Question: What are your key areas of research?
Sinéad Monaghan: I am really fascinated by the process of internationalization and that has been a foundational aspect of my work. I have explored this within the context of multinational companies, small Irish companies, emerging FDI, and born digitals. More recently, I have looked at different dimensions of scaling and global scaling more specifically. This links in quite nicely with the MBA course I teach, “The Scaling Project”, where a group of MBA students are paired with a Scaling Company to support them in a scaling challenge they are facing.
Question: What are you currently working on?
Sinéad Monaghan: I am an organizational psychologist and so I am currently working on a book chapter looking at how CEO characteristics influence global scaling. I am also exploring early-stage female entrepreneurship and how it links in with scaling. I tend to take a behavioural and relational lens to a lot of my research projects, which can lead me down interesting paths!
Question: What are a few of your personal hobbies?
Sinéad Monaghan: I grew up in a really small village in the West of Ireland, so I love to spend time outdoors – especially by the sea! I really enjoy running, but at the moment I’m mainly running after my two young children, so my mileage is pretty low. I adore the cinema and would happily watch any movie on the big screen. Of course, having tea and a chat with a friend always fills my cup.
Question: What advice would you give to someone new to IE research?
Sinéad Monaghan: For me, this is such a fascinating research space with so many research questions and unexplained phenomenon. I love that the discipline is at the cusp of so many other academic fields, such as strategy, international business, marketing, etc, and so, I think there is such rich potential in adopting an interdisciplinary or crossdisciplinary lens to every day challenges for young, small firms. Also, there are so many exceptional scholars working in IE and I suggest you reach out to others, share ideas and propose new projects.