Violina P. Rindova
Biography
Violina P. Rindova, Ph.D., is Associate Dean for Research and PhD Program and Dean's Leadership Circle Endowed Chair in The Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine. She received a Ph.D. from the Stern School of Business at New York University in 1999. Rindova's research focuses on strategic innovation and strategy under uncertainty, including how strategists combine knowledge and imagination to develop novel strategies. Her work has examined how organizations create value through cultural and symbolic resources, how they compete in dynamic environments, and how strategic leaders design organizational processes to shape dynamic capabilities. She has also researched extensively the social evaluations of firms that generate reputation and celebrity.
Rindova is an elected Fellow of the Strategic Management Society and has received the Western Academy of Management JMI Scholar Award. Her research has been recognized with multiple best paper awards, including the Best Paper Prize from the Strategic Management Society Special Conference "Designing the Future" and runner-up for the OMT Best Published Paper Award. She has published over 80 peer-reviewed journal articles in outlets such as Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, and Administrative Science Quarterly. Her work on firm celebrity, reputation, and strategic action has been widely cited in management scholarship.
Rindova has held endowed chair positions at multiple institutions, including the Captain Henry W. Simonsen Chair in Strategic Entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California and the Herb Kelleher Chair in Entrepreneurship at the University of Texas at Austin, where she also directed the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship, Growth, and Renewal. She served as Associate Editor of Academy of Management Review and Senior Editor of Strategy Science, and has been a member of editorial boards for Administrative Science Quarterly, Strategic Management Journal, and Strategic Organization. At USC, she served as Interim Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Research Director of the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.
Return to topEducation
- Ph.D. in Business, Stern School of Business, New York University, 1999
- MBA, Madrid Business School – University of Houston, Madrid, Spain, 1992
- J.D., Kliment Ohridski University, Sofia, Bulgaria, 1990
Distinctions
- Captain Henry W. Simonsen Chair in Strategic Entrepreneurship, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, 2016-2023
- Zlotnik Family Chair in Entrepreneurship, McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin, 2014-2016
- Herb Kelleher Chair in Entrepreneurship, McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin, 2014-2016
- Western Academy of Management JMI Scholar Award, 2022
- Runner-up, OMT Best Published Paper Award in 2020 in management and sociology, 2021
- Thought Leadership Award, Entrepreneurship Division, Academy of Management, 2009
- Best Paper Prize, Strategic Management Society, Special Conference 'Designing the Future', 2020
- Most Novel Proposal, Behavioral Strategy IG, Strategic Management Society, 2024
- Award for Best Article Scholarly Contribution by Strategic Organization journal, 2012
- Best Paper Award, Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation, 2011
Areas of Expertise
- Strategic Management
- Organizational Reputation Building
- Competitive Action Dynamics
- Corporate Celebrity Construction
- Imagination in Strategy Formation
- Moral Purpose Frameworks
- Temporal Narrative Design
Recent Publications
- Pollock T.G., Rindova V.P., “When Opposites Don’t Attract: The New Information Environment, Polarization, and What Happens to Social Evaluations When ‘The World Goes to Hell in a Handbasket’” (opens in new tab), Journal of Management Studies, 2026.
- Pollock, T., Rindova, V., “The Alchemy of Social Evaluations”, Oxford Encyclopedia of Social Evaluations, Oxford University Press, 2025.
- Dalpiaz E., Rindova V.P., Ravasi D., “Where strategy meets culture: The neglected role of cultural and symbolic resources in strategy research” (opens in new tab), Advances in Strategic Management, vol. 27, pp. 175-208, 2025.
- Khanagha S., Ansari S., Rindova V., Ozalp H., “The Orchestrator’s Dilemma: How Ericsson Strategically Recombined Resource Commitments and Signaling Tactics to Outmaneuver WiMAX” (opens in new tab), Journal of Management, 2025.
- Violina P. Rindova, Luis L. Martins, “The Imagination Advantage: When and How Strategists Combine Knowledge and Imagination in Developing Theories” (opens in new tab), Strategy Science, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 499-514, 2024.
- Violina P. Rindova, Luis L. Martins, “Moral Imagination, the Collective Desirable and Corporate Purpose” (opens in new tab), Strategy Science, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 170-181, 2023.
- Rindova, V.P., “Freedom and Emancipatory Entrepreneurship”, Journal of Management Inquiry, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 251-277, 2023.
- Rindova, V.P., Petkova, A., “For the Love of Change: How Strategic Leaders Design Organizational Processes to Shape Dynamic Capabilities” (opens in new tab), Organization Theory Meets Strategy (Advances in Strategic Management, Vol. 43), Emerald Publishing Limited, vol. 43, pp. 235-274, 2023.
- Weiss T., Eberhart R., Lounsbury M., Nelson A., Rindova V., Meyer J., Bromley P., Atkins R., Ruebottom T., Jennings J., Jennings D., Toubiana M., Shantz A.S., Khorasani N., Wadhwani D., Tucker H., Kirsch D., Goldfarb B., Aldrich H., Aldrich D., “The Social Effects of Entrepreneurship on Society and Some Potential Remedies: Four Provocations” (opens in new tab), Journal of Management Inquiry, vol. 32, pp. 251-277, 2023.
- Starbuck W.H., Rindova V., “THEMES IN ANCIENT CHINESE MANAGEMENT” (opens in new tab), Routledge Handbook of Chinese Business and Management, pp. 15-33, 2023.
- Violina P. Rindova, Luis L. Martins, “Futurescapes: Imagination and Temporal Reorganization in the Design of Strategic Narratives” (opens in new tab), Strategic Organization, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 200-224, 2022.
- Rindova, V.P., Srinivas, S.B., Martins, L.L., “How to Break Free: An Orders-of-Worth Perspective on Emancipatory Entrepreneurship”, Entrepreneurialism and Society: New Theoretical Perspectives (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 81), Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. 101-127, 2022.
- Violina P. Rindova, Luis L. Martins, “Shaping Possibilities: A Design-Science Approach to Developing Novel Strategies” (opens in new tab), Academy of Management Review, vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 800-822, 2021.
- Turner, S., Rindova, V., “Time and temporality in routine dynamics” (opens in new tab), Cambridge Handbook of Routine Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, pp. 266-276, 2021.
Most Cited Publications
- Rindova, V., Williamson, I., Petkova, A., Sever, J., “Being good or being known: An empirical examination of the dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of organizational reputation” (opens in new tab), Academy of Management Journal, vol. 48, no. 6, pp. 1033-1049, 2005.
- Pollock, T., Rindova, V., “Media legitimation effects in the market for initial public offerings” (opens in new tab), Academy of Management Journal, vol. 46, pp. 631-642, 2003.
- Rindova V., Barry D., Ketchen Jr. D.J., “Introduction to Special Topic Forum” (opens in new tab), Academy of Management Review, vol. 34, pp. 477-491, 2009.
- Pfarrer, M., Pollock, T., Rindova, V., “A Tale of Two Assets: The Effects of Firm Reputation and Celebrity on Earnings Surprises and Investors' Reactions” (opens in new tab), Academy of Management Journal, vol. 53, no. 5, pp. 1131-1152, 2010.
- Rindova, V., Kotha, S., “Continuous morphing: Competing through dynamic capabilities, form, and function” (opens in new tab), Academy of Management Journal, vol. 44, pp. 1263-1280, 2001.
- Rindova, V., Pollock, T., Hayward, M., “Celebrity firms: The social construction of market popularity” (opens in new tab), Academy of Management Review, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 50-71, 2006.
- Martins, L., Rindova, V., Greenbaum, B., “Unlocking the Hidden Value of Concepts: A cognitive perspective business model innovation” (opens in new tab), Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, vol. 9, pp. 99-117, 2015.
- Hayward, M., Rindova, V., Pollock, T., “Believing one's own press: The causes and consequences of Chief Executive Officer celebrity” (opens in new tab), Strategic Management Journal, vol. 25, pp. 637-654, 2004.
- Rindova, V., Fombrun, C., “Constructing competitive advantage: The role of firm-constituent interactions” (opens in new tab), Strategic Management Journal, vol. 20, pp. 691-710, 1999.
- Rindova, V., Petkova, A., “When is a new thing a good thing? Technological change, product form design, and perceptions of value for product innovations” (opens in new tab), Organization Science, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 217-232, 2007.
This profile was created with the help of AI.
Last updated on 5/20/2026.