
Paul F. DonnellyTechnological University Dublin - City Campus | TU Dublin · College of Business
Paul F. Donnelly
PhD Organisation Studies
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323
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Citations since 2017
Publications
Publications (69)
Organization research on stigma has mostly focused on the stigmatized, limiting the scope for exploring what is possible and lacking recognition of the structural conditions and unequal power relations that create and sustain stigma. Consequently, it overlooks how actors can organize to resist and potentially overcome stigmatization altogether. Add...
Entrepreneurship has been proposed as a solution to extending working lives. However, little is known about how older (50+) entrepreneurs manage their personal transitions into entrepreneurship. In this paper, we propose to use a liminal identity work perspective to explore the identity paradoxes that older entrepreneurs experience during their tra...
In this paper, we explore the experiences of Irish and Zimbabwean youth who live and work in precarious economic conditions. We study these youths’ experiences in a manner that traverses contexts under the question: How do un(der)employed youth in the Global South and Global North enact resilience and agency while navigating economic precarity? The...
Entrepreneurship has been proposed as a solution to extending working lives and reincorporating older people into a productive workforce. However, little is known about how older (50+) emergent entrepreneurs (OEE) manage their personal transitions into entrepreneurship. In this paper, we investigate how OEE experience the journey into entrepreneurs...
Organization design seeks to balance potentially conflicting objectives while achieving a broader mission. EO13769 created a challenge for the president of the Academy of Management in leading through these conflicts, as President Anita McGahan describes: how to be true to her own moral values while leading an organization with well-established des...
—Purpose:
The purpose of this paper is to test a mediated model of the relationship between self-concept orientation (individualist and collectivist) and organizational identification (OrgID, Cooper and Thatcher, 2010), with proposed mediators including the need for organizational identification (nOID, Glynn, 1998) as well as self-presentation conc...
Since the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC), the landscape of work has changed across the world, with labour markets now characterized by an increase in long-term unemployment, underemployment and working poverty. And yet, newly formed groups of un(der)employed seem to be responding in creative ways to the vulnerability of employment. To observe t...
This paper contributes to creative entrepreneurship studies through exploring ‘liminal entrepreneuring’, i.e., the organization-creation entrepreneurial practices and narratives of individuals living in precarious conditions. Drawing on a processual approach to entrepreneurship and Turner’s liminality concept, we study the transition from un(der)em...
Back in 1930, John Maynard Keynes wrote about the promise of technology to increase leisure time through reducing the number of hours the individual needed to work each week. This suggested the possibility to de-centre work as the primary source of identity and value in our lives. But other than technology displacing humans, it would seem this prom...
The literature on organizational responses to institutional pressures describes responses ranging from compliance to resistance via different modes of decoupling. However, although these studies provide a greater understanding of the phenomenon, they tend to consider the different elements separately. Through a comparative case study of six researc...
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between individual- and country-level values and preferences for job/organizational attributes.
Design/methodology/approach
– Survey data were collected from 475 full-time employees (average of nine years work experience, and three years in a managerial position) enrolled in part-t...
In this paper we engage with indigenous women organizational practices, experiences and local histories of the global south. The paper is based on postcolonial ethnographic work conducted in Guatemala with Maya women communities from the Sololá department. Our approach to conducting this research is founded on decolonial feminist principles that se...
While entrepreneurship may be driven by personal interests and lifestyle choices, entrepreneurial actions are not only economically driven opportunity-searching processes but also enactments of social transformation that may or may not lead to socioeconomic benefits. We advance that exploring these entrepreneurial processes can inform a theory of t...
Western literature in management/organization studies tends to influence the way in which we understand the experiences of women in the developing or underdeveloped world, thereby occupying a privileged voice in contexts where such discourses seem either alien or simply do not apply. This raises important questions about how we come to understand,...
Both Ireland and Taiwan are considered to have experienced "economic miracles" that, ex ante, could not have been predicted when the two countries started along the road of industrial development in the late 1940s / early 1950s through to the end of the 1960s. Taking the view that industrial development does not appear as a ready formed institution...
This paper focuses upon the interpretation of freehand drawings produced by a small sample of 220 first-year students taking an Irish politics introductory module in response to the question, ‘What is Irish Politics?’ By sidestepping cognitive verbal-processing routes, through employing freehand drawing, we aim to create a critical and collaborativ...
In this chapter, we explore the untold stories of Spanish and Irish necessity entrepreneurs to better understand the process of becoming an entrepreneur. Working with narratives, media articles, and policy documents, we illustrate how necessity entrepreneurs do not recognize themselves in the institutionalized entrepreneur narrative as empowered, c...
Both Ireland and Taiwan are considered to have experienced “economic miracles” worthy of attention for how they managed to bring about economic/industrial development. Former colonies, by the late 1940s, neither was particularly well developed economically or industrially. Both pursued state-led industrial development, first by way of import-substi...
Development and aid programs, such as those aimed at promoting economic growth and prosperity in ‘Third World’ nations and transition economies, often arise out of Western and neo-liberal policy ideologies and practices. These programs may, in some cases, provide useful guidelines for restructuring institutional structures and governance mechanisms...
Both Ireland and Taiwan are considered to have experienced “economic miracles” that, ex ante, could not have been predicted when the two countries started along the road of industrial development in the late 1940s / early 1950s through to the end of the 1960s. Taking the view that industrial development does not appear as a ready formed institution...
Elites and their formation have become a matter of increasing public concern and research interest in recent years. The lessons from such research can be made more generalisable if a measure of elite formation could be developed that is comparable across different elite formation systems, whether they differ by elite, time or country. But, the natu...
Elites and their formation have become of increasing public concern and research interest in recent years. The lessons from such research can be made more generalizable if a measure of elite formation could be developed that is comparable across countries. But, the nature of elite formation renders this a complex task. Nevertheless, in this paper,...
In this paper, we propose a new way of explaining the everyday practices of communities who socially organize to create sustainable grass-roots engagement. We discuss how this collective engagement is based on principles and values of socio-economic engagement that are fundamentally different to those associated with capitalism. We theorise that th...
Western literature in management/organisation studies focuses primarily on gender issues that affect inequalities experienced by women at work. Adopting, in some cases, critical and feminist theoretical positions, the gender debate unfolds questions on the prevailing male discourse that is dominant in management and business organisations. Most of...
Elites and their formation have become of increasing public concern and research interest in recent years. The lessons from such research can be made more generalizable if a measure of elite formation could be developed that is comparable across countries. But, the nature of elite formation renders this a complex task. Nevertheless, in this paper,...
Relying on postcolonial frameworks, we offer new direction for the study of ‘knowledge transfer’ in MNCs in the international business literature by addressing the intersections of language, knowledge/epistemology, and culture. We suggest that extant literature in this area do not attend sufficiently to language as central in the constitution of kn...
Today, Ireland is host to 1,033 multinational corporations. They directly employ 152,785 and account for 70 per cent or €122.5bn of exports. It’s a story that has its roots in the 1940s.
www.irishtimes.com/business/how-foreign-firms-transformed-ireland-s-domestic-economy-1.1593462
This paper forms part of an ongoing research project using the technique of freehand drawing to study how students entering university in Ireland perceive the state of Irish politics and the wider society. By sidestepping the cognitive verbal processing routes through the use of freehand drawing, we find that students tend to present a more holisti...
This paper forms part of an ongoing research project using the technique of freehand drawing to study how students entering university in Ireland perceive the state of Irish politics and the wider society. By sidestepping the cognitive verbal processing routes through the use of freehand drawing, we find that students tend to present a more holisti...
Recognising that the world into which students emerge upon graduation is characterised by constant change, we embrace a critical pedagogy that can be implemented in the classroom through the use of freehand drawing. Freehand drawing is a technique that can stimulate a critical stance, as visual representations allow us to comprehend the world diffe...
We contribute to the literature of institutional logics by integrating a complementary view which is of composite boundary. We integrate the physical, social, and mental boundaries that encompass both the material and symbolic aspects of institutions in order to study the institutional change of knowledge – 'Mode 1 vs. 'Mode 2'. We identified three...
Purpose – The Guest Editors’ intent with this special issue is to tell tales of the field and beyond, but all with the serious end of rendering visible the largely invisible. This paper aims to introduce the articles forming the special issue, as well as reviewing extant work that foregrounds the hidden stories and uncertainties of doing qualitativ...
This paper argues that senior scientists in the area of nanoscience and nanotechnology build a new vision of their research activity in order to encompass multiple stakeholders such as policy makers, funding agencies and PhD students. Through a qualitative and inductive study and the lens of sensemaking and sensegiving, we show that senior scientis...
In this paper, we argue the community of nanoscience and nanotechnology is a loosely-coupled community as the sensemaking and sensegiving processes are incomplete. Policy markers poured massive amounts of money into this area to enable scientific researchers build infrastructure and buy equipment in order to conduct research at the nanoscale. Howev...
Until very recently, Ireland was spoken of in very adulatory terms, to the point of being dubbed the “Celtic Tiger.” However, the tiger is no more, having been consumed by a property-led boom, the collapse of which was compounded by the global financial crisis. Taking path dependence as lens, this article looks at an early sequence of events that s...
Utilizing a new theory for examining critical junctures, we seek to better understand the nature of industrial policy change in Ireland during the 1950s and macroeconomic policy change in Sweden in the 1980s. Did these policy changes constitute critical junctures, or something less, and if so why? The theory consists of three elements – economic cr...
Recognizing the world into which our students will emerge upon graduation, a world characterized by constant change, and our belief in the need to develop our students as “critical beings” (Barnett, 1997) and as “citizens capable of governing” (Giroux, 1997: 259), we embrace a critical pedagogy that is not just about theory (Dehler, Welsh & Lewis,...
Standard & Poor’s are the gift that keeps on giving. As one of the prime enablers of the global financial crisis that continues to fuel the sovereign crisis, they are now threatening to destabilise the global economy once again with their warnings of a downgrade of 15 eurozone member states. This warning comes on top of a couple of spectacular gaff...
Recognizing the world into which our students will emerge upon graduation, a world characterized by constant change, and our belief in the need to develop our students as “critical beings” (Barnett, 1997) and as “citizens capable of governing” (Giroux, 1997: 259), we embrace a critical pedagogy that is not just about theory (Dehler, Welsh & Lewis,...
Following calls for 'building path-oriented organization research on a rigorous path theory' (Sydow, Schreyögg and Koch, 2005: 2), I argue for knowing the organizational as an ongoing process. Through the contributions of path dependence theory, and with Ireland's Industrial Development Authority (IDA) as empirical focus, the paper follows organiza...
Tim Ryan is in quite the dilemma: should he shut up shop or should he seek to ride out the current crisis? He has experienced nothing but success until recent times and he has invested 15 years of his life in building his own training company. Without doubt he feels considerable emotional attachment to the business, not to mention that it currently...
We consider the ethical treatment of people working in organizations along the relativism/absolutism continuum. Work is a dominant activity in people’s lives and a core part of people’s identities. In it is the managerial realm of Human Resource Management where the focus on the working body primarily resides. The construction and disciplining of t...
There was much on openness and fighting white-collar crime in the parties’ manifestos – but where are they in the programme for government.
The unethical behaviour that helped create the economic and banking crisis has caught the attention of some parties.
Taking issue with the largely ahistorical and aprocessual character of much organizational theorizing, and following calls for ‘building path-oriented organization research on a rigorous path theory’ (Sydow, Schreyögg and Koch, 2005: 2), I argue for knowing the organizational as an ongoing process. Through the contributions of path dependence theor...
Actor-network theory is considered to have great potential for broadening and deepening our grasp of institutional work (LAWRENCE; SUDDABY, 2006). Given its focus on process, ANT offers a means to breathe life into the practices associated with institutionalization. With Callon’s (1986) four moments of translation as analytical lens, and with Irela...
In this introductory chapter, we will put the book and its aims in context and provide the reader with a guide to the wide-ranging, diverse and thought-provoking contributions contained between its covers. In order to do so, this chapter is structured as follows. The first section looks at the context within which this book finds itself and which m...
Irish Business and Society is a contemporary exploration of the wide-ranging debates surrounding the relationships between business and society in 21st century Ireland, providing a context in which to question and inform our perspectives on both. The book consists of diverse and thought-provoking contributions from leading business researchers, eco...
Tracing the creation and (re)production of Ireland’s Industrial Development Authority (IDA) through the lens of path dependence theory, the story charts the IDA’s creation within protectionism. In parallel with the gradual shift away from protection towards free trade, the story follows the IDA’s emergence as the state’s pre-eminent industrial deve...
Actor-network theory is considered to have great potential for broadening and deepening our grasp of institutional work (Lawrence and Suddaby, 2006). Given its focus on process, ANT offers a means to breathe life into the practices associated with institutionalization. With Callon’s (1986) four moments of translation as analytical lens, and with Ir...
This paper utilises a new framework for examining critical junctures to help us understand whether the changes to Irish industrial policy at the end of the 1950s constituted a critical juncture, breaking cleanly with what came before, or were a continuation of policy pathways previously established. The framework is made up of three elements, which...
Nanotechnology can be considered as a converging technology. This means that a number of established disciplines, sectors, industries, fields, etc., are integrated around the same technology. Nanotechnology impacts different scientific disciplines, such as physics, chemistry, biology, electronics, and so on, and can be applied in order to make new...
In recognition of the calls for more processual and historically informed organizational theorizing, this chapter considers the notion of path dependency, an approach which holds that a historical path of choices has the character of a branching process with a self-reinforcing dynamic such that preceding steps in a particular direction induce furth...
Undertaking a dissertation can be a daunting prospect, irrespective of whether a student is an undergraduate or a postgraduate. The idea of having to start with a blank sheet of paper and finish with anything between 15,000 words for an undergraduate dissertation, and 100,000 words for a PhD dissertation, is an arresting thought. But, even these co...
Qualitative Research is a multifaceted approach that investigates culture, society and behaviour through an analysis and synthesis of people’s words and actions. Qualitative methods produce compelling knowledge of how and why people behave as they do, whether in organisational, family, personal, or other social roles.
The primary objective of this...
Organizational form, as an issue, has been the focus of attention since Weber’s formulation of the ideal-type bureaucracy. For organizational scholars, the very concept of form is at the heart of organization studies, such that “[w]here new organizational forms come from is one of the central questions of organizational theory” (Rao, 1998: 912). Th...
This chapter presents a discussion on the nature of qualitative research. In it, a number of contributors to the book sit down for a general roundtable discussion on qualitative methodologies. Here they express their thinking in relation to a range of questions on qualitative methodologies put to them by the moderator, one of the editors of the vol...
The organisational theory literature has identified the emergence and evolution of organisational forms as a critical issue to be addressed, yet new ways of looking at organisational form have yet to be addressed and there are concerns about the largely ahistorical and aprocessual character of much organisational theorising. Most “new” theories tha...
The topic of organizational form has been gaining increased attention. Often portrayed as ‘new times’ driving the need for new forms, what is more evident in the literature is that the need for new ways of looking at form has yet to be addressed. The problem that “new organizational form” presents is precisely located in the inability of the field...
The topic of organizational form has gained increased attention in the scholarly literature over the past couple of decades or so. Scholars have identified the emergence and evolution of new organizational forms as a critical issue to be addressed. The increased interest and relevance of this topic is often portrayed as ‘new times’ driving the need...
The organizational theory literature has identified the emergence and evolution of organizational forms as a critical issue to be addressed, yet new ways of looking at organizational form have yet to be addressed and there are concerns about the largely ahistorical and aprocessual character of much organizational theorizing. While path dependence,...
The topic of organizational form has been gaining increased attention, its relevance often portrayed as 'new times' driving the need for new forms. However, what is more evident in the literature is that the need for new ways of looking at organizational form has yet to be addressed. I argue that the problem that "new organizational form" presents...
This chapter narrates our experiences designing and teaching an international management course which was technologically enhanced to include cross-cultural interactions between the US and Denmark. Our rationale, that issues regarding globalization have accelerated the need to bring together through virtual means people from different cultures to e...
While there is an obvious concern that “new organizational forms” are appearing, and despite the topic receiving increased attention, scholars, as yet, have been unable to theorize, grasp or account for these new forms adequately. In continuing to look for the ‘new’ with ‘old’ lenses, we are seeing neither real departure from Weberian conceptualiza...
Projects
Projects (2)
Details at http://www.ipu.ac.in/ickssd2019/
To consolidate the knowledge about the following aspects of Sustainable Development:
• Energy, Environment and Healthcare
• Climate Change, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security
• Law and Governance for Sustainable Development
• Public Policy, Sustainable Consumption and Corporate Interventions
• Innovation, Communication and Technology for Sustainable Development
• Education and Empowerment for Subjective Well-being