John-Paul Ferguson's research focuses on the effects of hostile environments on founding new organizations, and the implications of those environments for how organizations' constituents come to value them. His research on labor law and trade-union formation, for example, shows how greater opposition to unions by companies has encouraged employees to favor diversified rather than specialized unions. His current project explores how the social norms that govern economic behavior can break down over time.

John-Paul Ferguson received BAs in Political Science and History from the University of Oklahoma, an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University and his PhD in Management from MIT. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Professor Ferguson is an economic sociologist who specializes in long-term institutional change. His work focuses on how changes in formal organizational rules affect individuals' values, and how those values aggregate to change organizations' operating environments.

Professor Ferguson has published in the Industrial and Labor Relations Review, the Negotiations Journal, and the Human Rights Quarterly. His dissertation work won the American Sociological Association's Ron Burt Award for the best graduate work in Economic Sociology and the ASA's James Thompson Award for the best graduate work in Organizations, Occupations and Work.