Associate Professor
Organization and Management
SB1 Room 3226
PhD, University of Chicago
MA, University of Chicago
MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
AB, Harvard University
Organization Theory
Creativity & Innovation
Social Networks
Creative/Cultural Industries
Status & Rankings
Associate Professor
Organization and Management
SB1 Room 3226
Organization Theory
Creativity & Innovation
Social Networks
Creative/Cultural Industries
Status & Rankings
Noah Askin is a computational social scientist and sociologist by training. He conducts research on social and cultural networks, the causes and consequences of creativity (particularly in the music industry), the production and consumption of culture, and the dynamics of organizational and individual status. He is particularly interested in the creative process, its outcomes, and the forces that influence it.
His work, which has garnered him recognition on the Thinkers 50 Radar list, has appeared in Administrative Science Quarterly and the American Sociological Review, as well as computational social science publications. He has been an interview guest on the BBC (radio and television) and Salon.com, and his research has been covered in The Economist, Rolling Stone, Forbes, Business Insider, Quartz.com, The Times of London, and music industry blogs. He has done a TEDx talk on what makes popular songs popular.
Noah has directed and taught multiple Executive Education programs in addition to teaching organizational design and leadership to MBA students. His teaching focuses primarily on firms’ organizational-strategic alignment, leading and experiencing organizational change, managing corporate culture, fostering creativity in organizations, and understanding & utilizing social networks.
Before becoming a business school academic, Noah had a number of roles in the business and not-for-profit sectors. He was a management consultant for the Monitor Group, working in its strategy practice and its Executive Development group. This was followed by several years as an early member of a start-up in the educational services space. He maintains ties to business practitioners by continuing to advise organizations and coach executives.
Kim, Khwan and Noah Askin. (2024). “Feature-Based Structures of Opportunity: Genre Innovation in the American Popular Music Industry, 1958-2016.” American Sociological Review, in press.
Kim, Khwan, Noah Askin, and James Evans. (2024). “Disrupted Routines Anticipate Musical Exploration.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 121(6).
Harrison, Spencer, Noah Askin, and Lydia Hagtvedt. (2023). “Recognition Killed the Radio Star? Recognition Orientations and Sustained Creativity after the Best New Artist Grammy Nomination.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 68(1), 97-145.
Bothner, Matthew S., Frederic Godart, Noah Askin, and Wonjae Lee. (2022). “What is Social Status and How Does It Impact the Generation of Novel Ideas.” Pp. 111-136 in Research in the Sociology of Organizations, vol. 77, edited by G. Cattani, S. Ferriani, and D. Deichmann.
Askin, Noah and Joeri Mol. (2018). “Institutionalizing Authenticity in the Digitized World of Music.” Pp. 159–202 in Research in the Sociology of Organizations, vol. 55, edited by C. Jones and M. Maoret.
Askin, Noah and Michael Mauskapf. (2017). “What Makes Popular Culture Popular? Product Features and Optimal Differentiation in Music.” American Sociological Review, 82(5), 910-944.
Askin, Noah and Matthew S. Bothner. (2016). “Status-Aspirational Pricing: The “Chivas Regal” Strategy in U.S. Higher Education, 2006-2012.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 6(2), 217-253.
Askin, Noah, Matthew S. Bothner & Wonjae Lee. (2015). “Emergence of Stratification in Small Groups”, in Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences (eds.) Robert Scott and Stephen Kosslyn, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.