Karen Hughes, PhD (University of Cambridge)

About

I am a Professor in the Department of Strategy, Entrepreneurship & Management (Business) and the Department of Sociology (Arts). I joined the University of Alberta in 1994 after completing my PhD and a SSHRC Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Cambridge. 

My research and teaching focus on work, organizations, and labour markets, with a specific interest in economic change, inequality, and inclusive economies. During my career, I have led projects on a wide range of topics, most recently on the rise of entrepreneurial economies; women's engagement in entrepreneurship; algorithmic labour markets and gender and racial bias; gender diversity on corporate boards; and diversity initiatives in engineering and STEM occupations. I have a special interest in entrepreneurship which has grown dramatically in Canada and many other high-income countries in recent years.

Currently, I am working on several major research projects funded by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and Future Skills Canada. With colleagues from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), I am studying the impact of regional ecosystems for women's entrepreneurial success and quality of working life in Canada. I am also examining, in a related project on the future of work, post-pandemic trends for workers in Canada (employees, self-employed, and small business owners). In a third project, funded by SSHRC-ESRC, BIAS: Responsible AI for Labour Market Equality, I am working with a cross disciplinary team of social scientists and computer scientists in Canada and the U.K. to understand how to mitigate gender and racial bias in algorithms used in human resource and labour market processes (e.g. hiring, promotion). 

My publications appear in leading journals, including: Human Relations; Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice; Gender, Work and Organizations; and Work, Employment and Society. I am also a co-author of Work, Industry and Canadian Society, now in its 8th edition, a standard reference in the field and used in universities across the country.

I am a Visiting Research Scholar at the Diana International Research Institute (DIRI) at Babson College, and Co-Chair of the 2023 Diana International Research Conference at Babson College. 

I am a team member of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Canada and have co-authored several major reports on women's entrepreneurship in Canada. I have also co-authored (with Amanda Elam and others) two recent GEM Global Women's Entrepreneurship Reports. 

I currently serve on the editorial boards of the International Small Business Journal (ISBJ) and Gender in Management: An International Journal.

Research

Books

• Krahn, H.J., Lowe, G.S. and Hughes, K.D. (2020) Work, Industry and Canadian Society. 8th Edition, Nelson.
• Hughes, K.D. and Jennings, J.E. (2012) Global Women’s Entrepreneurship Research: Diverse Settings, Questions, and Approaches. London: Edward Elgar.
• Hughes, K.D. (2005) Female Enterprise in the New Economy. University of Toronto Press.

Refereed Journal Articles (past 10 years only)

• Lowe, G.S., Gilbert, M., Hughes, K.D. (2023). Prepare to give works more say in back-to-office plans. Policy Options.
• Hughes, K.D., Saunders, C., and Denier N. (2022) “Lockdowns, pivots & triple shifts: early challenges and opportunities of the COVID-19 pandemic for women entrepreneurs”, Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship
• Hu, S., Alshehabi Al-Ani, J., Hughes K.D., Denier, N., Konnikov, A., Ding, L.,  Xie, J., Hu, Y., Tarafdar, M., Jiang, B., Kong, L., Dai, H. (2022). “Balancing Gender Bias in Job Advertisements with Text-Level Bias Mitigation”, Frontiers in Big Data, 5: 805713.
• Zhao, W., Yang, T., Hughes, K.D. and Li, Y. (2021) “Entrepreneurial Alertness and Business Model Innovation: The Role of Entrepreneurial Learning and Risk Perception”, International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 17(2): 836-864.
• Hughes KD and WA Silver (2020) “Beyond Time Binds: Rethinking Work-Family Dynamics for a Mobile World”, Human Relations. 
• Hughes, KD and T Yang (2020) “Building Gender-Aware Ecosystems for Learning, Leadership and Growth”, Gender in Management: An International Journal.
• Zhao, W, Yang, T, Hughes, KD and Y Li (2020) “Entrepreneurial Alertness and Business Model Innovation: The Role of Entrepreneurial Learning and Risk Perception”, International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal.
• Hughes, KD and JE Jennings (2020) “A Legacy of Attention to Embeddedness in Gendered Institutions: Reflections on a Key Contribution of Women’s Entrepreneurship Research”, International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship. 
• Hughes, KD (2018) Women’s Entrepreneurship in Alberta: Insights from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Special Report prepared for Alberta Status of Women. Calgary: The Centre for Innovation Studies (THECIS), University of Calgary.
• Hughes, KD (2017) Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2015/16 Canada Report on Women's Entrepreneurship. Calgary: The Centre for Innovation Studies (THECIS), University of Calgary. 
• Hughes, KD and JE Jennings (2015) “Women’s Entrepreneurship”, Oxford On-Line Bibliographies. Oxford University Press. 
• Hughes KD and N Anderson (2015) “Childcare and Domestic Cleaning”. Reprinted in Mignon Duffy, Amy Armenia, and Clare L. Stacey (eds) Caring on the Clock: The Complexities and Contradictions of Paid Care Work. Rutgers University Press. [originally published in Gender, Work and Organization 17(4): 381-405] 

Policy Reports (past 10 years only)

• Lowe, G.S. and Hughes, K.D. (2023). Shaping the Future of Work in Canada: Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic. Future Skills Centre.
• Elam, A.B., Baumer, B., Schott, T., Samsami, M., Dwivedi, A., Baldegger, R., Guerrero, M., Boutaleb, F. and Hughes, K.D. (2022) Women’s Entrepreneurship 2020/21: From Crisis to Opportunity. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.
• Hughes, KD and C Saunders. (2020) Women’s Entrepreneurship in Western Canada. Results from the GEM Canada 2019 Survey. Special Report prepared for Western Economic Diversification, Government of Canada. Calgary: The Centre for Innovation Studies (THECIS). 86 pages.
• Hughes, KD and C Saunders. (2020) Trends in Women’s Entrepreneurship in Canada, 2013-19. Special Report prepared for GEM Canada and the Women’s Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub. Toronto: Ryerson University. 46 pages.
• Hughes, KD (2018) Women’s Entrepreneurship in Alberta: Insights from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Special Report prepared for Alberta Status of Women. Calgary: The Centre for Innovation Studies (THECIS). 66 pages.
• Hughes, KD (2017) Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2015/16 Canada Report on Women's Entrepreneurship. Calgary: The Centre for Innovation Studies (THECIS). 71 pages.
• Hughes, KD (2015) Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2013/14 Canada Report on Women's Entrepreneurship. Calgary: The Centre for Innovation Studies (THECIS). 41 pages.
• Hughes, KD (2015) Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2013/14 Canada Report on Women's Entrepreneurship. Calgary: The Centre for Innovation Studies (THECIS), University of Calgary.

Editorial & Professional Service (last 5 years)

Co-Chair, Diana International Research Conference (DIRC), Babson College, Babson, June 4-6, 2023. 

Co-Chair, Diana International Research Conference (DIRC), Dublin City University, Dublin, June 19-22, 2022. 

Editorial Board, Gender in Management: An International Journal

Editorial Board, International Small Business Journal

Invited Member, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), Canada Team. 

Invited Member, Gender and Trade Advisory Group, Global Affairs Canada, Government of Canada

Member, Academy of Management

Member, American Sociological Association

Member, Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association

Member, Diana International Research Institute

Teaching

I began my teaching career at the University of Cambridge in the UK where I completed my PhD, and held a SSHRC Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Fellowship. Since joining the University of Alberta in 1994, I have taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses on work, occupations, and organizations; gender and family; and research methods.

Currently I teach three courses on a regular basis: SOC 363: Sociology of Work; SOC 565: Graduate Seminar in Work; and SEM 686: Gender and Leadership. I have also taught past courses on the ‘Social Environment’ and ‘Women and Corporate Boards’ for the Centre for Executive Education in the Alberta School of Business.

At the graduate level, I enjoy working with MA and PhD students in my two departments – Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Management (School of Business) and Sociology (Faculty of Arts). I am always happy to hear from potential graduate student with research interests related to gender, work, organizations, and entrepreneurship.

SOC 363 - Sociology of Work and Industry

Sociological analysis of the changing nature and content of work, its diversity of industrial contexts and organizational forms, and its consequences for individuals and society, from Canadian and comparative perspectives. Prerequisite: SOC 100. Not open to students with credit in SOC 366.

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