Minjae Kim's research broadly examines when, why, and how social actors coordinate their actions, often in strategic contexts. One ongoing project investigates how elites in cultural markets enact elite closure and sustain their advantage. Another examines when and how founders retain employees at their firms. A third project considers when and why “low-status” projects—those lacking endorsement from industry insiders—may outperform higher-status projects at the gatekeeping stage, when industry incumbents decide which projects reach broader lay audiences. As such, his work examines dynamics of coordination across a range of contexts, including organizations, entrepreneurship, politics, and cultural markets.
Before joining Yale, Kim was an assistant professor of management (organizational behavior) at Rice University. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University and received his doctoral degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and bachelor’s from University of Chicago. Prior to entering academia, he worked as a consultant for local governments.
