Andrew (Andy) Hoffman's research uses a sociological perspective to understand the cultural and institutional aspects of environmental issues for organizations. In particular, he focuses on the processes by which environmental issues both emerge and evolve as social, political and managerial issues.

He has written extensively about: the evolving nature of field level pressures related to environmental issues; the corporate responses that have emerged as a result of those pressures, particularly around the issue of climate change; the interconnected networks among non-governmental organizations and corporations and how those networks influence change processes within cultural and institutional systems; the social and psychological barriers to these change processes; and the underlying cultural values that are engaged when these barriers are overcome.

He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1983), a Masters in Civil & Environmental Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (1991) and PhD in Management and Civil & Environmental Engineering from MIT (1995).

Andy Hoffman has received the Maggie Award (2013), JMI Breaking the Frame Award (2012), Connecticut Book Award (2011), the Aldo Leopold Fellowship (2011), the Aspen Environmental Fellowship (2011 and 2009), the Manos Page Prize (2009), the Faculty Pioneer Award (2003), the Rachel Carson Book Prize (2001) and the Klegerman Award (1995).

His work has been covered in numerous media outlets, including the New York Times, Scientific American, Time, Wall Street Journal and National Public Radio.

Andy Hoffman was a member of the Holcim Awards jury for North America in 2005.