KATIE APKER

I am a PhD candidate in Organizational Behavior at Cornell University. My research examines the social dynamics of occupations, work, and gender within organizational contexts.

My primary research stream investigates entrepreneurship and digital technology, with a focus on emerging forms of digital entrepreneurship such as content creation and social media influencing. Using organization theory and sociological perspectives, I explore how digital platforms and social media reshape opportunities and constraints for founders, and the implications for inequality, innovation, and the future of work.

Specifically, my research investigates:

• New forms of work enabled by digital technology

• The origins and consequences of gendered patterns in digital entrepreneurship - including the types of ventures founders pursue, their founding identities, the strategic behaviors they adopt, and the outcomes they achieve

• The social dynamics driving these patterns

My work is relevant to scholars interested in the social dimensions of entrepreneurship, technology, innovation, labor markets, and organization theory. I employ both quantitative econometric and qualitative research methods.

Prior to academia, I founded and exited a digital marketing asset company and earned an MBA from Brigham Young University. I have taught courses on the Sociology and Psychology of Work at Cornell and MBA business courses at BYU.