San Gregorio State Beach, CA

Menu:

Bio

Kaisa Snellman

I am an economic sociologist whose main areas of interest lie in institutional theory, social networks, and collective action. My current research follows two main trajectories. The first revolves around understanding variation in organizational responses to institutional change and the role of framing processes in shaping organizational behavior. The second stream of research concerns the social fabric of innovation and social change. How do social networks shape the diffusion of new ideas and practices? How do networks constrain or enable collective action? My dissertation examines these questions in the context of the uneven diffusion of the shareholder model in Finland. In other projects, I investigate the role of network affiliations in scientific collaboration and collective civic engagement.

Currently, I am a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where I study social capital and civic engagement with Bob Putnam and the Saguaro research team. I have a PhD in Sociology from Stanford and a MSc in Economics from the Swedish School of Economics in Finland. Before graduate school, I was a research assistant in the department for investigative journalism in the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat in Finland and a program director in the department of Marketing in the Swedish School of Economics. I have also been a columnist in the newspaper Ylioppilaslehti, the greatest student newspaper in Finland.