Discipline
Sustainability
Supervisors
- Mark Zbaracki
- Wren Montgomery
Anticipated completion: 2026
Rosalie Luo is a Ph.D. candidate in Sustainability at Ivey Business School. Her research sits at the intersection of organizational theory and the natural environment, with a particular focus on institutional dynamics surrounding environmental crises. Her dissertation examines the institutional responses to the Red Hill water crisis in Hawai’i, where recent fuel contaminations of drinking water systems have created profound environmental and public health impacts. Through ethnographic and archival methodologies, she is investigating how public distrust emerged, intensified, and transferred throughout the local institution of drinking water governance. In another ethnography, she is exploring the role of trust in navigating an organizational crisis at a regenerative agricultural cooperative.
Education
- BS. (Honors) Program in the Environment & Earth/Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, 2020
Research Interests
- Institutional Processes
- Environmental Crises
- Trust and Distrust
- Qualitative Methods
Publications
- Luo, R. (2024). Global digital sustainability: A cross-disciplinary approach. Academy of Management Perspectives.
- Phillips, A., Luo, R, & Wendland-Liu, J. (2023). Shifting the paradigm: A critical review of social innovation literature. International Journal of Innovation Studies.
Conferences
- Battling Magic: Maintenance and Enchantment at Biodynamic CSA, Ivey Sustainability Academy, 2022
- Biodynamic in California: Organizational Cognition and Learning with Complexity (with Wren Montgomery), Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Virtual, 2022
- Technologies and Strategies in Biological Circular Economies, Food, Justice, and Society Conference, University of Michigan, 2019
Awards and Honours
- Bill and Ann Brock Scholarship (2021-2024)
- Dr. Alvin J. Silk Graduate Scholarship (2023)
- Ivey PhD Research Project Funding (2023)
Relevant Professional or Academic Experience
- AOM ONE Membership and Nominations Team (2023-2026)
- Coordinator, Ontario Qualitative Working Group (2023-2025)
- AOM ONE PhD Student Team (2020-2022)
Selected Presentations
- Fueling Distrust: Institutional Trust Repair after the Red Hill Water Crisis, AOM Annual Meeting 2025 (Recipient of ONE Best Paper Designation)
- The Role of Organizations in a Just Future: A Review and Path Forward, AOM Annual Meeting 2024
- Battling Magic: Negotiating Crisis at a Regenerative Community Enterprise, AOM Annual Meeting 2023
- Battling Magic: Negotiating Crisis at a Regenerative Community Enterprise, Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability (ARCS) Conference 2023
- The Intersection of Business and Justice, University of Michigan Erb Institute 2023
