Background and Research

Tatiana Kostova (Ph.D. UMN) is Carolina Distinguished Professor, Buck Mickel Endowed Chair, and Professor of IB at Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina. She has been a Fulbright scholar at UCLA and WU, and Visiting Professor at WU, CUHK, HKU, Tec de Monterrey, EGADE, King's College London, and others.

Dr. Kostova’s research focuses on management of multinational companies (MNCs), including global strategy, organization theory, particularly the institutional perspective, and organizational behavior. She studies institutional and cultural embeddedness of MNCs, cross-border transfer of management practices, organizational legitimacy, social capital, agency theory, CSR, and comparative corporate governance. She has also studied OB topics including psychological ownership, multiculturalism, and dual identification. Her work has been published in top academic journals such as AMR, AMJ, and JIBS and has received notable recognitions: more than 33,500 Google Scholar citations, best dissertation awards from AOM’s IMD and AIB, top 1% most impactful scholars in Business and Economics worldwide (2019, 2023, 2025), and AOM’s IMD Eminent Scholar Award for lifetime achievement in international management. Dr Kostova has served on multiple editorial boards of top journals. She was Vice President of AIB and Chair of the IM Division of AOM. She is an AIB Fellow. 

Education

• Ph.D., University of Minnesota 
• M.S., Kiev State University, Ukraine