Professor Maura McAdam wins Best Paper Award at the 2017 Diana International Conference

Professor Maura McAdam wins Best Paper Award at the 2017 Diana International Conference

DCU Business School Professor Maura McAdam was recently awarded the Best Paper Award at the Diana International Conference held in Kansas City, Missouri in October 2017. The paper, “An Exploration of the Emancipatory Potential of Digital Entrepreneurship for Female Entrepreneurs in the Kingdom of Saudi Paper”, co-authored with Dr Caren Crowley, examines the emancipatory potential of digital entrepreneurship for women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

By examining six case studies through the use of an innovative oral history methodology, the paper explores how women in KSA utilise digital technologies in the pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities. The paper challenges the notion that gender inequalities are simply reflected online, by illustrating the transformative potential of Internet technologies especially social media in supporting female entrepreneurship in KSA.

The Diana Project was established in 1999 to raise awareness and expectations of women business owners regarding the growth of their firms.  Diana conferences provide an annual forum to share and develop a global research agenda in women’s entrepreneurship across continents, cultures and contexts. The 10^th annual conference took place on October 1 – 3 2017 at the Ewing Mario Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri.

Professor McAdam is Professor of Management (DCU Business School), Director of Entrepreneurship (DCU) and Director of Research at DCU Centre for Family Business. She is an internationally recognised scholar within the area of entrepreneurship with particular expertise in gender, entrepreneurial leadership, technology entrepreneurship and family business. She is currently a Visiting Professor at Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Saudi Arabia.

Dr Caren Crowley Caren holds a PhD in Management and Innovation studies from the National University of Ireland, Galway. In February 2016, she began working  with Dublin City University (DCU), on the MSc in Business Administration at Princess Noura University, Saudi Arabia. Caren is currently an Assistant Professor in Research Methods at Maastricht School of Management where she will continue to work in the area of female / digital entrepreneurship with a particular focus on developing economies.