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Seungah Sarah LEE

Assistant Professor

Management & Human Resources

 Profile picture

Biography

Seungah Sarah Lee received her PhD in Organization Studies and International Comparative Education from Stanford University. 

Her research broadly explores how global models, scripts, and norms become transmitted and adapted to influence organizational forms, practices, and change. She is particularly interested in how nation-states and organizations negotiate the changing demands of a globalized world and adapt models for sustainable development to foster (social) entrepreneurship and innovation in their local contexts. She also has a secondary interest in the organization of higher education. In this line of work, she studies organizational change and expanding actorhood of higher education institutions in response to globalization, social movements, and changing labor market demands from global, comparative perspectives.

Her work has been funded by the Fulbright-Hayes Fellowship, Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research, and the Stanford Abbasi Program on Islamic Studies and published in journals such as World Development, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Scientific Reports, in numerous book chapters, as well as policy research reports. She was nominated for the Academy of Management's William H. Newman Award and was a runner-up for the OB Division's Best Paper Award with Entrepreneurial Implications. 

Prior to joining HEC Paris, Seungah was a Visiting Senior Lecturer at New York University Abu Dhabi. Prior to academia, she led organizational strategy and design for newly established education nonprofits and provided policy research and advisory services. She also worked as the interim director of a corporate philanthropic foundation, overseeing foundation strategy, board governance, and development of grant projects. She now serves the foundation as a Board Member.

Scientific articles

To STEM or not to STEM: A cross-national analysis of gender and tertiary graduates in science, technology, engineering, and math, 1998–2018

International Journal of Comparative Sociology, Forthcoming, (in coll. with C. M. Wotipka, F. O. Ramirez, J. Song)

Globalization of Universities as Organizational Actors?

Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 30 November 2023, vol. 86, pp 87-104, (in coll. with F. O. Ramirez)

“Outroduction”: A Research Agenda on Collegiality In university Settings

Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 2023, vol. 87, n° Revitalizi, pp 181-211, (in coll. with N. Cloete, N. Côté, L. Crace, R. Delbridge, J.-L. Denis, ET AL.)

Perception, performance, and detectability of conversational artificial intelligence across 32 university courses

Scientific Reports, August 2023, vol. 13, n° 12187, (in coll. with H. Ibrahim, F. Liu, R. Asim, B. Battu, ET AL.)

Entrepreneurship for all? The rise of a global “entrepreneurship for development” agenda, 1950–2021

World Development, June 2023, vol. 166, n° 106226,

Applying Global Models of Teacher Development to Improve Student Outcomes: Insights from a Teacher Development & Leadership Program in Qatar

Gulf Education and Social Policy Review, 2021, vol. 14, n° 1, pp 46-68, (in coll. with L. Zahir)

A Precarious Balancing Act: Globalization, Political Legitimacy, and Higher Education Expansion in Qatar and the UAE

Contemporary Arab Affairs, Mars 2021, vol. 14, n° 1, pp 113-133,

Fostering “global citizens”? Trends in global awareness, agency, and competence in textbooks worldwide, 1950‒2011

Prospects, July 2020, vol. 48, pp 215-236,

Chapters in edited books

Globalizing Nation States and National Education Projects

The Oxford Handbook Of Education And Globalization, Paola Mattei, Xavier Dumay, Eric Mangez, Jacqueline Behrend, Oxford University Press, 1 , 29-50

A Cross-National Analysis of Women Graduates with Tertiary Degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, 1998-2018: Commonalties and Variations

Gender Equity In Stem In Higher Education, H. Ro, F. Fernandez, and B. House, Francis & Taylor Publishing, 2

Portrayal of Religion Against the Backdrop of Progress and Modernity in the US and Canadian Social Science Textbooks from 1850 to 2010

Comparative Perspectives On School Textbooks, Dobrochna Hildebrandt-Wypych, Alexander W. Wiseman, Springer International Publishing, 265-288

Pursuing innovation as a strategy for improving quality of higher education

Higher Education In The Gulf, Reynaldo Gacho Segumpan, John McAlaney, Routledge, London, 16-31

Scientific articles

“Outroduction”: A Research Agenda on Collegiality In university Settings

Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 2023, vol. 87, n° Revitalizi, pp 181-211, (in coll. with N. Cloete, N. Côté, L. Crace, R. Delbridge, J.-L. Denis, ET AL.)

Entrepreneurship for all? The rise of a global “entrepreneurship for development” agenda, 1950–2021

World Development, June 2023, vol. 166, n° 106226,

Globalization of Universities as Organizational Actors?

Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 30 November 2023, vol. 86, pp 87-104, (in coll. with F. O. Ramirez)

Perception, performance, and detectability of conversational artificial intelligence across 32 university courses

Scientific Reports, August 2023, vol. 13, n° 12187, (in coll. with H. Ibrahim, F. Liu, R. Asim, B. Battu, ET AL.)

Chapters in edited books

Globalizing Nation States and National Education Projects

The Oxford Handbook Of Education And Globalization, Paola Mattei, Xavier Dumay, Eric Mangez, Jacqueline Behrend, Oxford University Press, 1 , 29-50

A Cross-National Analysis of Women Graduates with Tertiary Degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, 1998-2018: Commonalties and Variations

Gender Equity In Stem In Higher Education, H. Ro, F. Fernandez, and B. House, Francis & Taylor Publishing, 2

Portrayal of Religion Against the Backdrop of Progress and Modernity in the US and Canadian Social Science Textbooks from 1850 to 2010

Comparative Perspectives On School Textbooks, Dobrochna Hildebrandt-Wypych, Alexander W. Wiseman, Springer International Publishing, 265-288

Pursuing innovation as a strategy for improving quality of higher education

Higher Education In The Gulf, Reynaldo Gacho Segumpan, John McAlaney, Routledge, London, 16-31

Education

  • Ph.D., Organization Studies International Comparative Education, Stanford University - USA
  • Master, Social sciences, Other, Harvard University - USA

Academic appointments

Academic Responsibilities at HEC

  • 2024- Assistant Professor - Doha Campus, Management and Human Resources HEC Paris

External Academic Responsibilities

  • 2022-2024 Visiting Senior Lecturer, Social Research and Public Policy New York University Abu Dhabi_NYUAD

Scientific Activities

Membership in Academic or Professional Organisation

  • Member : Academy of Management European Group of Organization Studies American Sociological Association Comparative International Education Society

Editorial activities

  • Ad hoc reviewer : Academy of Management Perspectives, Organization Studies, World Development, International Journal of Comparative Sociology, Journal of International Development, Prospects, Gulf Education and Social Policy Review