Oliver is an Associate Professor in the Management and Organizations Department and an Associate Professor (by courtesy) in the School of Sociology at the University of Arizona. He also serves as Director of the Center for Trust Studies at the University of Arizona.
Oliver previously received his PhD in sociology from UCLA, specializing in organization theory and economic sociology. His dissertation research at UCLA addressed institutional practices in organizations, especially as they pertain to routines, trust, and identity.
He also had the opportunity to spend two years at Stanford University as a Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology and the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, where he started to work with Karen S. Cook on issues related to trust.
Prior to that, Oliver completed undergraduate and graduate programs in business administration at German universities (University of Siegen, HHL – Leipzig School of Management, and Witten Herdecke University).