Stephen Zhang

Professor Stephen Zhang

Professor

Adelaide Business School

Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics

Stephen Zhang is a professor of entrepreneurship and innovation at the University of Adelaide. He studies how entrepreneurs and top management teams behave under uncertainties. Stephen has published articles in top journals in entrepreneurship (e.g. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice), management (e.g. Academy of Management Journal) as well as COVID-19 research in health journals. His work has been featured in major media outlets (e.g., Yahoo; MSN; HuffPost; the Age; Sydney Morning Herald). Stephen has worked previously in University of Sydney, Catholic University of Chile, and National University of Singapore. Before embarking on his academic path, he gained practical experience as an entrepreneur and worked across various sectors, including engineering, management consultancy, market research, and innovation management. This blend of academic and real-world experience uniquely positions Stephen to provide valuable, grounded insights into entrepreneurship in terms of both research and practice.

Key research areas:

 

Stephen is the founding director of the Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship and Innovation Society (APEIS). Check out some ongoing work on Covid-19 via google scholar or researchgate (full texts)

 

To PhD/postdoc applicants, Please send me your CV and identify a common interest from reading my major papers (available via researchgate for free) so that I will know whether I am in the best position to help you.

 

  • Appointments
    Date Position Institution name
    2020 - ongoing Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy University of Adelaide
    2016 - 2020 Senior Lecturer (Associate prof.) of Entrepreneurship and Innovation University of Sydney
    2010 - 2017 Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Catholic University of Chile

  • Education
    Date Institution name Country Title
    National University of Singapore Singapore PhD
    Nanyang Technological University Singapore Bachelor

  • Journals
    Year Citation
    2024 Jia, J., Liu, W., Zhang, S. X., & Luo, W. (2024). The unseen burden: How ambidextrous leadership erodes managers' well-being. Journal of Business Research, 182, 10 pages.
    DOI
    2024 Adomako, S., Medase, S. K., & Zhang, S. X. (2024). How and when adversity breeds ingenuity in an emerging market: Environmental threats, co-innovation, and frugal innovation. Research Policy, 53(8), 21 pages.
    DOI
    2024 Chen, X., & Zhang, S. X. (2024). Too much of two good things: The curvilinear effects of self-efficacy and market validation in new ventures. Journal of Business Research, 183, 114845.
    DOI
    2024 Zhang, S. X., & Chen, J. (2024). Responsible Research: Reflections of Two Business Scholars Doing Mental Health Research during COVID-19. Management and Organization Review, 20(3), 339-353.
    DOI
    2024 Deng, W., Zhang, S. X., Liang, Q., Wang, W., & Zhang, Y. (2024). How voluntary sector experience as a unique institutional catalyst shapes general entrepreneurial alertness and intentions. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 34 pages.
    DOI
    2024 Pavlova, I., Rogowska, A. M., & Zhang, S. X. (2024). Mental Health and well-being During the COVID-19 Pandemic and After the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Journal of Community Health, 49(1), 173-182.
    DOI Scopus6 Europe PMC1
    2024 Chen, J., Zhang, S. X., & Lundmark, E. (2024). A Quantum view of entrepreneurial opportunity: moving beyond the Discovery and Creation views. Small Business Economics, 15 pages.
    DOI Scopus1
    2024 Tang, J., Ye, W., Hu, M., Zhang, S. X., & Khan, S. A. (2024). The gendered effect of populism on innovation. Journal of Business Venturing, 39(4), 106393.
    DOI Scopus1
    2024 Lin, Y., Zhang, S. X., Lin, S., & Dai, W. (2024). From shutdown to reopening: unpacking the determinants of tourism business reopening in the face of adversity. Current Issues in Tourism, 16 pages.
    DOI
    2023 Wang, W., Zhang, S. X., Liang, Q., & Deng, W. (2023). Social Media Levels the Playing Field of Entrepreneurial Entry for Disadvantaged Populations. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 71, 1-14.
    DOI Scopus1
    2023 Deng, W., Liang, Q., Zhang, S. X., & Wang, W. (2023). Beyond survival: necessity-based female entrepreneurship as a catalyst for job creation through dual legitimacy. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 28 pages.
    DOI Scopus5
    2023 Zhang, S. X., Chen, J., He, L., & Choudhury, A. (2023). Responsible Innovation: The development and validation of a scale. Technovation, 124, 14 pages.
    DOI Scopus5
    2023 Yan, J., Zhang, S. X., & Hallak, R. (2023). MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF TOURISM ENTREPRENEURS DURING TIMES OF CRISIS. Tourism Analysis, 28(1), 147-153.
    DOI Scopus2
    2023 Wang, W., Eddleston, K. A., Chirico, F., Zhang, S. X., Liang, Q., & Deng, W. (2023). Family Diversity and Business Start-Up: Do Family Meals Feed the Fire of Entrepreneurship?. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 47(4), 104225872311702.
    DOI Scopus8 WoS1
    2023 Zhang, S. X., & Kowalczuk, K. (2023). Editorial: New evidence on the psychological impacts and consequences of COVID-19 on mental workload healthcare workers in diverse regions in the world. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14, 1226793.
    DOI Scopus4 WoS1
    2023 Wan, X., Zhang, S. X., & Wei, F. (2023). CEO–TMT Congruence in Growth-Need Strength and Firm Growth. Journal of Management Studies, 60(3), 722-751.
    DOI Scopus11 WoS4
    2023 Xu, W., Pavlova, I., Chen, X., Petrytsa, P., Graf-Vlachy, L., & Zhang, S. X. (2023). Mental health symptoms and coping strategies among Ukrainians during the Russia-Ukraine war in March 2022.. The International journal of social psychiatry, 69(4), 957-966.
    DOI Scopus40 WoS12 Europe PMC14
    2022 Chen, J., Zhang, S. X., Yin, A., & Yáñez, J. A. (2022). Mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis.. J Glob Health, 12, 16 pages.
    DOI Scopus51 WoS26 Europe PMC29
    2022 Pavlova, I., Graf-Vlachy, L., Petrytsa, P., Wang, S., & Zhang, S. X. (2022). Early evidence on the mental health of Ukrainian civilian and professional combatants during the Russian invasion. European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists, 65(1), 1-6.
    DOI Scopus27 WoS8 Europe PMC8
    2021 Zhang, S. X., Marzluff, E. M., & Lindgren, C. A. (2021). Quantitative determination of nitric oxide from tissue samples using liquid chromatography-Mass spectrometry. METHODSX, 8, 12 pages.
    DOI WoS1
    2021 Chin, M. K., Zhang, S. X., Afshar Jahanshahi, A., & Nadkarni, S. (2021). Unpacking Political Ideology: CEO Social and Economic Ideologies, Strategic Decision-making Processes, and Corporate Entrepreneurship. Academy of Management Journal, 64(4), 1213-1235.
    DOI Scopus54 WoS24
    2021 Zhang, S. X., Foo, M. -D., & Vassolo, R. S. (2021). The ramifications of effectuation on biases in entrepreneurship – Evidence from a mixed-method approach. Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 15, e00238.
    DOI Scopus7
    2021 Zhang, X., Gao, R., Odeh, N., & Leatherbee, M. (2021). A micro-foundational model of real options reasoning: the roles of individual search propensity and perceived uncertainty. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 15(1), 98-120.
    DOI Scopus12 WoS7
    2021 Tang, J., Zhang, S. X., & Lin, S. (2021). To reopen or not to reopen? How entrepreneurial alertness influences small business reopening after the COVID-19 lockdown. Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 16, e00275.
    DOI Scopus35
    2021 Noguti, V., Ho, H., Padigar, M., & Zhang, S. X. (2021). Do Individual Ambidexterity and Career Experience Help Technological Startup Founders Acquire Funding?. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 70(12), 1-13.
    DOI Scopus4 WoS1
    2021 Yan, J., Kim, S., Zhang, S. X., Foo, M. D., Alvarez-Risco, A., Del-Aguila-Arcentales, S., & Yáñez, J. A. (2021). Hospitality workers’ COVID-19 risk perception and depression: A contingent model based on transactional theory of stress model. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 95, 1-11.
    DOI Scopus143 WoS85 Europe PMC42
    2021 Zhang, S., Batra, K., Liu, T., Dong, R. K., Xu, W., Yin, A., . . . Chen, J. (2021). Meta-analytical evidence on mental disorder symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America.
    DOI
    2021 Chen, J., Farah, N., Dong, R. K., Chen, R., Xu, W., Yin, A., . . . Zhang, S. (2021). The Mental Health Under the COVID-19 Crisis in Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
    DOI
    2020 Zhang, S., Wang, Y., Rauch, A., & Wei, F. (2020). Unprecedented disruptions of lives and work – a survey of the health, distress and life satisfaction of working adults in China one month into the COVID-19 outbreak.
    DOI Europe PMC1
    2020 Wang, W., Liang, Q., Mahto, R. V., Deng, W., & Zhang, S. X. (2020). Entrepreneurial entry: The role of social media. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 161, 120337.
    DOI Scopus39 WoS24
    2020 Zhang, S. X., Wang, Y., Rauch, A., & Wei, F. (2020). Unprecedented disruption of lives and work: Health, distress and life satisfaction of working adults in China one month into the COVID-19 outbreak. Psychiatry Research, 288, 6 pages.
    DOI Scopus551 WoS436 Europe PMC361
    2020 Jahanshahi, A. A., Dinani, M. M., Madavani, A. N., Li, J., & Zhang, S. X. (2020). The distress of Iranian adults during the Covid-19 pandemic - More distressed than the Chinese and with different predictors.. Brain, behavior, and immunity, 87, 124-125.
    DOI Scopus134 WoS92 Europe PMC88
    2020 Zhang, S., Afshar Jahanshahi, A., Nawaser, K., Yousefi, A., Li, J., & Sun, S. (2020). At the height of the storm: Healthcare staff’s health conditions and job satisfaction and their associated predictors during the epidemic peak of COVID-19. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 87, 144-146.
    DOI Scopus204 WoS163 Europe PMC142
    2020 Reyes, T., Vassolo, R. S., Kausel, E. E., Torres, D. P., & Zhang, S. (2020). Does overconfidence pay off when things go well? CEO overconfidence, firm performance, and the business cycle. Strategic Organization, 20(3), 510-540.
    DOI Scopus18 WoS7
    2020 Tang, S., Nadkarni, S., WEI, L., & Zhang, S. X. (2020). Balancing the Yin and Yang: TMT Gender Diversity, Psychological Safety, and Firm Ambidextrous Strategic Orientation in Chinese High-Tech SMEs. Academy of Management Journal, 64(5), 1578-1604.
    DOI Scopus73 WoS40
    2020 Chen, X., Zhang, X., Jahanshahi, A. A., Alvarez-Risco, A., Dai, H., Li, J., & Ibarra, V. G. (2020). Belief in Conspiracy Theory about COVID-19 Predicts Mental Health and Well-being: A Study of Healthcare Staff in Ecuador. JMIR Public Health Surveill, 6(3), 1-7.
    DOI Scopus130 WoS80 Europe PMC64
    2020 Zhang, S. X., & Van Burg, E. (2020). Advancing entrepreneurship as a design science: developing additional design principles for effectuation. Small Business Economics, 55(3), 607-626.
    DOI Scopus31 WoS13
    2020 Zhang, S., Liu, J., Jahanshahi, A. A., Nawaser, K., Li, J., & Alimoradi, H. (2020). When the storm is the strongest: Healthcare staff’s health conditions and job satisfaction and their associated predictors during the epidemic peak of COVID-19.
    DOI
    2020 Jahanshahi, A. A., Dinani, M. M., Madavani, A. N., Li, J., & Zhang, S. (2020). The distress of Iranian adults during the Covid-19 pandemic – More distressed than the Chinese and with different predictors.
    DOI
    2018 Schmitt, A., Rosing, K., Zhang, S. X., & Leatherbee, M. (2018). A dynamic model of entrepreneurial uncertainty and business opportunity identification: Exploration as a mediator and entrepreneurial self-efficacy as a moderator. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 42(6), 835-859.
    DOI Scopus103 WoS72
    2017 Zhang, S. X., & Cueto, J. (2017). The Study of Bias in Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 41(3), 419-454.
    DOI Scopus146 WoS107
    2012 Zhang, S. X., & Babovic, V. (2012). A real options approach to the design and architecture of water supply systems using innovative water technologies under uncertainty. Journal of Hydroinformatics, 14(1), 13-29.
    DOI Scopus68 WoS53
    2011 Zhang, S. X., & Babovic, V. (2011). An evolutionary real options framework for the design and management of projects and systems with complex real options and exercising conditions. Decision Support Systems, 51(1), 119-129.
    DOI Scopus43 WoS39
    2009 Buurman, J., Zhang, S., & Babovic, V. (2009). Reducing risk through real options in systems design: The case of architecting a maritime domain protection system. Risk Analysis, 29(3), 366-379.
    DOI Scopus42 WoS35 Europe PMC3

  • Book Chapters
    Year Citation
    2024 Yan, J., & Zhang, S. X. (2024). Iron caged? Gender difference in business-family conflict of entrepreneurs running homestay businesses. In R. Hallak, & C. Lee (Eds.), Handbook of Tourism Entrepreneurship (pp. 102-119). Edward Elgar Publishing.
    DOI

  • Conference Papers
    Year Citation
    2019 Zhang, S. X., Choudhury, A., & He, L. (2019). Responsible innovation: The development and validation of a scale. In 79th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management 2019: Understanding the Inclusive Organization, AoM 2019 Vol. 2019 (pp. 12437). Academy of Management.
    DOI Scopus4
    2018 Chin, M. K., Xu Zhang, S., Jahanshahi, A. A., & Nadkarni, S. (2018). The effect of two dimensions of CEO political ideology on corporate entrepreneurship. In 78th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, AOM 2018 Vol. 2018 (pp. 12910). Academy of Management.
    DOI Scopus3

Stephen's research has also drawn wide interest, giving Stephen opportunities to raise more than US$1.5 million of grants in several countries. With the support of World Bank and Chilean Ministry of Economy, Stephen founded the Center for Entrepreneurial Strategy Under Uncertainty in Catholic University of Chile, which ranks #1 in South America.

Stephen teaches entrepreneurship with an action-based approach. This approach has generated many entrepreneurs with highly scalable businesses, and Stephen has been rated as the best professor for his entrepreneurship course in executive master programs.

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Co-Supervisor Wolves in Sheep's Clothing or Genuine Humility? The Role of Leader Emotion and Perceived Hypocrisy Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Yuting Liu
    2024 Principal Supervisor Field Experimental Studies on Female Entrepreneurship Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Afsana Hossain
    2023 Principal Supervisor The Psychology of Entrepreneurs Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Miss Amira Shahin
    2023 Principal Supervisor How do CEOs impact their organizations? Master of Philosophy Master Part Time Mr Brandon Savio Pinto
    2023 Co-Supervisor The impact of different types of overconfidence (i.e.,over-optimism and control illusion) on corporate Merges and Acquisitions (M&As) decisions respectively Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Miss Huiting Wang
    2022 Co-Supervisor Essays on top executives from S&P 1500 firms to advance upper echelon theory Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Ziheng Zhang
    2022 Co-Supervisor Stewardship behaviors and employee well-being: A conceptual framework and empirical examination Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Nicholas Alex Gerald Marzohl
    2022 Principal Supervisor CEO in tourism and hospitality industry Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Mahsa Javdanmehr
    2022 Co-Supervisor Entrepreneurs' Emotion Shifts, Emotion Labor and Outcomes Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with Doctorate Full Time Ms Yudi Hou

  • Other Supervision Activities
    Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
    2020 - ongoing External Supervisor Entrepreneurial behavior of ethnic minorities Southwestern University of Finance and Economics - Doctorate - Hao Huang
    2019 - ongoing External Supervisor Trust in AI UNSW - Higher Doctorate Full Time Fatemeh Jafaralijasbi
    2019 - 2020 External Supervisor Entrepreneurship in Brazil FGV São Paulo - Doctorate - Rubens Massa
  • Position: Professor
  • Phone: 83139310
  • Email: stephen.zhang@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Nexus 10, floor 9
  • Org Unit: Entrepreneurship, Commercialisation, and Innovation Centre
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