MBA publication Poets & Quants recently announced their annual 40-Under-40 Best MBA Professors awards, which included Darden’s own Tami Kim, who teaches marketing to First Year students during the core curriculum, as well as a digital marketing elective in the Full-Time MBA program. She is also a designated Faculty Fellow with the Batten Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
P&Q received over 1,500 nominations for their 40-Under-40 list, with submissions ranging from students, colleagues, business schools and professors themselves.
Kim’s research delves into firm transparency, consumer empowerment and implicit contracts, with special interest in interpersonal relationships in the digital age. Her course evaluations are routinely in the Top 10 percent of ratings for course and instructor feedback among all courses taught at Darden. Students routinely praise the warm but challenging environment she creates in the case method classroom, and Kim received the Darden Faculty Diversity Award in 2022, a student-driven honor.
P&Q Highlights
View the full Q&A featuring insights on Kim’s background here.
Q: What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it?
A: I study how social norms and expectations of behavior emerge on digital platforms. For instance, in one paper with Ting Zhang and Mike Norton, we found that digital payment platforms such as Venmo can harm interpersonal relationships. Although digital payment platforms have certainly made our lives more convenient by allowing us to exchange exact amounts owed in a matter of seconds, we find that such precise payments can make the relationship feel too much like a business transaction, and hurt the overall relationship quality. After all, you wouldn’t want your friends to treat you as if you are their accountant!
Q: What do you enjoy most about teaching business students?
A: Starting out at Darden, many students are often intimidated by the case method and may feel apprehensive about speaking up in the classroom. Since I teach both first and second-year MBAs, I have had the privilege of witnessing their growth and development over time. It’s incredibly meaningful to see them become more confident and resilient versions of themselves—and knowing that I have played a part in their growth is truly rewarding.
Ideas to Action
Browse a few of Kim’s thought leadership articles, shared on Ideas to Action:
