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Sara Elias

Gustavson researcher Sara Elias

Associate Professor

Contact:
Office: BEC 228 250-721-6244
Credentials:
Master of Music, Missouri State University; MBA, Missouri State University; PhD in Business Administration, University of Missouri
Area of expertise:
Arts entrepreneurship, aesthetics in organizations and entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship as practice, entrepreneurial imagining, creative entrepreneurial processes, qualitative methodologies
Related links:

Biography

Dr. Sara Elias joined the Gustavson School of Business in 2016. She brings a passion for understanding how entrepreneurs use their imaginations to create novel ideas by reflecting on their past and present experiences as a means of shaping the future and by collaborating with customers, both real and imagined. Sara is also passionate about researching qualitative methodologies, striving for an in-depth understanding of researchers’ experiences and challenges in the field as they engage in the process of “doing” qualitative research in organizations and management.

Sara’s primary research interests relate to exploring how novelty emerges from entrepreneurs’ thoughts, perceptions, images and actions, as well as from their interactions with the surrounding environment. Bridging the entrepreneurship and organizational aesthetics literatures, her work embraces philosophical assumptions such as relationality, interdependence and intersubjectivity. Her most recent research examines how creative entrepreneurial processes unfold within a variety of arts entrepreneurship settings, shedding light on the processes of creative imagination and the co-creation of aesthetic value. Broadly, her research interests include creative entrepreneurial processes, entrepreneurial imagining, arts entrepreneurship, aesthetics in organizations and entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship as practice and qualitative methodologies. Sara’s primary teaching interests are in entrepreneurship, strategy, organizational behaviour and organizational theory. Both her teaching and research have been recognized with several awards. Her academic interests stem from her background in business, engineering and music, as well as from her experience as an entrepreneur, music manager, performing artist and managing director of Associação CICO, an international centre for promoting the performing arts, headquartered in Portugal.

Sara is associate editor of the Scandinavian Journal of Management and is a member of the editorial boards of Art, Culture & Entrepreneurship and Organizações & Sociedade. She has also served as a special issue co-guest editor at Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management. Sara has published in Organization Studies, Organization Theory, Organization, Journal of Management Inquiry, Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, and Organizational Research Methods.

Teaching

Courses taught

  • Strategic Management (BCom, non-specialized)

  • Strategic Management (BCom, Entrepreneurship Specialization)

  • Portfolio Practicum (BCom, Entrepreneurship Specialization)

  • From Good Idea to Great Opportunity & Value Curves, Value Innovation, and Blue Ocean Strategy (Executive Programs, International Summer Institute for Business Management (ISIBM) Program)

  • Growth Mindset & HR Development (Executive Programs, Aboriginal Canadian Entrepreneurs (ACE) Program)

Selected publications

Journal publications

Elias, S. R. S. T. A., Chiles, T. H., & Crawford, B. (2022). Entrepreneurial imagining: How a small team of arts entrepreneurs created the world’s largest traveling carillon. Organization Studies, 43(2), 203-226.  

Vogt, S., Bulgacov, Y. L. M.., & Elias, S. R. S. T. A. (2022) Entrepreneurial learning: Aesthetic and sensible knowledge in the life trajectory of entrepreneurs. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 28(2), 283-305.  

Duncan, C. M., & Elias, S. R. S. T. A. (2021). (Inter)subjectivity in the research pair: Countertransference and radical reflexivity in organizational research. Organization, 28(4), 662-684.  

Crawford, B., Chiles, T. H., & Elias, S. R. S. T. A. (2021). Long interviews in organizational research: Unleashing the power of ‘show and tell.’ Journal of Management Inquiry, 30(3), 331-346.  

Chiles, T. H., Crawford, B., & Elias, S. R. S. T. A. (2021). Mind, body, and soul: A spiritual perspective on the entrepreneurial imagination. Organization Theory, 2(2), 1-20.  

Elias, S. R. S. T. A., Chiles, T. H., Li, Q., & D’Andrea, F. A. M. C. (2020). Austrian economics and organizational entrepreneurship: A typology. The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, 23(3-4), 313-354. https://doi.org/10.35297/qjae.010073

deGama, N., Elias, S. R. S. T. A., & Peticca-Harris, A. (2019). The good academic: Re-imagining good research in organization and management studies. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, 14(1), 2–9. 

Elias, S. R. S. T. A., Chiles, T. H., Duncan, C. M., & Vultee, D. M. (2018). The aesthetics of entrepreneurship: How arts entrepreneurs and their customers co-create aesthetic value. Organization Studies, 39(2-3), 345–372. 

Peticca-Harris, A., deGama, N., & Elias, S. R. S. T. A. (2016). A dynamic process model for finding informants and gaining access in qualitative research. Organizational Research Methods, 19(3), 376–401. 

Chiles, T. H., Elias, S. R. S. T. A., Zarankin, T. G., & Vultee, D. M. (2013). The kaleidic world of entrepreneurs: Developing and grounding a metaphor for creative imagination. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, 8(3), 276–307. 

Chapters

Vultee, D. M., Chiles, T. H., & Elias, S. R. S. T. A. (2022). Entrepreneurial imagination: A Blakean perspective. In K. Pavlovich and G. Markman (Eds.), World Scientific Encyclopedia of Business Sustainability, Ethics and Entrepreneurship, Volume 3: Spirituality, Entrepreneurship and Social Change (pp. 25-55). Singapore: World Scientific. 

Chiles, T. H., Elias, S. R. S. T. A., & Li, Q. (2017). Entrepreneurship as process. In A. Langley and H. Tsoukas (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Process Organization Studies (pp. 432–450). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Awards & grants

Recognition & awards

  • 2022 - Excellence in Teaching, Peter B. Gustavson School of Business, 番茄社区

  • 2021 - Best Reviewer Award, Academy of Management, Strategizing Activities and Practices Interest Group

  • 2020 - Best Reviewer Award, Academy of Management, Strategizing Activities and Practices Interest Group

  • 2019 - Best Reviewer Award, Academy of Management, Strategizing Activities and Practices Interest Group

  • 2017 - Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division’s 2017 NFIB Doctoral Dissertation Award - Finalist

  • 2016 - Best Paper Proceedings, Academy of Management, Entrepreneurship Division

  • 2015 - Ronald B. Shuman Best Student Paper Award, Academy of Management, Management History Division

  • 2012 - Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, Trulaske College of Business, University of Missouri

  • 2011 - Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, Trulaske College of Business, University of Missouri

  • 2004 - Music Talent Presidential Award, Missouri State University 

Grants

  • 2022-2023 Gustavson Executive Program Research Grant, Funded by Peter B. Gustavson School of Business, 番茄社区, awarded March 2022 ($2,500.00), Funded – In Progress, Spring 2022, PI Yan Shen with CoPI Sudhir Nair, CoPI Sara R. S. T. A. Elias, CoPI Ignace Ng
  • 2019-2020 Gustavson Executive Program Research Grant, Funded by Peter B. Gustavson School of Business, 番茄社区, awarded April 2019 ($2,500.00), Completed, Spring 2020, PI Sara R. S. T. A. Elias with CoPI Sérgio Vogt, CoPI Yara Bulgacov
  • 2018-2019 Gustavson Executive Program Research Grant, Funded by Peter B. Gustavson School of Business, 番茄社区, awarded April 2018 ($2,500.00), Completed, Spring 2019, PI Sara R. S. T. A. Elias with CoPI Carrie M. Duncan
  • Rural Development Programme Grant, Funded by European Network for Rural Development, Portugal, awarded November 1, 2013 (€200,000.00), Completed, Summer 2015, Ana L. S. T. A. Elias with Alberto O. A. Elias with Sara R. S. T. A. Elias
  • Award Prémio Milénio Sagres-Expresso 2004, Funded by Beers Central Society - Sagres Beer (€50,000.00), Completed, Summer 2015, Ana L. S. T. A. Elias with Sara R. S. T. A. Elias
  • Centennial Mini Grant, Funded by Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business, University of Missouri ($2,500.00), Completed, Fall 2014, PI Sara Elias (100%)