About me
As a budding researcher, I focus on how social and political issues influence organizations and the people in them. In a time of heightened societal polarization, understanding how these issues affect our workplaces is increasingly essential.
Background
During my undergraduate studies at Texas A&M University, I became fascinated with social issues intersecting with business. So much so that I added a certificate in nonprofit and social innovation and a philosophy minor to my accounting degree. Through my certificate work, I gained hands-on experience in addressing societal issues with a business mindset, while my philosophy minor challenged me to ask deeper questions and develop cohesive arguments. These experiences, along with a natural curiosity and desire to challenge the status quo, led me to pursue my PhD at the University of Oregon.
At the University of Oregon, I have spent much of my time creating a novel, hand-collected dataset for my dissertation. Wanting a context to study workplace political issues, I looked to the Florida public education system — specifically, the passing of the Parental Rights in Education Act in 2022. Curious about how a state-mandated, politicized policy affected the workplace, I collected both publicly available quantitative employee turnover data and qualitative evidence of employee activism. This data construction effort allows for many research projects and collaborations, several of which have already begun with my dissertation committee. My co-chairs, Lauren Lanahan and Andrew Nelson, are co-authors with me on my job market paper, while I have other collaborations with committee members Natasha Overmeyer and Forrest Briscoe.
Research interests
My work sits at the intersection of a few themes:
Politics in the Workplace
How politicized policies and social issues shape organizations and the people within them.
Employee Activism
How workers respond to, mobilize around, and push back on contested political issues at work.
Inequality in Employee Outcomes
How these dynamics produce uneven consequences across employees and groups.
Get in touch
The best way to reach me is by email at hgrubbs@uoregon.edu. You can also view my CV and current research.