Alex Murray

Faculty Spotlight: Alex Murray

Alex Murray is an assistant professor of management at the Lundquist College of Business. Murray's research focuses on developing theoretical frameworks to explain how entrepreneurs and organizations mobilize resources, enroll initial stakeholders, and coordinate activities. He is particularly interested in empirical and theoretical puzzles stemming from the technologically-driven phenomena of decentralized organizations, disintermediated markets, and distributed online communities. His projects are based in a range of contexts including crowdfunding, multi-sided platforms, blockchain-based firms, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). Murray earned his PhD from the University of Washington, his MS from the University of Virginia, and his BS from the University of Alabama.

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What is your current research?

My research falls into two streams. The first looks at processes through which entrepreneurs mobilize resources from non-professional resource providers. Here, I'm interested in the actions entrepreneurs use to form supporter communities to generate financing, feedback, and information. The second looks at how organizations are being designed through blockchain technology. I'm particularly interested in the types of transactions that blockchain can coordinate and control.

What should the public know about your research? Why is it important?

​The public should know that in the fast-paced world of technological advancement, humans are still important in designing organizations, developing innovations, and implementing solutions to challenging problems. My research dives into the interface of humans and technologies to identify what technology can do, but also where humans are needed to increase the likelihood of positive gains for society.

Why is studying entrepreneurship and innovation relevant for society?

The study of entrepreneurship and innovation is relevant for society because the interface of humans and emerging technologies is fundamentally changing the role of humans in organizations, how organizations are designed, and the potential for future innovations to occur. Understanding these shifts is vital for attacking head-on many broad-reaching societal challenges.