About

Professor Inês Black is an Assistant Professor in the Strategy area at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. Her research focuses on the intersection of firm strategy and labor markets, specifically examining how and when the matching process between workers and firms results in performance gains. She is particularly interested in how organizations select hiring channels based on their demand for skills. Professor Black teaches the core Strategy course for Fuqua's daytime MBA program. Her work contributes to understanding the dynamics of firm hiring strategies and labor market efficiency, providing insights into organizational decision-making processes related to talent acquisition and workforce management.

Research topics

• Economics
• Labour economics
• Computer Science
• Business
• Econometrics
• Psychology
• Marketing
• Industrial organization
• Cognitive psychology
• Market economy

Selected publications

• The aging firm

  Research in Organizational Behavior · 2025-09-11

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  PublisherDOI

• Hiring and Managing Talent in Changing Labor Markets

  Academy of Management Proceedings · 2025-07-01

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  Strategic human capital management is crucial for driving firm performance and fostering innovation, particularly in the face of evolving labor market conditions. Firms must navigate a dynamic landscape with increasing knowledge intensity, polarization, changing competitive pressures, and demographic challenges such as an aging workforce. The seminal work by Becker (1962) on human capital laid the foundation for understanding the conditions under which firms can appropriate value from their workforce. Building on this, extensive research has explored how firms can effectively motivate or retain employees. Yet, gaps remain in our comprehensive understanding of two key elements of strategic human capital management: talent hiring and talent management. Effective hiring practices are essential not only for filling immediate vacancies but also for strategically assembling a workforce that aligns with long-term organizational goals. From competing for scarce scientific talent to balancing the trade-offs between retaining experienced workers and integrating younger talent, organizations must grapple with complex hiring and management decisions that shape their ability to innovate and grow. Moreover, talent hiring and management strategies must account for heterogeneity in workers' preferences, skills, and the structural challenges of hiring in dynamic labor markets. The papers presented in this symposium address these challenges and provide a nuanced understanding of workforce composition, organizational needs, and the broader economic forces at play. Do Diversity Claims Cause Labor Market Sorting by Political Partisanship? Evidence from Experiments Author: William Reuben Hurst; University of Maryland College Park Author: Saerom Lee; Who Does Industry Hire? Scientists' Talent and Sorting Decision Author: Justine Boudou; Harvard Business School Competing for Talent - Competing for Talent: Large Firms and Startup Growth Author: James Bessen; Boston University Author: Felix Poege; Bocconi University Author: Ronja Röttger; Gray Areas - Aging Firms, Strategic Hiring and Tacit Knowledge Author: Ines Black; Author: Sharique Hasan; Duke University Author: Yoko Shibuya; Author: Maria Zhu; Duke University Task Complexity, Doctor Experience, and the Value of Supervisors - Evidence from an Emergency Dept. Author: Miguel Espinosa; Bocconi University Author: Victoria Sevcenko; INSEAD Author: Sergio Prada; -

  PublisherDOI

• The Illusion of Cyclicality in Entry Wages

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Market Segment, Organizational Form, and Information Technology Fit

  Strategy Science · 2023-10-03 · 2 citations

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  Several literatures in strategy propose models of the displacement of incumbent firms by newer firms that adopt newer technologies. Although that pattern likely plays out often, it is also often the case that incumbents adopt new technologies less intensively than entrants and yet, are not displaced; the new and old firms coexist. We propose one explanation built on the fundamental notion in strategy of the importance of fit between activity system components. We combine three existing models from strategy in a way that allows us to generate novel predictions. When corroborated, these predictions suggest that the patterns we observe are likely the result of issues of multidimensional fit and cannot be explained by a simpler model. One model predicts that market segment choice is a function of the order of entry. A second suggests that organizational form must fit with market segment choice, and a third suggests that information technology adoption returns depend on organizational form. Jointly, these models produce a chain of logic explaining why early entrants might be less likely to adopt information technology. The combined model also yields a novel prediction about when we expect this pattern to emerge. Specifically, in settings without a sufficiently large scope for product customization or the possibility of variation in organizational form, we predict that the relationship between entry order and technology adoption is attenuated. We find patterns consistent with our predictions using rich employer-employee linked administrative data from Portugal. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/stsc.2022.0071 .

  PublisherDOI

• Networks and Diversity in the New Era of Organizational Teams

  Academy of Management Proceedings · 2023-07-24

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  Taking a network perspective to study teams has been popular and fruitful in the past decades. Yet, the changing nature of how work teams are organized and managed in the new era brings unprecedented challenges to this line of work. For example, nowadays, many teams have fuzzy boundaries. And social exchanges and collaborations between groups are far more frequent and intensive than they traditionally were. Teams are also becoming increasingly diverse due to the globalization trend and the recognition of the value of diversity. These changing features of teams are likely to influence or interact with intra- and inter-team networks and exert a collective, integrated impact on individual members’ and teams’ cognitions, behaviors, and outcomes, which have not been thoroughly understood and examined. Our symposium highlights the recent efforts to investigate new emergent features of teams and explore how they interact with networks within and between teams. Two papers directly tap into the members’ social relations within and between teams, the diversity of these social relations, and associated team performance outcomes. Another two papers look at dynamic entrepreneurial teams, where each team constitutes the entire organization. Each explores a different element of diversity as a function of how networks are strategically used in these budding firms. The fifth paper switches the gear to focus on individuals’ intrapersonal diversity and network structural features and provides insights into how their linkage may shape team dynamics. Complementarities of Members’ Structural Roles in Team Success: The Moderating Role of Experience Author: Shihan Li; Heinz College - Carnegie Mellon U. Author: Brandy Aven; Carnegie Mellon U. The Social Underpinnings of Effective Organizational Interteam Relations Author: Martin J. Kilduff; UCL School of Management Author: Andreas Wilhelm Richter; U. of Cambridge Author: Ronald Clarke; Rennes School of Business Multicultural Experience and Social Network Brokerage Author: Eva Hsin-Lian Lin; London Business School Author: Raina A. Brands; UCL School of Management Author: Adrienne Wood; U. of Virginia Author: Adam M. Kleinbaum; Dartmouth College, Tuck School of Business Showcasing strategies: The Role of Entrepreneurial Networking in Quest for Venture Capital Funding Author: Damiano Maria Morando; Imperial College Business School Author: Anne L.J. Ter Wal; Imperial College Business School Author: Stefano Breschi; Bocconi U. Recruiting for your team: Network hiring and match-specific performance in firms Author: Ines Black; - Author: Sharique Hasan; Fuqua School of Business, Duke U.

  PublisherDOI

• Hunting for talent: Firm‐driven labor market search in the United States

  Strategic Management Journal · 2023 · 24 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Business
  • Labour economics

  Abstract Research Summary We analyze firm‐driven labor market search, where firms “hunt” for talent rather than rely on workers to apply for vacancies. We leverage three approaches. We develop a model of firm‐driven search and derive equilibrium conditions under which firms use this channel. We test our model's predictions using two data sources. Data from a nationally representative survey of 10,000 workers shows that the percentage hired through recruiting has increased from 4.9% in 1991 to 14.3% in 2022. This share is larger for higher‐skilled workers and those with online profiles on LinkedIn. We complement this analysis with data on the near universe of online job postings from 2010 through 2020. Consistent with our model and worker survey evidence, we find firms that demand higher‐skilled workers or operate in labor markets with heavy LinkedIn use are more likely to “hunt for talent.” Managerial Summary We study the phenomenon of “hunting” for talent, where firms fill open positions by searching for workers and inviting them to a recruiting process, rather than relying on workers to apply directly. We find that the percentage of workers hired through hunting has increased from 4.9% in 1991 to 14.3% in 2022. We propose that firms that rely more on high‐skilled workers and/or operate within industries with a higher share of available candidates with online profiles are more likely to hunt for their talent. We find support for this conjecture using two data sets, documenting the worker and firm side of the labor market. Data from a nationally representative survey of 10,000 workers shows they are more likely to have been “hunted” by their employer if they work in an occupation that requires more skills, or if their industry has more candidates with online profiles. Moreover, data on US‐wide job postings over the past decade shows that firms in need of highly skilled workers are more likely to invest in outbound recruiting capabilities.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Market Segment, Organizational Form, and Information Technology Fit

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2022-01-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• The False Illusion of Wage Cyclicality

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2022 · 2 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Economics
  • Labour economics
  • Econometrics
  PublisherDOI

• IT and Strategic Human Capital: Impact on Knowledge-Based Processes, Networks, and Outcomes

  Academy of Management Proceedings · 2022-07-06

  article

  Advancements in information technology (IT) can have profound impacts on the development and management of human capital. Extant research has examined how human capital in markets and organizations are shaped by increased digitization and the deployment of strategies relying on collection and analysis of big data, cloud computing, social media, Internet of Things (IoT), and the like. In knowledge-intensive settings, however, IT-enabled mechanisms have heterogenous impacts on issues related to human capital. Although IT potentially expands capacity for collection, storage, and utilization of knowledge, some firms and individuals successfully leverage technology and information systems while others do not--or are even possibly left worse off. This symposium contributes to examining why such discrepancies may exist by shedding light on the market and organizational processes that underlie the intersection of IT and knowledge-based processes, networks, and outcomes as they relate to issues in strategic human capital. Can Social Media Alleviate Inequality? Evidence from Venture Capital Financing Presenter: Gavin Wang; Wharton OPIM Presenter: Lynn Wu; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania Presenter: Lorin Hitt; U. of Pennsylvania Are Knowledge Sharing and Learning Tradeoffs? Linking Performance Incentives with KMS Usage Presenter: Sae-Seul Park; Carnegie Mellon U. - Tepper School of Business Cloud Adoption and Strategic Human Capital: Evidence from Norway Presenter: Derrick Choe; - Presenter: Amir Sasson; BI Norwegian Business School Presenter: Robert Channing Seamans; NYU Stern Hunting For Talent: Firm-Driven Labor Market Search in the United States Presenter: Ines Black; - Presenter: Sharique Hasan; Fuqua School of Business, Duke U.

  PublisherDOI

• Network Hiring, Firm Performance and Growth

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2020-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Sharique Hasan

  Duke University

  5 shared

• Sae-Seul Park

  Carnegie Mellon University

  2 shared

• Ana Figueiredo

  Erasmus University Rotterdam

  2 shared

• David Krackhardt

  Carnegie Mellon University

  2 shared

• Rembrand Koning

  2 shared

• Victor Manuel Bennett

  2 shared

• Todd A. Hall

  University of Kansas

  2 shared

• Raina A. Brands

  1 shared