Hosted by the SMS Research Methods Community
Date & Time: April 15, 2026 from 10:30 AM to 12 PM
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Agentic AI systems can now execute multi-step tasks with minimal human oversight, raising important questions for how we conduct research. What does this mean for scholars in strategic management? Four leading researchers share how they are integrating agentic AI into their own methodological practice, from data collection and coding to analysis and writing. Matt Beane (UC Santa Barbara), Gwendolyn Lee (Purdue), Joshua Gans (University of Toronto), and Claudine Gartenberg (Wharton) discuss what works, what fails, and what guardrails matter. The conversation will address practical considerations such as reproducibility, validation, and transparency, as well as broader implications for the craft of research itself. This session is intended for scholars at any career stage who want to think rigorously about when and how to deploy these tools in their own work.
Matt Beane studies how we build skill in work involving intelligent machines like AI and robotics. His award-winning research has been published in top management outlets such as Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Science and Harvard Business Review, he publishes in technical outlets such as CHI, HRI, he has spoken on the TED stage, and he is the author of The Skill Code: How to Save Human Ability in an Age of Intelligent Machines (HarperCollins). He is co-founder and CEO of SkillBench, a a platform that turns AI usage data into action – so CTOs can steer transformation and software developers can grow through it. In 2012 he was selected as a Human-Robot Interaction Pioneer, and in 2021 was named to the Thinkers50 Radar list. Matt is a Digital Fellow with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab and MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy.
Joshua Gans is Jeffrey S. Skoll Chair of Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Professor of Strategic Management, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto; Chief Economist of the Creative Destruction Lab and cofounder of All Day TA. He also holds honorary appointments in the Department of Economics and Munk School, University of Toronto, and Melbourne Business School and am affiliated with the NBER, Schwartz-Reisman Institute, Acceleration Consortium, e61 Institute and Luohan Academy. He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, Australia and the Royal Society of Canada.
He is an economist who studies innovation, entrepreneurship, and business strategy. My research focuses on how firms and markets adapt to technological change, with particular emphasis on artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, and digital platforms.
Claudine Gartenberg is Associate Professor of Management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on organizational strategy, examining how ownership structure, corporate purpose, and compensation practices shape how firms compete and perform. Her work is published in leading journals including Management Science, Organization Science, and Review of Economic Studies.
Her current research investigates how AI is reshaping organizations, including how firms are restructuring decision-making, reallocating work, and repositioning strategically in response to these changes.
Professor Gwendolyn (Gwen) Lee has published numerous research articles with managerial impact in premier academic journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, and Strategy Science. Her research program advances the frontier of strategic management by contributing novel perspectives to a foundational research question: How do firms respond to disruptions that change how value is created and captured? Gwen is exploring industry-shaping dynamics in the generation of sustainable energy, the transformative impact of machine learning and AI on strategic decision-making, and critical challenges in the governance of AI. She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley (Management of Technology Fellow), and M.S. and B.S. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Burchard Scholar). With her work experiences as an engineer, management consultant, and academic researcher, Gwen has explored and enjoyed living globally in America, Asia, and Europe. She looks forward to opportunities for improving managerial practices and upgrading global human capital, particularly through the integration of science, technology, engineering, math (STEM) and business.