Prof Retha Wiesner
| Name | Prof Retha Wiesner |
|---|---|
| Email Address | retha.wiesner@unisq.edu.au |
| Job Title | Professor (Human Resources Management) |
| Qualifications | BCom Pretoria, BCom(Hons) Pretoria, MCom Pretoria, PhD Pretoria |
| Department | School of Business |
| Affiliations | Institute for Resilient Regions |
| Rural Economies Centre of Excellence | |
| ORCID | https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2849-2337 |
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Biography
Retha is a Professor in Management and Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research Program Leader of the Women in Rural, Regional and Remote Enterprises (WiRE) Program. She has extensive experience in leading large entrepreneurship capacity-building projects and project teams in the national and international arena. For example, in the last five years, she has led research and capacity-building projects of over $5m (with significant industry engagement) in the entrepreneurship and small business domain. Retha has published over 80 research articles and co-authored 11 books on management and behaviour. Retha supervises more than 10 doctoral students in the small business and entrepreneurship arena.
Employment
| Position | Organisation | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professor in Management | University of Southrn Queensland | 1995 | 2023 |
Expertise
Management, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Small Business Management, Organisational change, Human Resource Management
Teaching
Managing Organisational Behaviour
Leading Teams to Success
Leveraging Your Leader Identity
Leading Organisational Change
Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity
Fields of Research
- 350704. Entrepreneurship
- 350710. Organisational behaviour
- 350716. Small business organisation and management
- 350799. Strategy, management and organisational behaviour not elsewhere classified
BCom
Pretoria
2009
BCom(Hons)
Pretoria
1986
MCom
Pretoria
1989
PhD
Pretoria
1992
Current Supervisions
| Research Title | Supervisor Type | Level of Study | Commenced |
|---|---|---|---|
| An examination of the nature of Australian business leaders' sustainable entrepreneurial leadership and its antecedents | Principal Supervisor | Doctoral | 2023 |
| An examination of digital identity and its impact on the digitalisation of regional Australian SMEs | Principal Supervisor | Doctoral | 2023 |
| Factors that impact acquisition of social and entrepreneurial capital for regional female-founders in Australia | Principal Supervisor | Doctoral | 2022 |
| Women in STEM and the labyrinth of leadership: Exploring entrepreneurial leadership of Australian women in STEM and strategies to advance their careers | Principal Supervisor | Doctoral | 2021 |
| Examining the motivations of employees in the vegetation Management Industry to engage in casual employment: A Case study | Associate Supervisor | Doctoral | 2020 |
| The influence of technology innovation adopter preferences on organisational career development and personal career management when facing technological change | Associate Supervisor | Doctoral | 2018 |
Completed Supervisions
| Research Title | Supervisor Type | Level of Study | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antecedents of the entrepreneurial mindset of young rural, regional and remote (RRR) women and their intention to engage in entrepreneurial behaviour | Principal Supervisor | Doctoral | 2024 |
| Exploring Success in Technology Leadership and Pathways to Catalyse Participation of Women in Leadership | Principal Supervisor | Doctoral | 2023 |
| An examination of the impact of entrepreneurial leadership factors on the venture growth intentions of women in rural, regional and remote enterprises. | Principal Supervisor | Doctoral | 2023 |
| An examination of the factors impacting on the farm bargaining intentions of smallholder women farmers in the Eastern Gangetic Plains | Principal Supervisor | Doctoral | 2022 |
| The role of innovation hubs in building community resilience | Principal Supervisor | Doctoral | 2021 |
| Exploring relations between selected human resource management (HRM) practices in employees¿ creativity behaviours in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Atlantico region of Colombia | Associate Supervisor | Doctoral | 2021 |
| Project title | Details | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Achieving Business Development: The Scenic Rim Entrepreneurial Hub | Funded by the Scenic Rim Regional Council, supported by Australian and Queensland Governments under the Disaster Recovery Fund: $30,000 The Scenic Rim Entrepreneurial Hub Online Program assisted and facilitated the start-up and business growth of entrepreneurs and businesses through: • enhancing individual and organisational entrepreneurial awareness, • entrepreneurship and business participation, • entrepreneurship skills, • entrepreneurship competencies and capacity, • building support networks, • sharing knowledge, • growing resilient communities, and • creating positive change in the Scenic Rim region through delivering a proven entrepreneurial Hub Program. | 2022 |
| Women in Rural, Regional and Remote Enterprises (WiRE) Playing Big in Business | Funded by Advance Queensland through the Advancing Women in Business Initiative: $40,000 The aim of this project is to advance women in Rural, Regional and Remote Enterprises (WiRE) during and post-COVID-19 by helping them to reset and re-imagine their ventures. | 2021 |
| Start-up, scale up and going global: advancing Queensland women entrepreneurs | Funded by Advance Queensland through the Advancing Women in Business Initiative: $40,000 This project aims to advance women in rural, regional and remote enterprises in Queensland who have a great idea but don’t know how to take it to the next level to start a venture; who already have a venture and want to grow and scale up their venture; and those with global business aspirations. | 2019 |
| Advancing women in rural, regional and remote enterprises through Entrepreneurship | Funded by Advance Queensland through the Advancing Women in Business Initiative: $40,000. This program entailed tailormade entrepreneurship boot camps for women in rural, regional and remote Queensland. | 2018 |
| Advancing women in rural, regional and remote enterprises (WiRE) through Entrepreneurship | Funded by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, Australian Government. The aim of the WiRE program is to promote and cultivate women entrepreneurship in rural, regional and remote (RRR) Queensland. See www.wireprogram.com | 2018 |
| Migrant and Refugee Women’s Startup Resilience | Funded by Advance Queensland: 16,050 This project increased the capability and capacity of migrant and refugee women’s start-up activity through digital inclusion. Key outcomes achieved include: • Identification of the entrepreneurial experience and digital skills prevalent among migrant and refugee women • Increased know-how among migrant and refugee women in: - Business Planning through the use of the Business Model Canvas - Inclusive business models through the IGNITE Model and lessons from Australian refugee-led businesses - Digital Skills for Business. Topics covered are listed below: Setting up Gmail account inclusing using calendar, hangouts and drive functions Setting up a free website including assessing basic metrics/analytics Setting up an online store including online payments Setting up a Facebook/LinkedIN for business including business pages and events account Leveraging community support through use of Volunteering Sites, Crowdfunding and Social Media | 2017 |
| Empowering Women through Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri-Lanka | Funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Government:$231,781 The program was designed to empower women, promote business participation and digital inclusion, enhance gender equality in a business context and improve the success of women entrepreneurs across different industries in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The program brought together individuals who have an impact on women entrepreneurial development to foster a global community of innovative entrepreneurial leaders. The aim was to build participants’ own knowledge and skills in practice and policy as well as their capacity to more effectively foster women's entrepreneurship and innovation in their countries. Building on the learnings of similar recent successful fellowship programs delivered by the USQ project team and consultation with partner organisations, a three-week intensive program provided Fellows with a ‘toolkit’ of Australian best practices, policies, research and advancement initiatives. Underpinned by the values of women empowerment, capacity building, knowledge sharing and digital inclusion, the program covered topics including best practices of successful women entrepreneurs, digital business innovation for competitive advantage and sustainable business practices. Post-program sustainability of initiatives were supported through the development of action plans and project frameworks. These were implemented through ongoing collaboration and mentorship via digital collaboration and follow-up activities in partner countries. | 2017 |
| Big Data for Small Business | Funded by Advance Queensland:$20,000 The project promoted the use of BigData technology for enhanced decision-making in start-ups. | 2016 |
| Empowering women entrepreneurs through entrepreneurship, innovation and business sustainability in Nepal and Bangladesh | Funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Government: $245,448.5 The program was designed to enhance gender equality in a business context, empower women through entrepreneurship and improve the success of women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh and Nepal. | 2015 |
| Accelerating SMEs and regional enterprises through entrepreneurial leadership | Funded by University of Southern Queensland: $888,424 The main aims of this research program were to develop research capacity in the Institute for Resilient Regions, USQ through building on the project team’s substantial existing track records; utilising existing partnerships to leverage industry funding; actively pursuing new research funding opportunities; maximising scholastic, industry and community impact. | 2014 |
| The CCIQ ecoBiz Program: A Collaborative Sustainability Initiative | Funded by the Department of Environment and Science, Queensland Government: $3055,000. The aim of the ecoBiz program was to assist Queensland businesses to compete, invest and profit through eco-efficiency initiatives that reduce their operating costs whilst also improving their environmental performance. This goal was translated to business through knowledge dissemination, capacity building, and performance benchmarking. | 2014 |
| Empowering Women through Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Business Sustainability in Pakistan | Funded by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Government. The primary objective of this activity was to support and improve the success of Pakistan’s existing women entrepreneurial initiatives and SME (Small and Medium Size Enterprise) leaders/managers. This was done through a program involving a ‘best practices of successful women entrepreneurs component’; a ‘managing high performance women-owned entrepreneurial ventures’ component; a creativity, innovation and empowerment in women-owned businesses component; a ‘women entrepreneurship in action component; a building competitive advantage through sustainable business development under climate change component; and scenario planning and output development sessions for senior and emerging leaders. The program built on the existing policies, initiatives and practices in Pakistan by leveraging Australia’s best practices and advanced technologies in the key areas mentioned. The outcomes benefitted Pakistan when the fellows successfully implemented the initiatives, action plans and projects developed during the program after their return to the country. In particular, the dissemination of outcomes was crucial to the success of the program. The fellows who were actively involved in educating and training of Pakistani women entrepreneurs and SME managers/leaders played an important role in promoting women entrepreneurship, innovation and business sustainability awareness in SME and advocating international best practices. | 2013 |
| Green Leaders: CitySmart Watt Savers Energy Efficiency Project | Funded by the Australian Government’s (DCCEE) Energy Efficiency Information Grant program: $750,000. Over 2013-14 CitySmart’s Queensland Watt Savers program demonstrated that, by overcoming the target group’s barriers, engaging, educating and encouraging small and medium enterprises and community organisations to better understand energy efficiency, they can make informed decisions about their energy consumption – and thereby reduce their operating costs. | 2013 |
| Fostering business sustainability for competitiveness in Pakistani Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) | Funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: $264,237 The project aimed to support Pakistan’s existing SME sustainability management initiatives (for example, within the ACSBD, a best practices framework for Managing Sustainability Change in SMEs has recently been developed as well as a best practice model for managing high performance practices in Pakistani SMEs which the proposed program drew upon). | 2011 |
| Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) 2011 to 2012 Reduction through Teams and Rewards: A Viability Analysis and Pilot (The PEER Project) | Funded by Linfox Logistics: $80,000. The project team collaborated with Linfox on the “Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Reduction through Teams and Rewards: A Viability Analysis and Pilot designed to reduce Motor Vehicle Accidents (MVA's) in Linfox, utilising peer groups (teams) and rewards. | 2011 |
| Developing a Best Practice Framework for Managing Sustainability in Small Businesses: Learning from the Stars | Funded by CPA Australia: $15,000. The main objectives of this study were to examine firstly, how the management of practices and capabilities of environmental sustainability are developed, maintained and managed in SME‘environmental sustainability leaders’, with the view to developing a conceptual framework for environmental sustainability (ES) change management in Australian SMEs. | 2010 |
| Managing Environmental Sustainability for Competitiveness in SMEs | Funded by Enterprise Connect: Industry Intelligence & Networking (WIIN) Program: $50,000. The overall objective of the proposed project was to: address regional SMEs’ current understanding of environmental and business sustainability and enhance their ability to plan, manage, implement and integrate environmentally sustainable initiatives into their firms to improve their financial bottom line and achieve positive outcomes for their staff. | 2010 |
| Strategies to minimise the impact of challenging times on training | Funded by: Construction Skills QLD: $50,000. This was a two-staged project, which utilised scenario planning methodology in addressing the overall research question: What are the most effective strategies that Construction Skills Queensland (CSQ) could put in place to minimise the impact of challenging times on skills development and training of apprentices and trainees? Eighteen strategies were recommended for adoption by CSQ. | 2008 |