Lena Zander

Lena Zander specializes in cross cultural research on leadership and teams. Her recent projects focus on global virtual team leadership, migrant integration, and the academic brain drain problem. Her work, recipient of research grants, multiple best-dissertation, -paper and -reviewer awards, is published in international books and journals. She has served as Senior Editor of Journal of World Business, Associate Editor of Africa Journal of Management, and editor of books and special issues.

Lena Zander (Ph.D.) is a Professor at the Department of Business Studies at Uppsala University, Sweden. She has earlier held positions as Honorary Research Associate and Professorial Fellow at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand; Assistant and Associate Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden; she has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University and the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA, and she was a Visiting Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong during her sabbatical year 2016-2017.

The text below covers briefs on my research, service to the academic community (external examiner, evaluator and international academic organizations responsibilities), course development and teaching, bridging academia and practice as well as honors and awards.

Research

Lena specializes in cross-cultural research within the field of international management with a focus on leadership, teams, core values and cultural integration in global organizations. She is currently working on the following research projects: 1) “Global Virtual Team Leaders: Unexplored opportunities for multicultural management” and “Shared Leadership in Global Virtual Teams”, 2) “Migration and Integration: Highly qualified migrants’ cultural integration in Swedish global firms” and “Does Sweden capture the brain-gain opportunity? A study on the effects of immigration policy change on Swedish-trained foreign PhDs”, and 3) Core values and cultural integration in global organizations.

Lena has published her research in books and journals like the Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS), Journal of World Business (JWB), Management International Review (MIR), International Business Review (IBR), Journal of Management Inquiry (JMI), Organizational Dynamics (OD), Asia Business Management (ABM), Scandinavian Journal of Management (SJM), International Journal of Cross Cultural Management (IJCCM), International Studies in Management and Organization (ISMO), Africa Journal of Management (AJOM), Journal of Teaching in International Business (JTIB) and Advances in International Management (AIM). Her interest in student learning and pedagogy has led her to develop innovative course designs and to publish articles and text book chapters on the topic. For details on where to read Lena’s research, please see the ‘Publications’.

Lena’s research and work has repeatedly attracted funding from: The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet), Swedish Council for Work Life Research (Rådet för Arbetslivsforskning), Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE), Jan Wallanders och Tom Hedelius Stiftelse, Tore Browaldhs Stiftelse (Handelsbankens forskningsstiftelser), and the Swedish Work Environment Fund (Arbetsmiljöfonden), and she was awarded Riksbankens Jubileumsfond Sabbatical grant.

Lena has served as Senior Editor of Journal of World Business for two terms of three years, and Associate Editor, part of the founding team of the newly launched Africa Journal of Management. She has also edited or co-edited the following special issues “Interplay Between Intercultural Communications and IB Research” (JWB), “Leveraging Values in Global Organizations” (MIR), “The Benefits of Global Teams for International Organizations: HR Implications” (IJHRM), “Identifying Culture” (IJCCM) as well as “Language and Communication in International Management” (ISMO). Lena has co-edited two books under her maiden name Janson on culture and management in the field of anthropology and business administration. She was commissioned by Edward Elgar Publishing as editor for the "Research Handbook on Global Leadership: Making a Difference", which was published in 2020. She is currently co-editing the "Elgar Encyclopedia of Cross-Cultural Management" for Edward Elgar Publishing.

Lena has also served on the JIBS editorial review board for 14 consecutive years, and is currently an editorial review board member of the International Journal of Cross Cultural Management; the Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies; the Cross Cultural and Strategic Management Journal (earlier Cross-cultural Management: An International Journal), and Advances in Global Leadership. She also regularly reviews for Academy of Management Learning and Education (AMLE), JIBS, MIR, ad hoc reviews for other journals, as well as for AOM's, AIB's, and EIBA's annual conferences.

External examiner, evaluator, and academic organization service

Lena has been the external examiner of Ph D dissertations in Denmark (Aarhus University), Spain (three times at the IESE Business School, Barcelona) and the UK (University of Leeds). She has acted as a member of Ph D dissertation evaluation committees in Sweden (University of Lund, Uppsala University). Lena has served as thesis supervisor for Ph D candidates at the Stockholm School of Economics, Victoria University of Wellington, and Uppsala University. Lena has also evaluated educational programs at Maynooth University in Ireland (International Business) and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (Master Honors), research applications in Austria, Hong Kong and Sweden, and served as an external reviewer on tenure and Professor promotion applications and chaired Professor appointments in Australia, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the USA.

Lena is regularly invited as speaker, facilitator and discussant at conferences and workshops for scholars as well as practitioners. She has served in numerous organizational capacities such as Track Chair (AIB 2003), Track Co-chair (European Academy of Management (EURAM 2002 and 2010), Doctoral Consortium Chair (AIB 2007), and Early Career Consortium Co-Chair (International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management (IFSAM 2012). She has also been invited as a panelist at Doctoral Consortia (AIB 2004 and 2023, AOM 2009, AIB UK/Ireland 2010, and EIBA 2021, 2022) and at the International Management Junior Faculty Consortium (AOM 2011). Lena has served as Chair of the Best Doctoral Proposal selection committee (AIB 2007), as an elected Executive Board Member (Member-at-Large) of Women in AIB (WAIB) 2007-2011. Additionally, she has acted as a guest editor at the Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS) paper development workshops at the AIB conferences 2008 and 2010. Lena was on the organizing committee of the EIBA 2014 conference held at Uppsala University. She was also elected as Sweden’s representative and member of the EIBA board in 2014, were she served two consecutive three-year terms. She also acted as a guest editor at the International Management Division's paper development workshop at AOM's conference in Vancouver, 2015, and was a part of the faculty panel giving feedback to work-in-progress at the EIBA conference in Vienna, 2016.

Course development and teaching

Lena has developed (and co-developed) or revitalized courses, been course director and/or taught courses for bachelor and master level as well as to exchange students and executive participants on e.g., cross-cultural management, doing business across borders, multicultural teams and global virtual teams, investigating international business (a methods course) the International Firm in the Global Economy, globalization and change, and Scandinavian Leadership (Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm University, Uppsala University, and Victoria University of Wellington). She is currently working on co-developing a master level’s course on Contemporary Leadership Challenges at Uppsala University.

Lena has supervised more than 100 master and bachelor student theses at Stockholm School of Economics and Uppsala University. She has also been a member of the thesis examination committee at Uppsala University. Additionally, she was elected as a teacher representative to the executive board of the Department of Business Studies for the term 2014-2015.

Bridging Academia and Practice

Lena is interested in communicating research to practitioners outside the classroom. She has been engaged to teach in executive programs, give talks to global companies and public organizations, as well as at other university-organized events. She was involved in the academia-practitioner bridging event, “Global Leadership Summit’' organized by Northeastern University in Boston for three consecutive years. In 2012, she was an invited participant, in 2013 and 2014, Lena was on the organizing committee. She was also invited as a panelist on the topic 'When, Where and How Do We Develop Responsible Global Leaders’ in 2013. An interview with Lena about the summit is posted on the internet YouTube channel, see link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLZcghE-NPk In 2014, Lena was on the panel discussing 'Developing global leaders in the middle', which is available in full on YouTube see link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nT0u1J00Yk

Lena has also published practitioner-oriented articles and contributed to the Uppsala University blog at Uppsala’s main newspaper’s website, ‘Upsala Nya Tidning’, and to the Department of Business Studies’ business magazine ‘Mercury’ on a regular basis (see publication list). Her Professorial Inauguration speech is among the select few uploaded by Uppsala University and made accessible for viewing on the internet ‘YouTube’ channel, link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwZdY0zVOGA

As a student at the Stockholm School of Economics, Lena initiated the first ‘Handelsdagen’, a one-day event where business community representatives meet the students in formal and social settings. She received an award from the Stockholm School of Economics for this initiative, which has lived on, developed and blossomed into a large two-day career fair, ‘Handelsdagarna’. Lena gave the 40-year anniversary founder’s speech at the Grand Banquet.

In addition to her Swedish work experience, Lena also draws on her international work experience from Botswana, France, New Zealand, and the United States, and from spending her formative years in the Netherlands, Nigeria, Singapore, and Sweden.

Honors and Awards

Lena has won several dissertation, best paper, and best reviewer awards. Her Ph D dissertation “The Licence to Lead – an 18 Country Study of the Relationship between Employees’ Preferences Regarding Interpersonal Leadership and National Culture” was awarded with three prominent Ph D dissertation awards; the Barry M. Richman Best Dissertation Award (Academy of Management (AOM)), the Richard N. Farmer 1998 Dissertation Competition Award (Academy of International Business (AIB)), and the Best 1998 Dissertation in Business Administration in Sweden Award (Civilekonomernas Riksförbunds Ekonomipris 1998 för bästa doktorsavhandling i företagsekonomi framlagd under 1997). Her co-authored master thesis on “Small Scale Industry Development in Botswana” was awarded with the Oscar Sillen’s Award for the Best Final M Sc Thesis.

Lena has also been awarded several Best Paper and Best Reviewer Awards at AOM, AIB, and the Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM). Additionally, Lena’s work has been listed as finalist for Best Paper Awards at Academy of International Business, International Management Division of AOM, and finalist for the All-Academy Emerald Best International Symposium Award at the annual AOM conferences. In 2013 Lena, together with her colleagues participated in the symposium that was awarded with the All-Academy Emerald Best International Symposium Award at AOM, and she was also finalist for the same award with another research team. In 2014, Lena together with her research team was finalist for the “HRM-Researcher of the Year in Sweden” award (“Årets HR-forskare”) for their project “Leading Global Teams”. In 2015 and 2016, she was the recipient of a best reviewer award from the Academy of International Business. Additionally, in 2013 Lena was one of the four scholars recognized for having received best reviewer awards several consecutive years at the International Management Division of AOM. For details, see list below:

2022 – Finalist FIU/AIB Best Theory Paper Award, an all-conference award, Academy of International Business, co-authored paper

2016 - Best Reviewer Award, Academy of International Business

2015 - Best Reviewer Award, Academy of International Business

2014 - Finalist, 'HRM-researcher/group of the year', Sweden (Årets HR-forskare/forskargrupp), team-based project 'Leading global teams'

2013 - Winner, the all-academy 'Emerald Best International Symposium Award'. In a team-based symposium, presenting ‘Positive Global Team Leadership: Leveraging culture across distance’, in the symposium titled ’The Upside of Cultural Distance: A Positive Organizational Scholarship Perspective’, AOM, Orlando

2013 - Finalist, the all-academy 'Emerald Best International Symposium Award' Presenting 'Culture-Free, Color-Blind and Gender-Neutral? A Study of Incoming Leaders’ Status Characteristics and Effective Global Team Leadership’, in the team-based symposium titled ’Exploring the Dynamics of Multicultural and Global Teams’, AOM, Orlando

2013 - Multiple Year Outstanding Reviewer Recognition - International Management Division, Academy of Management annual conference, 2013 in Orlando, USA

2013 - Best Reviewer Award - International Management Division, Academy of Management annual conference, 2013 in Orlando, USA

2012 - Best Reviewer Award - International Management Division, Academy of Management annual conference, 2012 in Boston, USA

2012 - Finalist for the IM Division Skolkovo Best Paper Award at the Academy of Management annual conference, 2012 in Boston, USA, for the co-authored paper ‘Country clusters from taxonomy towards theory: Implications for international management’

2012 - Finalist for the IM Division's Best Paper in OB/HRM/OT award at the Academy of Management annual conference, 2012 in Boston, USA, for the co-authored paper ‘Country clusters from taxonomy towards theory: Implications for international management’,

2011 - Finalist Emerald Best International Symposium Award 2011, Academy of Management (AOM), San Antonio, USA, for elected as a Showcase Symposium, a team-based symposium on ‘Scientific Mindfulness’

2010 - Best Reviewer Award, International Management Division, Academy of Management (AOM), Montreál, Canada

2010 - Nominated for the Emerald Best International Symposium Award 2010 for the elected Showcase Symposium, ‘Leading multicultural teams for success: A prism of perspectives’, team-based symposium, Academy of Management (AOM), Montréal, Canada

2009 - Finalist International Management Division Best Paper in OB/HRM/OT, Academy of Management (AOM), for ‘Don’t Just Say what You Mean – Contextualise It: A leadership study across 17 countries’ co-authored paper, Chicago, USA

2009 - Finalist Emerald Best International Symposium Award 2009, Academy of Management (AOM), for the team-based symposium ‘Windows on the World: Cultural Perspectives of Leadership Past-Present-Future’, Chicago, USA

2009 - Nominated by the International Management Division for the Carolyn Dexter Paper Award, Academy of Management (AOM), for the co-authored paper ‘Don’t Just Say what You Mean – Contextualise It: A leadership study across 17 countries’, Chicago, USA

2008 - Winner of the ANZAM Best Paper Award at Australia New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) for ‘Getting Closer to the Action: Examining leaders’ behavioural intent with GLOBE’s leadership dimensions across 22 countries’, co-authored paper, Auckland, New Zealand

2008 - Winner of the International Management Stream Best Paper Award at Australia New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM), for ‘Getting Closer to the Action: Examining leaders’ behavioural intent with GLOBE’s leadership dimensions across 22 countries’, co-authored paper, Auckland, New Zealand

2006 - Winner of the Best Paper Award at the 4th Workshop on International Strategy and Cross-Cultural Management (organized by EIASM), for ‘The Primacy of Primary Socialization: A study of leadership preferences, tenure, and nationality in the MNC’, co-authored paper, Toulouse, France

2005 - Nominated for the JIBS Emerging Frontier Award 2005 with the paper ‘Geocentric Aspirations, Ethnocentric Backlash and Regiocentric Realities: Modelling the relationship between national culture and MNC management’, Tilburg, The Netherlands

2005 - Best Reviewers Award 2005, International Management Division, Academy of Management (AOM), Hawaii, USA

1998 - Winner of the Best Dissertation in Business Administration in Sweden Award (Civilekonomernas Riksförbunds Ekonomipris 1998 för bästa doktorsavhandling i företagsekonomi framlagd under 1997), Stockholm, Sweden

1998 - Winner of the Richard N. Farmer 1998 Dissertation Competition Award, Academy of International Business (AIB), Vienna, Austria

1998 - Winner of the Barry M. Richman Best Dissertation Award, International Management Division, Academy of Management (AOM), Annual Meeting, San Diego, USA

1986 - Winner of the Oscar Sillen’s Award for the Best Final M Sc Thesis, co-authored thesis titled: ‘Can Small-Scale Industry Entrepreneurs be Developed in Less Developed Countries?’, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden

1985 - Winner of the Award for ‘A business-oriented achievement of benefit for the students of Stockholm School of Economics’ (Initiated and organised the first Stockholm School of Economics Business Forum, ‘Handelsdagen’, 1983), Stockholm, Sweden

1979 - Winner of the Award for ‘Successful studies - Student of the Year’, A-levels (Studentexamen), St Jacobi School, Vällingby, Sweden

1974 - Winner of the School Poetry Competition (Kvarnskolan, Jakobsberg, Sweden) with ‘Framtiden vet’ (The Future Knows)