Biography
Ann’s research centers on organizational learning and firm adaptation in the emergence, diffusion and abandonment of new technologies, practices, and institutions. She is particularly interested in the role of organizational learning and adaptation in the context of sustainability and environmental management.
Ann’s research has been published in top tier academic journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, the Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, the Strategic Management Journal, and the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.
She is the recipient of the inaugural 2019 “Professor of the Year” award from the Undergraduate Business Council of the Wisconsin School of Business. In 2010, she received the “Erwin Gaumnitz Distinguished Junior Faculty Research Award” from the Wisconsin School of Business. She also received the 2009 “Emerging Scholar Award” from the Academy of Management, Organization and the Natural Environment Division. Her dissertation on the ISO 9000 quality management standard was the winner of the 2001 INFORMS/Organization Science Dissertation Proposal Competition.
Ann directs the Business School’s Graduate Certificate in Business, Environment and Social Responsibility (BESR). From 2016 to 2022, she has also served on the leadership team of UW Madison’s Office of Sustainability and as the faculty director of UW’s Nelson Institute’s Sustainability Certificate.
Ann received her Ph.D. from the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California – Santa Barbara in 2002. In her free time she enjoys going on outdoor adventures with her husband and four kids.
Research
Selected Published Journal Articles
Kim, J. & Terlaak, A. & Yu, N. (2023). A Carnegie Perspective on Intermittent Risk Taking in Entrepreneurship Frontiers in Psychology (Special Issue on Decision Making and Problem Solving in Organizations: Assessing and Expanding the Carnegie Perspective)
Terlaak, A. & Kim, J. (2021). The paradoxical effect of prior operating experience and observational learning on new market entry Industrial and Corporate Change
Kim, S. & Terlaak, A. & Potoski, M. (2021). Corporate Sustainability and Financial Performance: Collective Reputation as Moderator of the Relationship between Environmental Performance and Firm Market Value Business Strategy and the Environment
Terlaak, A. & Kim, S. & Roh, T. (2018). Not good, not bad: Unpacking the Effect of Family Control on Environmental Performance Disclosure by Business Group Firms Journal of Business Ethics
Gaba, V. & Terlaak, A. (2013). Decomposing Uncertainty and its Effects on Imitation in Firm Exit Decisions Organization Science
Terlaak, A. & Gong, Y. (2008). Vicarious learning and inferential accuracy in adoption processes Academy of Management Review
Terlaak, A. & Gong, Y. & Kim, J. (2008). Post-adoption Regret and Biased Vicarious Learning in Innovation Abandonment Bandwagons Best Paper Proceedings, Academy of Management
Terlaak, A. (2007). Order without Law: The Role of Certified Management Standards in Shaping Socially Desired Firm Behaviors Academy of Management Review
Terlaak, A. (2007). Satisficing Signaling: corporate social strategy and certified management standards Best Paper Proceedings, Academy of Management
Terlaak, A. & King, A. (2007). Follow the Small? Information-Based Adoption Bandwagons when Profitability Expectations are Related to Size Strategic Management Journal
Terlaak, A. & King, A. (2006). The Effect of Certification with the ISO 9000 Quality Management Standard: A Signaling Approach Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
King, A. & Lenox, M. & Terlaak, A. (2005). The Strategic Use of Decentralized Institutions: Exploring Certification with The ISO 14001 Management Standard Academy of Management Journal
Delmas, M. & Terlaak, A. (2002). Regulatory Commitments to Negotiated Agreements: Evidence from the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, and France Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis
Delmas, M. & Terlaak, A. (2002). The Institutional Context of Environmental Voluntary Agreements Organizations, Policy and the Natural Environmental: Institutional and Strategic Perspectives. Eds: A. Hoffman & M. Ventresca. Stanford University Press
Delmas, M. & Terlaak, A. (2001). A Framework for Analyzing Environmental Voluntary Agreements California Management Review
Delmas, M. & Terlaak, A. (2000). Voluntary Agreements for the Environment: Institutional Constraints and Potential for Innovation Environmental Contracts. Eds: K. Deketelaere & E. Ort. Kluwer Academic Publishers
Practitioner-Oriented Publications
Terlaak, A. (2008). Evaluating the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standard and PCS Data for Environmental Management Research: Theory and Data. National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE), Environmental Protection Agency; Report Record EE-0518-01