Yixi Chen

I am a 6th-year Ph.D. candidate in Management (Organization Theory) at Columbia Business School. I will be on the 2026-2027 job market.

My research sits at the intersection of identity, social evaluation, entrepreneurship, and social networks. I study how entrepreneurs and workers strategically present their stigmatized and marginalized identities, and how these choices shape investor evaluation, network formation, and well-being.

My dissertation examines a central puzzle in identity and social evaluation: when can a founder’s stigmatized identity become an unexpected source of advantage rather than remaining a liability? Across studies of entrepreneurs with neurodivergent conditions and entrepreneurs with incarceration records, I develop and test the concept of stigma as distinction, showing how stigmatized identities can become signals of distinctiveness in contexts that reward differentiation. Using a combination of video and written-vignette experiments, surveys, and interviews, I examine how stigma disclosure shapes investor evaluations and resource acquisition. My dissertation has been selected as a finalist of the 2026 INFORMS/Organization Science Best Dissertation Proposal Competition.

Before coming to Columbia, I worked as a Senior Analyst at Mastercard International (New York and Shanghai). I received my M.A. in Sociology from the University of Chicago and my B.A. in History and Economics from Mount Holyoke College.

Contact

Feel free to contact me at: YiChen26@gsb.columbia.edu.