Faculty Excellence: Introducing Our New Associate and Full Professors
Faculty Excellence.
Nine Promotions, One Milestone:
Introducing Our New Associate and Full Professors
The Research Department at GEM is pleased to congratulate nine faculty members on their recent promotions: Yashar Bashirzadeh, Mourad Chabbi, and Joaquin Rodriguez, appointed Associate Professors; alongside Laurie Balbo, Jamil Jaballah, Amanda Peticca-Harris, Carine Sebi, Lea Stadtler, and Jovana Stanisljevic, appointed Full Professors.
These promotions mark key milestones in demanding academic careers, celebrating the researchers’ scientific and academic maturity. They reflect established research autonomy for some, while honoring fully realized excellence and international standing for others.
THREE FACULTY MEMBERS APPOINTED ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Advancing to the rank of Associate Professor recognizes established scientific expertise, consolidated research autonomy, and long-term academic standing (publications, international conferences, and ongoing contributions to the scientific community).
Yashar Bashirzadeh
Holding a PhD from GEM (2019) and a doctorate from IAE Aix-Marseille Université, Yashar Bashirzadeh served as an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Rennes School of Business before returning to GEM. He teaches quantitative research methods, customer data analytics, and digital marketing.
📄 Featured Publication:
How rich is too rich? Visual design elements in digital marketing communications (International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2022), currently cited nearly 150 times. View article
Mourad Chabbi
A political scientist by training and holder of a PhD in Political Science, Mourad Chabbi specializes in international relations, international security in all its dimensions, geopolitical risk, and disruptive technologies, with expertise in the MENA region. With more than a decade of experience in higher education in France, abroad (across Europe and Africa), and in Canada, where he served as a Visiting Professor at Université Laval in 2016-2017, he is a reviewer for Études internationales and has been a member of the CERDAP2 research laboratory at Sciences Po Grenoble since 2018.
📄 Media Expertise:
His work has appeared in numerous academic and professional outlets, including Diplomatie, Présences, Middle East Eye, La Croix, Inkyfada, La Tribune, The Conversation, Le Monde, Le Dauphiné Libéré….. His expertise on the MENA region is reflected in his contribution to a Le Monde article (2026) entitled “In the Tunisian Mountains, the Endless Fight Against Jihadist Cells”. In Diplomatie (2026), he analyzed the case of ASML, emphasizing the company’s unique strategic position within the broader context of Sino-American technological rivalry and geopolitical tensions.
Joaquin Rodriguez
Joaquin Rodriguez conducts research on strategic information systems. His work is published in leading journals such as MIS Quarterly, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, European Journal of Information Systems, Information & Management, and MIT Sloan Management Review, as well as in major conferences in the field, including the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) and the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS).
📄 Featured Publication:
Digital Strategic Initiatives and Digital Resources: Construct Definition and Future Research Directions (MIS Quarterly, 2022, with G. Piccoli and V. Grover), cited over 150 times. View article
SIX FACULTY MEMBERS APPOINTED FULL PROFESSOR
The rank of Full Professor is the highest level of achievement in an academic career. It honors a fully realized research trajectory: a rich and internationally recognized body of scientific work, established standing within the academic community, and a lasting contribution to training and mentoring future generations of researchers.
Laurie Balbo
Professor at GEM since September 2020, her research focuses on social marketing (public health communication, food consumption) and digital marketing (influencer advertising, digital imagery) using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Her work has been presented at leading conferences (ACR, EMAC, AFM) and published in journals such as Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, and Recherche et Applications en Marketing. She holds a Master’s in Marketing Research from IAE Grenoble (2007) and a PhD in Management Sciences from Université Grenoble Alpes (2011).
📄 Featured Publication:
Understanding social comparison dynamics on social media: A qualitative examination of individual and platform characteristics (Psychology & Marketing, 2025, with M. Derbaix, A. Masciantonio et al.). Through qualitative interviews across diverse profiles, the study sheds light on how age, gender, self-esteem, and content types shape the social comparison experience on social platforms. View Article
Jamil Jaballah
He joined GEM in 2016 as a Professor of Finance. Holding a PhD in Finance from Université Toulouse 1 Capitole (dissertation on credit rating agency reputation), his research examines the interactions between firms and investors, perceptions of financial and non-financial information, and the link between corporate governance and socially responsible strategies.
📄 Featured Publication:
Does financing strategy accelerate corporate energy transition? Evidence from green bonds (Business Strategy and the Environment, 2023, avec M. Benlemlih et L. Kermiche) — cited nearly 100 times. This study shows that green bond issuance significantly improves environmental performance, though its impact on carbon intensity is deferred. View article
Amanda Peticca-Harris
A Professor of Business Administration at GEM since 2015, she investigates how neoliberal labor markets generate precarious working conditions, drawing on over a decade of experience as a Senior HR Director in Canada. A specialist in qualitative methods (narrative, ethnographic, visual), she publishes in journals such as Human Relations, Journal of Business Ethics, and Organization. She serves as Program Director for the MSc in International Human Resource Management, DBA Program Director for US/Canada and as Associate Editor for Organization and Group & Organization Management. She holds a Master’s and a PhD in Human Resource Management from York University (Toronto, Canada).
📄 Featured Publication:
Postcapitalist precarious work and those in the ‘drivers’ seat: Exploring the motivations and lived experiences of Uber drivers in Canada (Organization, 2020, avec N. Degama et M.N. Ravishankar) — cited over 350 times. The study examines gig economy workers’ motivations and lived experiences, unpacking how platform work reshapes autonomy and precarity. View article
Carine Sebi
A Professor at GEM since 2017, she serves as Coordinator of the Insitute Energy for Society. She’s a specialist in energy efficiency evaluation (building sector), her current work focuses on energy communities and the co-creation of new energy services. She holds a PhD in Environmental Economics from Université de Grenoble, as well as two Master’s degrees from the Toulouse School of Economics (Environmental & Energy Economics; Statistics).
📄 Media Expertise:
Solicited by Le Monde in February 2026, she shared her insights on the role of local elected officials in the energy transition ahead of municipal elections. View article
Lea Stadtler
Lea Stadtler is Professor of Strategy and Sustainability at GEM, where she has been a faculty member since 2016. Her research examines sustainability collaborations, including cross-sector partnerships, coopetition, and other organizational paradoxes. She has published more than twenty articles in leading journals, including Journal of Management Studies, Organization Studies, Journal of Business Ethics, and Business & Society. In addition to her research contributions, she is actively engaged in the academic community and was appointed Deputy Editor of Business & Society in 2025. She previously served as Principal Investigator of a nationally funded JCJC research project. Since 2022, she has also been Sustainability Teaching Coordinator at GEM. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Bamberg and a PhD in Management from the University of Geneva (2012).
📄 Featured Publication:
Cross‐Sector Partnerships to Address Societal Grand Challenges: Systematizing Differences in Scholarly Analysis (Journal of Management Studies, 2024). This article develops a framework that helps researchers better understand and compare the diverse ways in which cross-sector partnerships are studied as mechanisms for addressing complex societal challenges.
Jovana Stanisljevic
Professor and Director of Academic Operations at GEM. She holds a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA), her research primarily focuses on foreign direct investment, multinational corporate operations in developed and emerging markets, and health policy issues.
📄 Featured Publication:
The impact of COVID-19 on abortion access: Insights from the European Union and the United Kingdom (Health Policy, 2021, with N. Bojovic and G. Giunti). The study provides a country-by-country comparison of policy changes and barriers to abortion access during the pandemic across the EU and the UK. View article
Warmest congratulations to all of them on this well-deserved achievement!
