I am an organizational and economic sociologist who studies how interactions and social psychological processes shape outcomes for groups, organizations, and markets. Much of my existing work uses data from development organizations and small-scale entrepreneurs in emerging markets. My newer projects examine the effects of social psychological processes on economic behaviors in both developing and advanced economies. I often mix methods, using ethnography and interviews to understand mechanisms on the ground, and then analyze large-scale databases to track aggregate effects.
Journal Articles
Doering, Laura, Jan Doering, and András Tilcsik. 2023. “'Was it Me or Was it Gender Discrimination?' How Women Respond to Ambiguous Incidents at Work.” Sociological Science 10:501-33. (Equal authorship)
Doering, Laura, and Tyler Wry. 2022. “The Challenges of Supporting Necessity Entrepreneurs: Understanding Loan Officer Exit in Microfinance.” Journal of Business Venturing 37(2):106189.
Doering, Laura & Amandine Ody-Brasier. 2021. "Time and Punishment: How Individuals Respond to Sanctions in Voluntary Associations." American Journal of Sociology 127(2):441–91.
Doering, Laura & Kristen McNeill. 2020. “Elaborating on the Abstract: Group Meaning-Making in a Colombian Microsavings Program.” American Sociological Review. 85(3):417–50.
Doering, Laura & Chris Liu. 2019. “From the Ground Up: Gender, Self-Employment, and Space in a Colombian Housing Project.”
Sociology of Development. 5(2): 198-224.
Ranganathan, Aruna & Laura Doering. 2018. “The (State-Private) Ties that Bind: Status, Occupations, and Economic Development in India.” Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings. 2018 (1): 10794.
Doering, Laura. 2018. “Risks, Returns, and Relational Lending: Personal Ties in Microfinance.” American Journal of Sociology 123(5): 1341-81.
Doering, Laura & Sarah Thébaud. 2017. “The Effects of Gendered Occupational Roles on Men's and Women's Workplace Authority: Evidence from Microfinance.” American Sociological Review 82 (3): 1-26.
Doering, Laura. 2016. “Necessity is the Mother of Isomorphism: Poverty and Market Creativity in Panama.” Sociology of Development 2(3) 235-264.
Book Chapters & Reviews
Doering, Laura and Mauro Small. 2016. “Sustainable Enterprise in Panama.” Pp. 122–28 in The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise. Vol. 4, edited by W. Visser. Sheffield, UK: Greenleaf.
Yenkey, Christopher, Laura Doering, and Pete Aceves. 2015. “Is Kenya’s Digital Revolution Informalising Financial Inclusion?” Pp. 183–210 in Kenya’s Financial Transformation in the 21st Century, edited by A. Heyer and M. King. Nairobi: FSD Kenya.
Doering, Laura. 2018. "Book Review: Freedom from Work." American Journal of Sociology 123(4):1230-1231.
Doering, Laura. 2014. “Book Review: The Outsider Entrepreneurs.” American Journal of Sociology 120(4):1245–47.
Working Papers
Doering, Laura and András Tilcsik. “Does Location Matter? Everyday Gender Discrimination in Remote and On-site Work.” (revise & resubmit)
Delecourt, Solène, Laura Doering and Odyssia Ng. “The Temporal Fluidity of Gender Effects: Customers, Sellers, and Gender Stereotypes in Market Interactions.”
Ranganathan, Aruna & Laura Doering. "The (State-Private) Ties that Bind: Status, Occupations, and Economic Development in India.”
Book in Development
Doering, Laura. Touchpoints: How Interactions Shape Organizations and Markets.