Walter W. Powell

Walter W. Powell (born August 15, 1951), also known as Woody Powell, is a contemporary American sociologist. Powell is Professor of Education, Sociology, Organizational Behavior, Management Science and Engineering, and Communication at Stanford University and the Stanford Graduate School of Education since 1999 and is known for his contributions to organizational theory, in particular to the new institutionalism and network theory. Since 2000, he has been an external faculty member of the Santa Fe Institute.

Powell received his Ph.D. and M.A. in sociology from the State University of New York, Stony Brook.

Publications DiMaggio, Paul J., and Walter W. Powell. 1983. "The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields." American Sociological Review 48:147-60. Powell, Walter W., and Paul J. DiMaggio (Eds.). 1991. The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Powell, Walter W. 1990. "Neither market nor hierarchy: Network forms of organization." Pp. 295–336 in Research in Organizational Behavior, edited by Barry M. Staw and L. L. Cummings: JAI. Powell, W. W., K. W. Koput, and L. Smith-Doerr. 1996. "Interorganizational Collaboration and the Locus of Innovation: Networks of Learning in Biotechnology." Administrative Science Quarterly 41:116-145. Padgett, J. F., and W. W. Powell, eds. 2012. The Emergence of Organizations and Markets. Princeton: Princeton University Press.