J. Robert Baum Directory Page

J. Robert Baum

J. Robert Baum

Associate Professor Emeritus

Ph.D., University of Maryland


Dr. J. Robert Baum is professor emeritus at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. Baum is a Lehigh University engineer and graduate of Northwestern University's MBA program in Finance and Economics. Baum taught MBA new venture courses, and he won five university teaching awards since 2000. His research interests are entrepreneurship, quantitative methods, and strategic decision-making. He has published in The Academy of Management Journal, The Journal of Business Venturing, The Journal of Applied Psychology, Strategic Management Journal, Organizational Science, Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, and he has chapters in two books. His dissertation, The Relation of Traits, Competencies, Vision, Motivation, and Strategy to Venture Growth won the 1995 Academy of Management, Entrepreneurship Division, best dissertation award. Two of his publications won best paper awards at Babson - Kauffman Entrepreneurship Research Conferences, and he is editor of The Psychology of Entrepreneurship, a Society of Industrial Organizational Psychology Frontiers Series book. Baum is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Business Venturing. He founded three new ventures, and he is a member of the board of directors of four businesses.

Primary Research Areas

  • Entrepreneurship/new-venture growth
  • Strategic decision-making
  • Quantitative methods

Honors and Awards

Allen J. Krowe Award for Innovative Teaching, University of Maryland, 2005

Best Paper Award, Babson-Kaufmann Entrepreneurship Research Conference, 2003

Best Paper Award, Babson-Kaufmann Entrepreneurship Research Conference, 2001

Allen J. Krowe Award for Innovative Teaching, University of Maryland, 2001

Best Dissertation Award, Entrepreneurship Division, Academy of Management, 1996

Consulting Work

  • Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield
  • Millennium Inorganic Chemicals
  • Hanover Lantern, Inc.
  • United Concordia Companies, Inc.
  • Highmark Health Ventures
  • Lancet Capital Partners
  • Say Plastics, Inc

  Baum, J.R., Frese, M, Baron, R.A. (2006). The Psychology of Entrepreneurship. Mahway, NJ: Erlbaum. Baum, J.R. and Wally, S. "Strategic Decision Speed and Firm Performance", Strategic Management Journal, 2003 Baum, J.R. and Locke, E.A., "The Relationship of Entrepreneurial Traits, Skill, and Motivation to New Venture Growth", Journal of Applied Psychology, 2004 Baum, J. R., Locke, E. A., and Smith, K. G., "A multi-dimensional Model of Venture Growth" Academy of Management Journal, 2001 Baum, J. R., Locke, E. A., and Kirkpatrick, S. A., "A Longitudinal Study of the Relation of Vision and Vision communication to Venture Growth in Entrepreneurial Firms" Journal of Applied Psychology,83(1): 43-54, 1998

Back to Top