Business education and research in Ireland are currently flourishing and scholars in Ireland punch above their weight in the international research literature – ironically the main reason for the demise of the Irish Journal of Management. But the road to the strong performance of the business academy in Ireland is both long and winding, stretching back to before the foundation of the state and reflecting change in the Irish economy and in the education priorities of Irish society. This paper examines the history of business and management education and research in Ireland and the emergence and development of the Journal of Irish Business and Administrative Research, the precursor to the Irish Journal of Management. The paper offers some thoughts on current challenges and threats and considers whether the internationalisation of research scholarship might sound the death knell for detailed research on business and management in Ireland.
This paper considers the future of management and organisation research in Ireland in the context of the final issue of the Irish Journal of Management after five decades of publication. The Irish Journal of Management has provided a platform for Irish-based scholarship and scholarship on business and management in the Irish context while also embracing international contributions. Its demise coincides with a shift within Irish business schools towards internationalisation and a focus on publication in higher impact outlets, driven in no small part by research funding reforms, the drive for international accreditation, and global academic league tables. While this has greatly enhanced the profile of Irish business schools internationally, it has also arguably reduced the emphasis on Ireland as a research context. This raises some concern in that it privileges universal, theory-driven contributions to the detriment of more contextual insights. In this paper, we call for renewed attention to Irish-specific phenomena, including indigenous firms, and multinational subsidiaries. In so doing, we align with calls for greater more responsible research that values both the local and global. We illustrate the importance of contextualised research before concluding by outlining considerations for Irish management scholarship in a post-Irish Journal of Management era.
This paper reflects on the development of management research in Ireland through the lens of the Irish Journal of Management and its evolving editorial practices. Drawing on conversations with past editors, it explores how the role of the editor has changed since the journal's inception, alongside broader shifts in the publishing landscape. The paper is informed by an online panel discussion held with previous editors and additional contributions from editors unable to attend the live session. Rather than providing a chronological account, the discussion is woven into a set of reflections on editorial leadership, the challenges and opportunities of academic publishing, and the journal's contribution to the management research community in Ireland over time.
This paper begins by considering the challenges and opportunities facing academy-owned, not-for-profit journals. The paper goes on to reflect on the mission, ambition and purpose of academy-owned journals by presenting a case study of the relationship between the Irish Academy of Management (IAM) and the Irish Journal of Management (IJM), tracking the journey over nearly three decades, from 1996 to 2025. Drawing on a celebratory session of the IJM at the IAM Conference 2025, where the evolution of both the academy and journal was discussed, this paper captures the origins of the IAM as remembered by its founders. Supplemented by historical documents and insights from IJM editors and past Chairs of the IAM, this paper chronicles the road travelled through the academy and journal relationship, from the initial discussions that led to the evolution of the IJM, and through to the present day. As IJM publishes its final edition in 2025, this paper concludes by reflecting on the future for academy-owned journals in a rapidly changing publication landscape.
This paper proposes a process for enacting a financial services consortium-led apprenticeship education framework, underpinned by higher education and industry collaboration (HE-IC). While there is significant research in the areas of, HE-IC and apprenticeship education programmes, there is a lack of research combining these areas as a mechanism for facilitating a consortium-led financial services apprenticeship education framework. Underpinned by boundary organisation theory, the research questions ask: what is the process for developing, implementing and enacting a higher education financial services apprenticeship education framework? and, how can this framework serve as a mechanism for higher education institute and industry collaboration? Insights from apprenticeship education, higher education and industry collaboration literature informs the empirical research. A single interpretive case study explores the creation of an International Financial Services suite of apprenticeship education programmes in Ireland and captures subjective and contextual experience of apprenticeship consortium members and policy stakeholders. Findings suggest that HE-IC is key to achieving employer-led apprenticeship education programme success. A research-informed framework provides greater insight into creating a process for enacting an apprenticeship education framework as a mechanism for facilitating broader HE-IC, thereby extending boundary organisation theory.
In this qualitative study, we explore the journeys of repatriated Self-Initiated Expatriates (SIEs) and examine how their intelligent career capital fuels the ongoing development and sustainability of Born Global SMEs within the Irish animation industry sector. By utilising the intelligent career framework, we unravel the intricate narratives of these repatriated SIEs through three interconnected 'ways of knowing': understanding why they work, how they navigate their roles, and with whom they collaborate. This research highlights the significant influence of repatriates mobilising their capital in a thoughtfully chosen case study of a collective of pioneering Born Global Irish animation firms. By investigating the real-world impacts of repatriated SIEs' capital mobilisation, this study directly addresses the near absence of research on SIEs' use of repatriated capital, opening up new avenues for understanding and supporting these global professionals.
Business education and research in Ireland are currently flourishing and scholars in Ireland punch above their weight in the international research literature - ironically the main reason for the demise of the Irish Journal of Management. But the road to the strong performance of the business academy in Ireland is both long and winding, stretching back to before the foundation of the state and reflecting change in the Irish economy and in the education priorities of Irish society. This paper examines the history of business and management education and research in Ireland and the emergence and development of the Journal of Irish Business and Administrative Research, the precursor to the Irish Journal of Management. The paper offers some thoughts on current challenges and threats and considers whether the internationalisation of research scholarship might sound the death knell for detailed research on business and management in Ireland.
Evolving social and industry practices, standards and expectations make it clear that the further education and training (FET) sector must help students acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes that enhance their competency and prepare them for an increasingly complex and digital world. This phenomenological study shares leaders' experiences of managing digital technology change throughout the COVID-19 pandemic that led to the acquisition of the digital skills, qualities and dispositions necessary to support the development of an educator digital mindset for some individuals, but not for all. We also reveal novel insights into how these leaders positioned their organisations for successful strategic change by supporting their educators' engagement in the creative and effective use of digital technology in their chosen discipline, craft or professional area of expertise. We conclude that successful technology change can lead to constructive peer support and resources, create learning spaces that strengthen digital mindsets and professional identity, promote student retention and create successful digital technology-practitioners.
There is a growing social demand for educational systems to lead towards more sustainability-informed entrepreneurial education, to help enhance entrepreneurial mindsets. Entrepreneurial education emerges as critical in ensuring the development of academic and professional training that brings sustainability changes to existing business models - integrating the development of sustainability-informed critical thinking, problem-solving and problem-framing skills attune to current and emerging business challenges. To help prepare future entrepreneurs, this paper explores the traditional knowledge practices of the entrepreneurial mindset and the importance of identifying alternative approaches to reduce the disconnection between traditional learning theories, educational systems and models that allow entrepreneurs to innovate, and to respond to the business demand for sustainability-informed teaching and learning practices. The essential roles of entrepreneurs and the paths of their mindset development are explored to help unfold their potential to support and develop sustainability-informed entrepreneurship.
Enterprise education is lauded as a mechanism for transferring entrepreneurial skills, mindsets, and tendencies to students. We examine the changing levels of entrepreneurial tendencies of a cohort of students of enterprise education, focusing on entrepreneurial selfefficacy and entrepreneurial intentions. A sample group of undergraduate business students (n=177) were surveyed at the outset and conclusion of a year-long enterprise education module. Results highlight a lower pre-module level of entrepreneurial self-efficacy for female students and a significant increase in their self-efficacy levels after the module. We find entrepreneurial self-efficacy (established before the module and developed during) predicts entrepreneurial intentions and module satisfaction. Creativity training and individual creativity positively affect entrepreneurial intentions and module satisfaction, highlighting the importance of embedding creativity in such a module. These findings are useful to those developing future enterprise curricula.
Entrepreneurship education (EE) is pivotal within the higher education landscape, playing a fundamental role in equipping future leaders with the tools to address societal, environmental and economic challenges, including existential environmental issues. Rapid innovations in this area have resulted in a plethora of experiential and collaborative methodologies, such as challenge-based learning (CBL) and events like hackathons. In recognition of EE’s importance in addressing future challenges, three European universities collaborated to develop a trans-national, multi-disciplinary EE programme based on CBL methodology in a hackathon setting. The case study presented in this paper details a residential (overnight) hackathon that employed the CBL methodology to facilitate an interdisciplinary group of university students to address circular economy (CE) issues. Through an in-depth analysis of this hackathon, we examined the experiences of participants and facilitators to establish whether residential hackathons can foster collaboration, ideation, prototyping and problem-solving skills among participants. Data were collected through participant observations, interviews and analysis of artefacts produced during the event. The findings show that the residential hackathon, using a CBL framework, advanced the EE process improving collaboration between students and provided practical experiential learnings for addressing real-world challenges.
Entrepreneurship has become a global phenomenon and there has been significant growth in entrepreneurial education in Higher Education Institutions to support this trend. Consequently, research in entrepreneurial education has developed rapidly. Extant research in entrepreneurial education has predominantly focused on module/programme content and pedagogy, learning and outcomes, and entrepreneurial intention. Less emphasis has been placed on exploring the perspective of the educator in the learning process, despite their important role. Contemporary research suggests teaching portfolios maybe a useful tool to gain insight from the educator perspective and enhance learning in higher education. Despite such developments, the influence of teaching portfolios in entrepreneurial education remains underexplored. Through an autoethnographic inquiry, this paper tracks the development of an entrepreneurial educator’s teaching portfolio, exploring the influence of the portfolio on pedagogic practice. As an original contribution to knowledge, the paper extends existing pedagogical competence frameworks in the context of entrepreneurial education, bridging the gap between education theory and entrepreneurial education practice.
This paper explores student perceptions of learning from failure through the lens of entrepreneurial learning. Using Q-methodology, we explain how students of entrepreneurship make sense of and learn from failure. We demonstrate that individual heterogeneous experiences can be grouped and presented in a framework of five failure learning archetypes. Our research contributes to the academic discourse on entrepreneurship education by demonstrating how to address the topic of entrepreneurial failure at an intermediate level. Such knowledge allows us to bridge the gap between individual perspectives that may be difficult to address in organisational settings, such as entrepreneurship education programmes, and the societal perspectives that may be too coarse-grained to address personal aspects of learning from failure. Our study implies that entrepreneurship educators need to balance individual learning preferences, based on personality and behavioral styles, and not avoid the topic of failure.
Employees face difficulties in the modern workplace that put a burden on both their professional and personal well-being. This study aimed to clarify the intricate interactions between romantic partner stress, burnout, and the support of a romantic partner in the healing process. The literature emphasizes the role of romantic partners as both resource givers and demand producers. This idea is based on the Conservation of Resources (COR) principle. We sampled full-time employees from various industries in committed long-term partnerships (N=277). Using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to conduct our research, we provide support to understand the complex dynamics of romantic partner support in reducing work-related stress and its effects on burnout. Our results highlight how vital it is to comprehend how the supporting and demanding roles of romantic partners interact to influence burnout. We present our findings, discuss managerial implications, and outline recommendations for future research.
Solo self-employment or freelance work offers greater flexibility and autonomy over the timing and conditions of work than wage-and-salaried employment. This flexibility is known to be gendered as women take up greater shares of part-time self-employment than their male counterparts. This form of employment facilitates working from home for caring and family reasons. In 2020, COVID-19 and subsequent containment measures drastically accelerated moves towards flexible working, particularly remote and hybrid working, in the waged sector. Labour Force Survey data from Ireland show that flexible working factors are less strongly associated with selfemployment for women after 2020, reflecting narrowing of gaps between self-employed and wage-and-salaried workers during this period. While some levelling is evident, gender gaps in flexible working among the solo self-employed remain robust to broader changes. The results point to the continued relevance of, and desire for more flexible and autonomous working conditions among the working mother demographic and that these factors may be a motivator into self-employment or freelance work.
This paper explores the use of digital storytelling as a tool for presenting entrepreneurial ideas in enterprise education. Using quantitative and qualitative data, it examines student perceptions of the experience and its effectiveness. An online survey was distributed to 62 students in their first year of a teacher education degree, with responses gathered from 35 students. Findings suggest that digital storytelling effectively enables students to develop and present their entrepreneurial ideas and allows them to express themselves in interesting and engaging ways. The literature on digital storytelling is common in areas such as arts and media; however, few studies examine the use of digital storytelling in enterprise education. Fewer still examine digital storytelling as a means of assessment in an enterprise education module on a teacher education programme. This study provides insight into student experiences of digital storytelling as a tool to present entrepreneurial ideas and solutions to educational problems.
