Ben Lewis Receives Emerging Scholar Award from the Academy of Management

PROVO, Utah – Nov 19, 2020 – Ben Lewis, an associate professor in the management department at the BYU Marriott School of Business, recently received the Emerging Scholar Award from the Organizations and the Natural Environment (ONE) division of the Academy of Management. The award was presented at the ONE business meeting at the Annual Conference for the Academy of Management. This virtual meeting was held in August 2020.

The Emerging Scholar Award is given each year to early-career academics who have made outstanding research contributions in their fields and who have strong potential to continue making such contributions. “To me, the award is a reflection of the type of high-quality scholarship that is typical of all BYU Marriott professors,” says Lewis. “I believe awards like these are simply a symbol of the outstanding research culture that has been accruing for many decades here at BYU Marriott. I’m grateful to be part of that growing trend.”

Lewis’ colleague Chad Carlos, an associate professor of entrepreneurship at BYU Marriott, won the same award in 2019. “I have published my best work with my friend and colleague Chad Carlos, so I suppose that the award is recognition of our joint efforts,” says Lewis. The Emerging Scholar Awards over the last two years honor Lewis and Carlos’s research on the impact of rankings on corporate social responsibility. Some of the duo’s past research projects have investigated why some organizations that earn certifications choose not to publish those certifications as well as the impact of ratings on a business’s performance.

“My research primarily addresses how firms strategically respond to ratings and rankings, particularly those that evaluate a company’s social or environmental performance,” says Lewis. “I believe this research is important because it provides knowledge to business managers who wish to understand how to strategically manage their firm’s reputations in ways that will benefit the long-term performance of their companies.”

Curtis LeBaron, a professor of organizational behavior and human resources and chair of BYU Marriott’s management department is impressed with Lewis’ work. “Ben Lewis is an outstanding scholar who is helping to build the national and international reputation of Brigham Young University,” he says. “I applaud his accomplishments and look forward to his continued success.”

The BYU Marriott School of Business prepares men and women of faith, character, and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Named after benefactors J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott, the school is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. BYU Marriott has four graduate and ten undergraduate programs with an enrollment of approximately 3,300 students.