William A. Mackie Term Professor, Professor
Management
Biography
Professor of Strategy and Technology Innovation Management. My research focuses on creating and testing organizational and strategic theories related to the micro-mechanisms that facilitate learning and technological change. It is guided by two inter-related research questions:
- How does flow of knowledge across firm boundaries,through various sources,affect learning and change?
- How do social and technological contexts within a firm affect the firm’s ability to leverage its existing and new inflowing knowledge?
Cumulatively, my research to date demonstrates that while the source and characteristics of knowledge inflows and outflows affect a company’s opportunities for learning and development of new technology, our understanding of these relationships is incomplete without considering the firm’s social context and technological characteristics. Additionally, in contrast to the existing theoretical effort to identify forces that encourage organizations to favor incremental changes through exploiting existing knowledge, my work opens up new avenues of understanding the mechanisms that facilitate significant technological transformations in organizations. I highlight the micro-mechanisms associated with human capital as a key driver of these transformations. This research provides the foundation for future integration of literatures on learning, knowledge-based view and network theories to address the intriguing question about: how do a firm’s human, technological and social capitals interact to facilitate/hinder the development/transformation of the firm’s technological capabilities?
By integrating human capital theory with learning and network theories, my research provides a theoretical and empirical meeting ground for economists, organizational theorists, and strategic human capital scholars.
Areas of Expertise
- Technology Entrepreneurship
- Technology innovation
- Organizational learning and change
- Strategic Human Capital
- Entrepreneurship/Small Business Administration
Selected Works
Articles
Kulkarni, Ankita, Tzabbar, D, and Lo, Jade, Are We on the Same Wavelength? Interdimensional Signal Set and Crowdfunding Success. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal (Forthcoming).
Zakaryan, Arusyak, Tzabbar, D, and Cirillo, Bruno, Mind the time: Failure response time, variations in the reasons for failures, and learning from Failure. Industrial and Corporate Change (May 2023).
Tzabbar, D, Lahiri, Amrita, Seo, Donghwi, and Boeker, Warren, When opportunity meets ability: The moderating effects of prolific inventors on novel drug innovation following product development failure in biotechnology. Strategic Management Journal 44 (Mar 2023):253-2565.
Tzabbar, D, Lee, Jeongsik, and Seo, Donghwi, Collaborative density and post-mobility knowledge spillover: A dyadic approach. Strategic Management Journal 43 (Jan 2022):1728-1762.
Tzabbar, D, Cirillo, Bruno, and Breschi, Stefano, The differential impact of intra-firm collaboration and Technological network centrality on employees’ likelihood of leaving the firm. Organization Science 36 (Dec 2022):2085-2540.
Cirillo, Bruno, Tzabbar, D, and Seo, Donghwi, The structural divide in employe mobility research: A bibliometrics and topic modeling analysis. Advances in Strategic Management (Oct 2020).
Tong, Di, Tzabbar, D, and H. Park, Dennis, How does relative income affect entry into pure and hybrid entrepreneurship?. Advances in Strategic Management (Oct 2020).
Tzabbar, D, and Margolis, Jaclyn, Beyond the Startup Stage: The Founding Team’s Human Capital, New Venture’s Stage of Life, Founder-CEO Duality, and Breakthrough Innovation. Organization Science 28 (Apr 2017):857-872.
Tzabbar, D, Tzafrir, Shay, and Baruch, Y, A bridge over troubled water: Replication, integration and extension of the relationship between HRM practices and organizational performance using moderating meta-analysis. Human Resource Management Review 27 (Mar 2017):134-148.
Park, H. Dennis, and Tzabbar, D, Venture capital, CEOs sources of power, and innovation novelty at different life stages of a new venture. Organization Science 27 (Mar 2016):336-353.
Aharonson, B.S., Tzabbar, D, and Amburgey, T. L, Do they know something we don’t? Endorsements and the dynamics of network position. Global Strategy Journal 6 (Feb 2016):31-49.
Tzabbar, D, and Vestal, A, Bridging the Social Chasm in Geographically Distributed R&D Teams: The Moderating Effects of Relational Strength and Status Asymmetry on the Novelty of Team Innovation. Organization Science 26 (Jan 2015):811-829.
Tzabbar, D, Silverman, B. S, and Aharonson, B. S., Learning by hiring or hiring to avoid learning. Journal of Managerial Pscyhology 30 (Mar 2014):550-564.
Kehoe, R. R., and Tzabbar, D, Lighting the way or stealing the shine? The duality of star effect of colleagues performance. Strategic Management Journal 36 (Jan 2014):709-727.
Tzabbar, D, and Kehoe, R.R, Can opportunity emerge from disarray? An examination of exploration and exploitation following star scientist turnover. Journal of Management 40 (Jan 2014):449-482.
Tzabbar, D, Aharonson, B. S, and Amburgey, L. T, When does tapping external sources of knowledge results in knowledge integration. Research Policy 42 (Mar 2013):481-494.
Al-Laham, A, Tzabbar, D, and Amburgey, Terry T, The dynamics of knowledge stocks and knowledge flows: Examining the consequences of knowledge exploration and exploitation in biotechnology.. Industrial and Corporate Change 20 (Feb 2011):555-583.
Tzabbar, D, When does scientist mobility affect technological repositioning?. Academy of Management Journal 52 (Oct 2009):873-896.
Tzabbar, D, Aharonson, B. S, Amburgey, T. L, and Al-Laham, A, When is the whole bigger than the sum of its parts? The effects of bundled knowledge stocks on innovative success. Strategic Organization 6 (Aug 2009):375–406.
Amburgey, L. T, Al-Laham, A, Tzabbar, D, and Aharonson, S. B, The structural evolution of multiplex organizational networks: Research and commerce in biotechnology. Advances in Strategic Management 25 (Nov 2007):171-209.
Professional Experience
Academic-Strategic Entrepreneurial Journal Associate Editor Jan 2021-Nov 00-1
Academic-Organizational Dynamics Editorial Review Board member Jan 2016-Nov 00-1
Academic-Academy of Management Journal Editorial Review Board member May 2015-Nov 00-1
Memberships/Board-Organization Science Editorial Review Board Apr 2015-Nov 00-1
Academic-Journal of Management Editorial Review Board member Apr 2014-Nov 00-1
Awards
2019 Dean’s Research Fellow (LeBow)
2017 Provost mid-career productivity award (Drexel)
2016 AMJ’s Best Reviewer Award (Academy of Management Journal)
2013 Best Paper Award (Strategic Management Sciety)
2013 Best Paper Proceedings (Academy of Management Conference)
2013 Best Paper Award (Academy of Management Conference)
2011 Finalist Best Paper Award (Strategic Management Society)
2008 Best Paper Proceedings (TIM Division Academy of Management)
2006 Best Dissertation Award (TIM Academy of Management)
2005 Robert Litschert Best Student Paper Award (BPS Academy of Management)
2003 Arnon Reichers, Best Student Paper Award (Academy of Management)
Service
Organization Dynamics – Member (2023–Present)
Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal – Associate Editor (2023–Present)
Strategic Management Journal – Member (2023–Present)
Organization Science – Member (2019–Present)
Strategic Entrepreneurial Journal – Associate Editor (2020–2022)
Academy of Management Journal – Member (2019–2022)
Journal of Management – Member (2019–2022)
Organization Dynamics – Member (2019–2022)
Advances in Strategic Management – Guest Editor (2017–2022)
Academy of Management Journal – Advisory Board Member (2018)
Organization Dynamics – Advisory Board Member (2018)
Organization Science – Advisory Board Member (2018)
Journal of Management – Advisory Board Member (2017–2018)
Academy of Management Journal – Member (2017)
Journal of management – Member (2017)
Organization Dynamics – Member (2017)
Organization Science – Member (2017)