Powell is Professor of Education, Sociology, Organizational Behavior, Management Science and Engineering, and Communication at Stanford University and the Stanford Graduate School of Education since 1999 and is known for his contributions to organizational theory, in particular to the new institutionalism and network theory.
This line of work continues his interests in networks as a governance mechanism, first developed in his seminal 1990 article, "Neither Market Nor Hierarchy: Network Forms of Organization," which won the American Sociological Association's Max Weber Prize.
He has conducted numerous studies of nonprofit organizations, ranging from public television and university presses to art museums and higher education.
The second edition of the handbook, co-edited with Richard Steinberg, was published by Yale University Press in 2006.
In 2007, Powell was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.