Research
My research interests are at the nexus of entrepreneurship and organization theory, including:
Legitimacy perceptions in the gray areas between legitimacy-illegitimacy and complex institutional environments; legitimacy formation processes and legitimation strategies of controversial businesses (e.g., fracking, cannabis, foie gras) to better promote growth.
Minority Entrepreneurship and equality/inclusion: Decision-making, cognition, and the effect of stereotypes on entrepreneurial endeavors: exploring the mindset of various legitimating audiences (e.g., citizens, investors, managers, entrepreneurs). Recovery from failures.
Entrepreneurial language and the (mis)use of creation and discovery frames and their impact on new venture performance
Publications
Siraz, Sonia S., Claes, Björn; De Castro, Julio; Vaara, Eero (2023). "Theorizing the grey area between legitimacy and illegitimacy", Journal of Management Studies, available Open Access https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12901
Winner of the Best Paper Award at the Iberoamerican Academy of Management Conference, Santiago, Chile
Blog: Shades of Grey in Legitimacy Perceptions
https://managementstudiesinsights.com/shades-of-grey-in-legitimacy-perceptions/
Siraz, Sonia S. (2020). Desenredando legitimidad: Tres ensayos sobre la percepción de legitimidad / Disentangling legitimacy: Three essays on legitimacy perceptions. IE Business School, Madrid, Spain, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3784566
Siraz, S.onia S., & De Castro, JO (2019). "Business legitimacy as an intangible. An analysis in the context of controversial industries". in Spanish, Special Issue dedicated to Intangible Assets, Industrial Economics, (414), pp. 41-54. ISSN 0422-2784
Siraz, Sonia S.: (2019), “Of course, I am fair ... But it depends on your gender and on your origin: Legitimacy perceptions of entrepreneurial failures, Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research BCERC Proceedings 2019 (Vol. 39) – Chapter XVII – Women in Entrepreneurship. ISBN 0-910897-45-7
Siraz, Sonia S.; Preciado-Sanchez, Deycy; Claes, Björn; (2017). “Getting Up After Falling Down: A Tale Of Three Communities” In Guclu Atinc (Ed.), Best Paper Proceedings of the 77th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management. ISSN: 21516561
Lead-authored papers in revision process /in preparation for submission
Note: Titles are redacted to preserve the blind review process (further details available on request)
Paper on the impact of status characteristics and beliefs in a just world on the legitimacy perceptions about minority entrepreneurs with Alvarez, Sharon A.; Claes, Björn — Reject and Resubmit FT 50 list journal, CABS 4*
Paper on the success factors in community-based enterprises with Claes, Björn; Preciado-Sanchez, Deycy; Theodorakopoulos, Nicholas— Revise and Resubmit CABS 3 journal
Best Paper Proceedings AOM 2017
Paper about legitimation strategies in controversial sectors with Claes, Björn; De Castro, Julio; Lapeyre, Maéva E. — Revise and Resubmit CABS 3 journal
Paper on the funding worthiness of Latinx minority entrepreneurs in the United States” with Claes, Björn, Alvarez, Sharon A.— Revise and Resubmit CABS2 journal
Paper about the micro-level mechanisms of legitimacy judgment formation about innovations in the fracking industry with Claes, Björn; Haack, Patrick; De Castro, Julio; — Under Review, FT 50 list journal, CABS 4
“Of course, I am fair ... but it depends on your gender and on your origin”: A cross country analysis of the attributes of entrepreneurial failure legitimacy perceptions” — target: FT 50 list journal, ABS 4* (Stage: Rewriting after completion of additional data collection and analysis from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the USA)
Frontiers of entrepreneurship research, Best paper proceedings BCERC 2019
Selected work in progress
Wang, Taiyuan; De Castro, Julio; Siraz, Sonia S.; Delgado-Marquez, Luisa; “Growing from legitimacy alignments in collective entrepreneurship” — Stage: writing
Alvarez, Sharon, A.; Siraz, Sonia S.; “Market creation and entrepreneurial language”— Stage: data collection