Alex Bitektine

Alex Bitektine is Professor of Management in the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada) and Canada Research Chair in Institutions and Strategic Entrepreneurship, Tier II. He is also a Senior Editor at Organization Studies. He holds PhD and MBA from McGill University. His research interests include social evaluations of individuals and organizations (legitimacy, trustworthiness, reputation, status, authenticity, and others), institutional change, international business, as well as application of experimental methods in organizational research. He seeks to integrate multi-level approach and findings from social psychology into Organizational Theory and Management studies.

While his primary areas of expertise are institutional theory and social evaluations(legitimacy, reputation, status, trust, and others), he has contributed to a broad scope of research streams in Management, including, international business, entrepreneurship and innovation, sustainable development, research on upper echelons, non-market strategies, as well as development of organizational research methods. He conducts research using both qualitative and quantitative methods, including case studies, longitudinal data sets, surveys, and lab experiments. He also has extensively contributed to the advancement of Management and Organizational Theory research through theory development and published a number of theory papers on topics ranging from social evaluations and actorhood models to epistemology and research methods.

His work has been published in Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of World Business, Academy of Management Annals, Academy of Management Discoveries, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Business Ethics, Organizational Research Methods, and others. He also serves on editorial boards of the Academy of Management Review, Strategic Organization, and the Academy of Management Learning and Education.

Alex has been extensively involved in the development of academic community at the international level. He was involved in organizing multiple EGOS tracks, PDWs at EGOS and the AoM meetings, as well as an EGOS standing working group (SWG)on social evaluations, which had its first track in 2022. He also actively contributes to his school, John Molson School of Business, through work on multiple committees, PhD curriculum development and organizing of local events. He also contributes through teaching courses on organization theory and design, strategic management, non-market strategies and CSR.

Alex's research has been funded by multiple grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Société et la Culture (FQRSC), as well as by Direction de la recherche of HEC Montreal.

Effects of institutions on entrepreneurial activity

Institutional processes in emergent economies (Brazil, China, Middle East)  

Sustainable development and corporate social responsibility

Social evaluations of organizations (legitimacy, status, trust, and others) 

Non-market strategies

Seminar in special topics: Non-Market Strategies (MSCA 652) – M.Sc. Program; JMSB –Conocordia University, Department of Management, Montreal, Canada

Seminar in special topics: CSR and Political Action (MSCA652) – M.Sc. Program; JMSB –Concordia University, Department of Management, Montreal,Canada

Organizational Theory and Design (MANA 341) – B.Comm. Program; JMSB – Conocordia University, Department of Management, Montreal, Canada

Strategy and competition (COMM 401) – B.Comm. Program; JMSB – Conocordia University,Department of Management, Montreal, Canada

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^FT50Bitektine, A., P.-Y. Dolbec, M. Martins, S. Kruidenier. Temporary regulations and institutional change: Insights from the Brazilian World Cup experience. Academy of Management Journal (Forthcoming, accepted April 2, 2025).

^FT50Bitektine, A., N. Gillespie, and D. Lange. From the evaluator’s perspective: A functional approach to social judgments. Academy of Management Review (Forthcoming, accepted August 29, 2024).

Gelman, S., Fralich, R., Bitektine, A., and Zahraei, S. When Does a Generalist CEO Create Shareholder Value? The Effect of Managerial Challenge. Journal of Corporate Finance. (Forthcoming, accepted, November 6, 2025)

Lange, D., N. Gillespie., and A. Bitektine (2025) The Evaluator's Perspective: Understanding Valence Alignment in Organizational Evaluations. The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Social Evaluations. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

^FT50Bitektine, A. and F. Song (2023) On the role of institutional logics in legitimacy evaluations: The effects of pricing and CSR signals on organizational legitimacy. Journal of Management, 49(3): 1070–1105.

Bitektine, A., J. Lucas, O. Schilke, and B. Aeon (2022) Experiments in organization and management research. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Business and Management, M. Hitt(Ed.) Oxford University Press, New York, NY. ISBN: 9780190224851

^FT50Bitektine, A., P. Haack, J. Bothello, and J. Mair (2020) Inhabited actors: Internalizing institutions through communication and actorhood models. Journal of Management Studies, 57(4):885-897.

Fralich, R. and A. Bitektine (2020) The ‘Matthew effect’ in strategic decision-making: How CEO status affects investment decisions. Long Range Planning, 53(3): 1-21.

Bitektine, A., Nason, R. (2020)Towards a multi-level theory of institutional contestation: Exploring category legitimation across domains of institutional action.  Research in Sociology of Organizations – Microfoundations of Institutions, 65A: 43–65.

Bitektine, A., K. Hill, F. Song, and C. Vandenberghe (2020) Organizational legitimacy, reputation and status: Insights from micro-level measurement. Academy of Management Discoveries, 6(1):107–136.

^FT50Song,F. and A. Bitektine (2018) Firm status and evaluators’ trust: The many ways to trust a firm. Journal of Business Ethics. Vol. 153(2):503-518.

Bitektine, A., J. Lucas, and O. Schilke (2017) Institutions under a microscope: Experimental methods in institutional theory. Sage Handbook of Unconventional Methodology in Organization and Management Research, A. Bryman and D. Buchanan (Eds.) Sage Publications Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, 147-167.

Suddaby, R., A. Bitektine, and P. Haack (2017) Legitimacy. Academy of Management Annals. Vol. 11 (1): 451-478.

Bitektine, A. and D. Ghadiri (2016) Social Judgment Theory. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Corporate Reputation, Craig Carroll (Ed.) Sage Publications Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, Vol. 2: 768-770. ISBN: 9781483376516.

Poisson-De Haro, S. and A. Bitektine (2015) Global sustainability pressure and strategic choice: The role of firm's structures and non-market capabilities in selection and implementation of sustainability initiatives. Journal of World Business. Vol. 50 (2), April 2015: 326–341.

^FT50Bitektine, A. and P. Haack (2015)The macro and the micro of legitimacy: Towards a multi-level theory of the legitimacy process. Academy of Management Review, Special Topic Forum “Communication, Cognition and Institutions”. Vol. 40(1), January 2015: 49-75.

Bitektine, A. and D. Miller (2015) Methods, Theories, Data, and the Social Dynamics of Organizational Research. Journal of Management Inquiry.Vol.24(2), April 2015: 115-130

^FT50Bitektine, A. (2011) Towards a theory of social judgments of organizations: The case of legitimacy, reputation, and status. Academy of Management Review, Vol. 36 (1), January 2011: 151-179.

Bitektine, A.(2010) Prospective Case Studies. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research,  A.J. Mills, G. Durepos, E. Wiebe (Eds.) Sage, London, 2010, 746-748. ISBN :9781412956703

David, R., and A. Bitektine (2009) The Deinstitutionalization of Institutional Theory? Exploring Divergent Agendas in Institutional Research. Book chapter. Handbook of Organizational Research Methods, D. Buchanan & A. Bryman (Eds.) Sage, London, UK,2009, 160-175. ISBN:1412931185.

Bitektine, A. (2009) What makes us faddish? Resource space constraints and the ‘garbage can’ model of social science research. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 25, 217-220

Bitektine, A. (2008) Prospective case study design: Qualitative method for deductive theory testing. Organizational Research Methods Journal (sponsored by the AoM's Research Methods Division), Vol. 11, Issue1,  January 2008, 160-180.

Bitektine, A. (2008) Organizational populations in institutional competition: A typology of legitimacy-based entry deterrence strategies. Corporate Reputation Review, Vol.11 No 1, April 2008, 73-93.

Please see my CV for the full list of activities.