Yixi Chen

I am a 5th-year Ph.D. candidate in Management (Organization Theory) at Columbia Business School.

My research sits at the intersection of stigma, narrative, and social evaluation. Specifically, I propose the concept of stigma as distinction to explain how stigmatized identities become competitive advantages in evaluative settings that reward differentiation, such as entrepreneurship. I investigate the forms and consequences of revealing versus concealing devalued identities, such as neurodivergence, criminal records, and lower social class. I use a mixed-method approach, combining experiments with in-depth interviews, computational text analysis, and surveys.

Before coming to Columbia, I worked as a Senior Analyst at Mastercard International (New York and Shanghai). I received my M.A. in Sociology from the University of Chicago and my B.A. in History and Economics from Mount Holyoke College.

I will be on the 2026-2027 job market.

Contact

Feel free to contact me at: YiChen26 at gsb dot columbia dot edu