Excellence in Teaching Award in 2011 and 2012, hopes his students leave his class with an ability to understand how to organize the firms they lead to achieve superior performance in the market.
Several of Bothner's other papers have appeared in academic journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, American Journal of Sociology, Management Science, and the Journal of Mathematical Sociology. His paper, "Relative Size and Firm Growth in the Global Computer Industry," was awarded the Louis R. Pondy Award and Newman Award by the Academy of Management. Additionally, Bothner serves as a reviewer for a number of journals and is a member of the Academy of Management and the American Sociological Association.
Bothner earned a bachelor's degree in sociology and American history in 1994 from the Boston University. He then enrolled at Columbia University, where he earned two master's degrees and a PhD in 2000. His dissertation was unanimously awarded distinction by the Department of Sociology. He joined the Chicago Booth faculty in 2000.
Outside of the classroom, he enjoys basketball, running, and weight training.
Selected Publications
"Competition and Social Influence: The Diffusion of the Sixth Generation Processor in the Global Computer Industry," American Journal of Sociology (2003).
With Jeong-han Kang and Toby Stuart, "Competitive Crowding and Risk Taking in a Tournament," Administrative Science Quarterly (2007).
With Ned Smith and Harrison White, "A Model of Robust Positions in Social Networks," American Journal of Sociology (2010).
For a listing of research publications please visit Matthew S. Bothner’s
university library listing page.