PENN STATE HBG
MIDDLETOWN, PA 17057
Biography
Dr. Ran is a faculty member in the School of Public Affairs at Penn State Harrisburg. His research interests focus on the dynamic interactions between society's complex infrastructure and human behavior – a domain generally understood as socio-technical systems. He is currently conducting research in the following areas:
- Governance, Governance Strategies, and Collaborative Governance Networks
- Transparency and Accountability
- Social Entrepreneurship and Hybrid Organizations
- Public Sector Human Resources Management
- Organizational Identity and Identification
- Knowledge Management and Knowledge Integration
Dr. Ran is an active member of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), Academy of Management (AOM), and the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (ASAC). Since 2001, he has been a frequent reviewer, presenter, session chair, and mentor for their annual conferences. He was the Chair of Northeast Conference on Public Administration (NECoPA, 2017 - 2019) and was instrumental in organizing the 2016 NECoPA which was hosted by Penn State Harrisburg’s School of Public Affairs in collaboration with the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of ASPA. He also served as the Division Chair, Organizational Theory Division, ASAC (2015 – 2016) after serving as the Division Coordinator and Division Editor, Organizational Theory Division, ASAC, between 2013 -2015. He was the committee chair of the membership committee, Public and Non-profit Division, Academy of Management (2012-2013). He serves as the editor of the book series: Contemporary Perspectives on Technological Innovation, Management and Policy (Information Age), co-editor of the book series Contemporary Perspectives In Human Capital And Development (Information Age); and served as the associate editor of Organizational Communication and Information Systems Division (Academy of Management 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013) and the associate editor of Social and Organizational Impacts of IS Track (ICIS - International Conference on Information Systems 2012). He also reviewed manuscripts for journals such as Academy of Management Review, Public Administration Review, Public Management Review, Administration & Society, International Journal of Public Administration, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Sage Open, Administrative Sciences, Public Performance and Management Review, etc. His research has won the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada 2010 Best Paper Award in Organizational Theory.
Dr. Ran teaches graduate courses in organizational behavior, organizational theory, and human resource management, and serves as the graduate faculty in MPA, MHA, and PhD programs. At the college, he served as the President of the Faculty Senate (2016 – 2017), Penn State Harrisburg, after serving as the Chair, the Strategic Planning Committee at Penn State Harrisburg Senate, and Co-Chair, Penn State Harrisburg Strategic Steering Committee (2011 – 2015). He also served as the Professor-in-Charge, Doctor of Philosophy in Public Administration (2019 – 2021), Professor-in-Charge, Master of Public Administration (2019 – 2021), Professor-in-Charge, Juris Doctor and Master of Public Administration (2019 – 2021), and serves Professor-in-Charge, Certificate in Public Sector Human Resource Management (2010 - present) at the School of Public Affairs, Penn State Harrisburg.
Research Interests
- Governance, Governance Strategies, and Collaborative Governance Networks
- Transparency and Accountability
- Social Entrepreneurship and Hybrid Organizations
- Public Sector Human Resources Management
- Organizational Identity and Identification
- Knowledge Management and Knowledge Integration
Publications
Selected recent publications. For a full list of publication, please refer to the CV on the left column.
Wang, H., Qi, H., Ran, B. (2021). Public-Private Collaborations Led by Private-Sector in Combating Crises: Evidence from China’s fighting against COVID-19. Administration & Society. (accepted)
Ran, B. & Weller, S. (2021). An Exit Strategy for the Definitional Elusiveness: A Three-Dimensional Framework for Social Entrepreneurship. Sustainability. 13(2), 563. DOI: 10.3390/su13020563
Weller, S. & Ran, B. (2020). Social Entrepreneurship: The Logic of Paradox. Sustainability. Vol. 12 (24), 10642. DOI: 10.3390/su122410642
J Wu, Y Tang, D Wang, J Chen, X Chen, L Suo, B Ran. (2020). Regional Collaborative Governance: A New Mechanism for Regional Coordinated Development. Exploration and Free Views. Vol. 2020-1; Iss. 10, pp. 4 - 25
冉冰. (2020). 孪生式纠缠：区域协同治理中的权力与信任. 探索与争鸣, 2020, 1(10): 23-25.
Wang, J. & Ran, B. (2019) Balancing Paradoxical Missions: How Does Microfinance Rebuild a Sustainable Path in Poverty Alleviation? Sage Open. Vol. 9 (2), First Published: June 16, 2019.
Ran, B., & Qi, H. (2019). The Entangled Twins: Power and Trust in Collaborative Governance. Administration & Society. Vol. 51(4), pp: 607-636.
Ran, B., Qi, H., & Oszlak, O. (2018). Gobernanza colaborativa. Estado Abierto. Revista sobre el Estado, la administración y las políticas públicas, 2(3), 47-90.
Wang, J., & Ran, B. (2018). Sustainable Collaborative Governance in Supply Chain. Sustainability. 2018, 10(1), 171.
Ran, B., & Qi, H. (2017). Contingencies of power sharing in collaborative governance. American Review of Public Administration. Vol. 48(8) 836 – 851.
Hafer, J. & Ran, B. (2016). Developing a Citizen Perspective of Public Participation: Identity Construction as Citizen Motivation to Participate. Administrative Theory & Praxis. Vol. 38 (03), pp. 206 – 222
Ran, B. & Qi, H. (2016). Issues and challenges of Public Service Procurement in China: A Collaborative Governance Perspective. International Journal of Public Policy. Vol. 12, Nos. 3/4/5/6. pp. 339 - 358
Kellis, D. S. & Ran, B. (2015). Effective Leadership in Public Sector Change Management, Journal of Organizational Change Management. Vol. 28 Iss: 4, pp.614 - 626
Kellis, D. S. & Ran, B. (2013). Modern Leadership Principles for Public Administration: Time to Move Forward. Journal of Public Affairs. Vol. 13. Iss. 1, pp. 130–141.
Ran, B. (2012). Ambiguity Reduction through Socio-Technical Interactions in New Product Development. Review of Management Innovation & Creativity. Vol. 5. Iss.14 pp.1-22.
Ran, B. (2012). Evaluating Public Participation in Environmental Policymaking. Journal of US-China Public Administration. Vol. 9. Iss. 4. pp. 407-423.
Ran, B. & Golden, T. (2011). Who are we? The Social Construction of Organizational Identity through Sense-Exchanging. Administration & Society. Vol. 43 Iss. 4. pp. 417 - 445.
Xu, X. & Ran, B. (2010). Familiarity, Abstractness, and the Interpretive Strategies of Noun-noun Combinations. Cognitive Sciences. Vol. 5. Iss. 2. pp. 125-138.
Ran, B. & Duimering, P.R. (2010). Conceptual Combination: Models, Theories and Controversies. International Journal of Cognitive Linguistics (Inaugural Issue). Vol. 1. Iss. 1. pp. 65-90.
Plant, J & Ran, B. (2009). Education for Ethics and Human Resource Management: A Necessary Synergy. Public Integrity. Vol.11. No.3. pp.221 – 238.
Safayeni, F.; Duimering, R.; Zheng, K.; Derbentseva, N.; Poile, C.; Ran, B. (2008). Requirements Engineering in New Product Development: How effective are the necessary interactions? Communications of ACM. Vol.51. No.3. pp.77 – 82.
Ran, B. (2008). Book Review: Organizing Doubt - Grounded Theory, Army Units and Dealing with Dynamic Complexity. Administrative Theory & Praxis. Vol. 30. No. 3. pp. 377-382
Ran, B. & Duimering, P.R. (2007). Imaging the Organization: Language use in Organizational Identity Claims. Journal of Business and Technical Communication. Vol. 21 No. 2 pp. 155 – 187.
Duimering, P.R.; Ran, B., Derbentseva, N.; Poile, C. (2006). The Effects of Ambiguity on Project Task Structure in New Product Development. Journal of Knowledge & Process Management. Vol. 13 No. 4 pp. 239 – 251.
Education
Ph.D. (Waterloo)