RESEARCH

Academic Papers (since 2021)

Working Papers

Saraf, Priyam. “Interpreting Labor: Variations in Automation and Meanings of Labor among Emerging Economy Firms.”

Best International Paper, Organization and Management Theory Section of the Academy of Management
Runner-Up Carolyn B. Dexter Award, Academy of Management
Honorable Mention, Best Student Paper Award, Sociology of Development Section of American Sociological Association
Honorable Mention, Best Student Paper Award, Science, Knowledge, and Technology Section of American Sociological Association

Abstract: This paper is a comparative ethnography of two matched garment firms that purchased the same labor-substituting auto-cutter at the same time. One implemented it within six months; the other delayed use for over three years, with the machine still unused at the time of writing. Using a matched case design, I rule out explanations based on information, incentives, or competition, and show that founders’ moral interpretations of labor—as commodified resources or as people to protect—shaped the trajectories of automation. These diverse moral orientations, due to variation in founders’ prior exposure to labor-intensive tasks, persisted despite homogenizing competition. I theorize that persistent variation in practice adoption is likely under conditions of environmental polyphony, where multiple legitimating principles coexist, often prevalent in emerging economy or other transitional contexts.

Saraf, Priyam. “Searching for a Confidant: How do Family Firms Hire a Professional CEO in Emerging Markets?”

Abstract: This ethnography examines how CEO professionalization unfolds among emerging economy firms supplying to global value chains. While professionalization—defined as the meritocratic shift from family to non-family CEOs—is widely seen as essential for firm governance, performance, and broader development outcomes, the reasons firm owners adopt it only partially or selectively remain poorly understood. Based on 20 months of ethnography, interviews, and archival work in Bangladesh, I find that firm owners recognize pressure from lead firms in global value chains to professionalize but face compliance-control tradeoffs. To navigate these tradeoffs, they hire foreign CEOs instead of local candidates. This avoidance of locals is not rooted in concerns about competence; owners consider them sufficiently capable. Rather, it reflects their preference for controllable hires—individuals who can be easily sanctioned and are less likely to deviate. These preferences, shaped by historically fraught relations with local legal institutions, help explain their hiring choices, foregrounding controllability as a salient concern among employers operating among conditions of weak, legal, institutions and senior executive hiring. The paper examines the evaluation processes behind hiring controllable “stranger” CEOs and explores the unintended consequences for entrepreneurship and economic development.

Draft (available upon request)

Saraf, Priyam. “How New Ideas Entered US Economics: Analyzing US Economic Dissertations (1980-2015) using Natural Language Processing.”

Abstract: Economics as a social science discipline is known to influence policy-making and organizational agendas. This paper investigates which ideas entered the social science discipline of U.S. economics between 1980 and 2015 and who produced them. Using topic modeling on a nationally representative corpus of over 30,000 U.S. economics Ph.D. dissertations—unlike citation or self-reported datasets that suffer from survivorship and elite bias—I identify “high-growth” ideas: conceptually distinct topics that rose in prevalence beyond chance. This paper introduces a representative, novel dataset into the sociology of economics to locate associations between ideas, status of the producer, and their audience.

Saraf, Priyam. “How Climate-Ed Organizations and Their Trainers Are Shaping Professional Understandings of Climate Skills.”

Abstract: In an ongoing field-level ethnography, I study how climate-ed organizations and their trainers with roots in social movements in the Global North challenge—and attempt to undo—the dominant financialized, carbon-centric definition of climate, expanding the menu of ideas that constitute modern sustainability practice. Rather than emphasizing technical skills and jurisdictional closure, trainers work to build epistemic communities through radical status leveling, rapid identity assertion, and shared cultural toolkits. Their efforts rest on the belief that financialized definitions of climate stem from skill-based status inequalities, and that addressing a multidimensional problem like climate change requires dismantling such hierarchies to enable innovation. This paper converses with scholarship such as the sociology of work and professions, upskilling, and sustainability practices.

Data Analysis and Writing

Saraf, Priyam. “Studying Up Revisited: Ethnographic Approaches for Researching the Organizational Elite in Emerging Market Firms.”

Abstract: Factory ethnographies have typically focused on the experiences of workers and line managers—roles that are usually place-bound—while paying less attention to elite decision-makers, who are often highly mobile. The variety, fragmentation, and discontinuity in elites’ routines demand adaptations in participant observation. This article proposes an ethnographic approach to studying organizational elites, especially in emerging economy contexts.

Saraf, Priyam. “Middle-Range Theory to Explain Productivity Variations and Selection among Firms in Emerging Economies Catering to International Markets.”

Abstract: This paper is a conceptual piece that proposes a sociological lens—grounded in middle-range theory—to complement existing accounts of practice adoption. I argue that economic sociology can deepen our understanding of organizational practice adoption as a socially embedded process and illustrate this approach with select real-world cases.

Saraf, Priyam. “Buyer Power as a Shared Constraint: Merchandiser WhatsApp Networks and Price-Setting Behavior among Bangladeshi Garment Firms.”

Abstract: In this mixed-methods study based in the global garment export sector, using econometric analysis and ethnographic methods, I examine cultural understandings of competition in family firms by analyzing their price-setting practices. Early evidence suggests the prevalence of "pricing games" spearheaded by middle-level merchandising managers who oversee pricing discussions with buyers. Managers find ways to credibly signal compliance with global pricing practices and expectations while approaching pricing as a shared activity, responding to shared constraints, to ensure industry survival over creating individual winners and losers.

Saraf, Priyam and Stefan Dimitriadis. “A Field Experiment on Adaptive Skills and Cash Transfer among Emerging Market Entrepreneurs.”

Abstract: In this field experiment with small and medium-sized entrepreneurs in an emerging economy, we examine the extent to which adaptive skills improve managerial outcomes relative to financial cash transfers.

Data Collection

Saraf, Priyam. “A Field Experiment on Competence, Cultural Similarity and Controllability during Senior Executive Hiring Evaluations in Emerging Markets.”

Saraf, Priyam and Arvind Karunakaran. “When and Why Mid-Career Professionals Transition into Climate or AI Jobs.”

Saraf, Priyam. “Varieties of Deinstitutionalization: Emerging Market Government Responses to the Discontinuity and Reinstatement of a Global Economic Performance Ranking System.”

Selected Peer Reviewed Publications

During my career as a World Bank Economist, I wrote several policy research papers for governments on strategies for inclusive economic growth. My audience included the governments of India, Pakistan, Mexico, Chile, Jamaica, Kenya, Ethiopia, among others, with whom I engaged and to whom I presented research findings.

Entrepreneurship

Saraf, Priyam, Julian Jamison, and Tasmia Rahman. 2019. “Group-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Training Improves Mental Health of SME Entrepreneurs: Experimental Evidence from Conflict-Affected Areas of Pakistan.” World Bank Policy Research Working Paper Series 8872.

Media coverage: JPAL Evaluation Spotlights

Saraf, Priyam, Julian Jamison, Tasmia Rahman, Miguel Gallardo, and Charles Lor. 2019. “Improving Mental Well-Being and Productivity of Small-Medium Entrepreneurs in Fragile, Conflict and Violence-Affected Areas: Can Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Trainings Help?” World Bank Policy Research Working Paper Series 8489.

Saraf, Priyam. 2019. “Study of Fragility, Entrepreneurship and Mental Health: Investing in Better Cognitive and Behavioral Skills for Small Medium Enterprise Entrepreneurs to Thrive in Conflict-Affected Areas of Pakistan.” World Bank Book Series.

Selected for Human Capital Spotlight (top innovative ideas in human capital at World Bank)

Suppliers in Global Value Chains

Haven, Thomas, Denny Bynoe, Rohan Longmore, and Priyam Saraf. 2022. “Creating Markets in Jamaica - Repositioning for Private Sector-led Sustainable Growth.” Country Private Sector Diagnostic. World Bank.

World Bank Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions Award for Research Excellence, 2022

Criscuolo, Alberto, Priyam Saraf, Esteban Ferro, and Sandra Cordova. 2018. “Regional Competitiveness of the Newly-Created Nuble Region in Chile.” World Bank Report for the Government of Nuble in Chile.

Media Coverage (in Spanish): Chile Noticias Universidad de BioBio 2018; SanCarlos Online 2018

Saraf, Priyam. 2016. “Automotive in South Asia: From Fringe to Global.” Sector Note for South Asia Regional Flagship Report. World Bank.

World Bank Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions Award for Research Excellence, 2016
Media Coverage: Daily FT Sri Lanka 2017; MotorIndia 2017; AutoCar Professional 2017

Skill Development

Saraf, Priyam. 2017. “On-the-job Training: Returns, Barriers to Provision, and Policy Implications.” World Bank Policy Research Working Paper Series 8090. Commissioned for the World Development Report (WDR) on Education. World Bank.

Saraf, Priyam. 2014. “Is the Skill Gap as Big as Reported?” World Economic Forum.

Decentralization

Bonilla, Samuel, Meriem Goutali, Priyam Saraf, and Juontel White. 2013. “Enhancing School-Based Management in Decentralized Education Systems: Case of Ghana.” In Global Corruption Report: Education, edited by Transparency International. Taylor & Francis Group.

Book Review

Saraf, Priyam. 2012. Developing Living Cities: From Analysis to Action, by Seetharam Kallidaikurichi and Belinda Yuen. Journal of International Affairs. 65(2): 203.