Catherine J. Turco

Catherine J. Turco is the Michael M. Koerner (1949) Professor of Entrepreneurship and a Professor in MIT Sloan's Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management group as well as its program in Economic Sociology. Turco is an ethnographer and economic sociologist who studies cultural dynamics in organizations, occupations, and markets, with a particular focus on the role of meaning in economic life. She is the author of Harvard Square: A Love Story (2023) and The Conversational Firm: Rethinking Bureaucracy in the Age of Social Media (2016). Her research has also appeared in the American Journal of Sociology and the American Sociological Review, and has been recognized with awards from the American Sociological Association. It has been covered by The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, CNN, and Fortune. Prior to entering academia, Turco worked as a technology investment banker and then in the software industry, where she managed a corporate venture fund. She has consulted to a number of organizations on issues of corporate strategy and culture. Turco received her BA in economics from Harvard College, where in addition to her studies, she was president of Harvard Student Agencies/Let’s Go Inc., a 1,000-person company. She received her MBA from Harvard Business School, where she was a Baker Scholar. She received her MA and PhD in sociology from Harvard University, where she was a Presidential Scholar.

Catherine Turco is a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, focusing on the intersection of culture, organization, and identity in corporate and social contexts. Her work explores how cultural norms influence organizational behavior, particularly in high-status corporate law firms and industries like private equity. Turco's research interests include tokenism, identity-based barriers to diversification, and the commercialization of personal life. She examines how institutions navigate the tension between tradition and change, as seen in topics such as betrayal as a market barrier and the cultural dynamics of motherhood in commercial settings. Her publications highlight the role of social media and conversational dynamics in reshaping bureaucratic practices.