Denis Trapido

Associate Professor Tenured

Denis Trapido

Associate Professor Tenured

Denis Trapido is Associate Professor of Management and Organization. Prior to joining the UW Bothell School of Business, Professor Trapido was on the faculty of the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Dr. Trapido’s research focuses on the origins and rewards of creativity, and the evolution of professional networks. His work has examined a variety of professional communities including the venture capital industry, biotechnology, electrical engineering, and historical communities of maritime merchants. Dr. Trapido’s research has appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, Organization Science, Social Forces, Research Policy, Research in Organizational Behavior, the Journal of Consumer Psychology, and European Sociological Review. He has also contributed book chapters and published wider-interest interdisciplinary work.

Dr. Trapido has developed and taught courses in organization theory, organizational behavior and innovation management to undergraduate, MBA and doctoral students. He has taught pro bono in the Public Policy program at the Kyiv School of Economics in Ukraine.

Education

Ph.D. in Sociology
Stanford University, 2008

M.A. in Sociology
Stanford University, 2003

M.A. in Sociology and Social Policy
University of Tartu, 2002

B.A. in Sociology
University of Tartu, 2001

Courses

  • BBUS 300 Management of Organizations – Undergraduate
  • BBUS 475 Managing Innovation – Undergraduate
  • BBUS 510 Managing Organizational Effectiveness – MBA

Research and Scholarship Interests

Creativity and Innovation, social networks, social inequality in professional work, economic sociology, organization theory.

University of Washington Bothell School of Business
Associate Professor – Management and Organization – 2023 to present
Assistant Professor of Management and Organization – 2015 to 2023

Kyiv School of Economics
Visiting Professor – 2025

University of California, Irvine
Assistant Professor – Organization and Management – 2008 to 2015
Assistant Professor (by courtesy) – Sociology – 2008 to 2015

Administrative Appointment and Key Leadership Positions

University of Washington Bothell School of Business
Area Coordinator – Management and Organization – 2026

  • Trapido, Denis. (2025). “Proactivity Punished: Nativist Bias in Advice Seeking.” Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 28(3), 600–621.  
  • Trapido, Denis, & Koppman, Sharon. (2023). “Creativity as Privilege.” Research in Organizational Behavior, 43, 100193.  
  • Trapido, Denis. (2022). “The Female Penalty for Novelty and the Offsetting Effect of Alternate Status Characteristics.” Social Forces, 100(4), 1592–1618.  
  • Pechmann, Cornelia, Yoon, Kelly E., Trapido, Denis, & Prochaska, Judith J. (2021). “Perceived Costs versus Actual Benefits of Demographic Self-Disclosure in Online Support Groups.” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 31(3), 450–477.  
  • Trapido, Denis, Pallotti, Francesca, & Lomi, Alessandro. (2020). “Clients’ Outcomes from Providers’ Networks: The Role of Relational Exclusivity and Complementary Capabilities.” Connections, 40(1), 31–46.  
  • Trapido, Denis. (2015). “How Novelty in Knowledge Earns Recognition: The Role of Consistent Identities.” Research Policy, 44(8), 1488–1500.  
  • Trapido, Denis. (2013). “Counterbalances to Economic Homophily: Microlevel Mechanisms in a Historical Setting.” American Journal of Sociology, 119(2), 444–485.  
  • Trapido, Denis. (2013). “Dual Signals: How Competition Makes or Breaks Interfirm Social Ties.” Organization Science, 24(2), 498–512.  
  • Trapido, Denis. (2007). “Competitive Embeddedness and the Emergence of Interfirm Cooperation.” Social Forces, 86(1), 165–191.  
  • Trapido, Denis. (2007). “Gendered Transition: Post-Soviet Trends in Gender Wage Inequality among Young Full-Time Workers.” European Sociological Review, 23(2), 223–237. 
  • Trapido, Denis. (2012). “Performance Implications of Syndication Networks.” In The Oxford Handbook of Venture Capital (pp. 401–420). Oxford University Press.
  • Trapido, Denis. (2001). “Challenges of Integration of Ethnic Minorities in Post-Soviet Estonia.” In Russia and the Baltic States: Political Relations, National Identity and Social Thought in XVIII–XX Centuries (pp. 268–277). Civic Education Project.
  • Trapido, Denis, & Peresild, Olga. (2000). “The Role of Russian-Language Programs of Estonian Television in Reflecting and Shaping the Integration Process As Compared to Printed Media.” In Integration of Estonian Society (pp. 63–65). Mitte-Eestlaste Integratsiooni Sihtasutus.
  • Murakas, Rein, & Trapido, Denis. (1999). “Structural and Individual Specifics of Income Distribution and Income Mobility.” In A Social Portrait of the Generation of the Thirty-Year-Olds (pp. 103–130). Teaduste Akadeemia Kirjastus.

Teaching Awards

  • Mini-MBA Distinguished Professor Award — 2022

Research & Service Awards

  • Best Paper, Administrative Science Quarterly journal conference “Coordination Within and Among Organizations”— 2011
  • Richard S. Goldsmith Award for Writing in Dispute Resolution — 2005
  • Winner, Estonian Academy of Sciences Nationwide Competition of Student Research — 2002
  • Second Place, Estonian National Competition of Student Research — 2001
  • Research Grant, Don Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship — 2014
  • Research Grant, Council on Research, Computing and Library Resources — 2010
  • Research Grant, Don Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship — 2010
  • Research Grant, National Science Foundation — 2007
  • Graduate Research Opportunity Grant, Stanford University — 2005
  • Stanford Center for Conflict and Negotiation Fellowship — 2005
  • Scholarship of the Foundation for Integration of Non-Estonians — 2000

Editorial Role for the Academy of Management Conference
Recurrent Reviewer and Session Chair — Academy of Management Annual Meeting

Center for Organizational Research at UC Irvine, Academy of Management, American Sociological Association