Africa Academy of Management (AFAM)

Awards and Recognition

Celebrating excellence in African management

AFAM recognizes outstanding scholarship, leadership, and contributions to management in Africa.

Award categories

AFAM celebrates excellence across multiple dimensions of management scholarship and practice.

Emerald & AFAM Trailblazer Award

Outstanding contribution to management scholarship, education and training in Africa.

The Stella Nkomo Junior Faculty Award

Recognizing a promising early-career researcher and scholar.

AJOM Junior Faculty Fellowship Award

Supports building research capacity for early-career African faculty.

Best Conference Paper Award

Celebrating impactful research papers on African management.

Emerald & AFAM Trailblazer AwardAwarded by AFAM

Emerald & AFAM Trailblazer Award

This award is jointly sponsored by Emerald and AFAM for individuals who have made outstanding contributions to management scholarship, education and training in Africa. These individuals are mentors, role models and leaders in developing and enhancing research capacity in Africa.

The recipients have distinguished themselves not only in making a significant contribution to organizational phenomena in Africa using scientific methods but also in the development and improvement of research and teaching of management in organizations in Africa. They have also shown exemplary research contributions to knowledge about management issues in Africa; moving forward a content-related journal, scholarly series or advancing management education through an innovative and novel intervention.

Award Recipients

Prof. Stella Nkomo

2020

University of Pretoria, South Africa

In recognition of her pioneering research on gender and diversity in organizations and her leadership in African management scholarship.

Prof. Michael Frese

2016

Leuphana University of Lüneburg (Germany) and National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School

In recognition of his influential contributions to management and entrepreneurship research relevant to African contexts, and his role in advancing scholarly understanding of entrepreneurial behaviour and initiatives that matter for development.

Prof. Moses Kiggundu

2011

Carleton University, Canada

The Stella Nkomo Junior Faculty AwardAwarded by AFAM

The Stella Nkomo Junior Faculty Award

The Stella Nkomo award for the best paper recognizes a promising African early-career researcher and scholar published in the Africa Journal of Management (AJOM). The award was established at the 4th Biennial Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in honour of Prof. Stella Nkomo, AFAM's founding president and a trailblazer in developing management scholarship.

The Stella Nkomo Award for the Best Paper by a Junior African Scholar (SNABJAS) is selected by AJOM's Editor-in-Chief and his team.

Award Recipients

Mazanai Musara

2020

University of Mpumalanga, South Africa

Felicity Asiedu-Appiah

2019

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana

AJOM Junior Faculty Fellowship AwardAwarded by AFAM

AJOM Junior Faculty Fellowship Award

This award is designed to support the development of research skills, scholarly networks, and publication output among junior faculty based at African universities. The award connects a junior scholar from an African university with a senior academic at an established international business school.

Fellows spend time at a host institution abroad, offering them great opportunities for mentorship, institutional support, research and publication collaboration. The goal of the collaboration is to co-author a conference paper presentation and at least one journal article. The paper is presented either at the Academy of Management (AOM) annual conference or at another appropriate international conference.

Fellowship Recipients

Ruby Melody Agbola

2019

Institution: Central University, Ghana

Host Institution: DeGroote School of Management, McMaster University, Canada

Mentor: Prof. Benson Honig

Juliana Namada

2018

Institution: United States International University, Kenya

Host Institution: The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, USA

Best Conference Paper AwardAwarded by AFAM

Best Conference Paper Award

The Best Conference Paper Award is issued every AFAM biennial conference in recognition of the best papers submitted in each of the conference tracks.

2026 Conference - Casablanca, Morocco

Track 1: Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Paper: Managing the Paradox of Embedded Agency Across Institutional Space and Time
Co-Authors: Chad Coffman (Boise State University), Alisa Sydrow (ESCP Business School), Sanwar Sunny (University of Baltimore), & Griffin Cottle (University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth)
Track 2: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
Paper: The Identification of Unionised Blue-Collar Workers with their Employers and Representative Unions
Co-Authors: Anne Crafford (University of Pretoria), Lechan Wheeler (University of Pretoria), & Natasha Winkler-Titus (Stellenbosch University)
Track 3: Public Policy, Administration of Government, and Non-Governmental Organizations
Paper: Creolized Institutional Pathways: Transcending Assumptions of Institutional Void and Institutional Hybridity in African Contexts
Co-Authors: Adeelah Kodabux, Emamdeem Fohim, Crisanto Barros, Nana Yaa Gyamfi, Jess Auerbach Jahajeeah, Mogopodi Lekorwe, Moustapha Mbengue, Lillian Otaye, Guy Peters, Amar Seeam, & Metkel Yosief
Track 4: Strategy and International Management
Paper: Institutional Quality and Ownership Strategy Choices: A Perspective from Japanese Subsidiaries in Africa
Author: Fuhad Ogunsanya (Western University)
Track 5: Social Issues in Management
Paper: Decoding Ubuntu-Informed CSR and Impression Management: Insights from an Indigenous Company in Northern Nigeria
Co-Authors: Aliyu Umar Usman (Regent College London), Roza Sagitova (University of Portsmouth), & Xinxiang Li (University of Portsmouth)
Track 6: Sustainability and Green Management
Paper: Bridging Internal Green Dynamic Capabilities and Government Policy Support for Green Competitive Advantage: Evidence from SMEs in Uganda
Co-Authors: Eddy Kurobuza Tukamushaba (University of Doha for Science and Technology), Rennie Bakashaba (Mbarara University of Science and Technology), & Dedrix Bindeeba (Mbarara University of Science and Technology)
Track 8: Management Practice
Paper: The Role of International Innovation Hub in the African Innovation Ecosystem: Evidence from Norrsken Hub East Africa
Co-Authors: Gilbert Shyaka (University of Rwanda), Carla Goncalves Machado (Jönköping International Business School), Anders Melander (Jönköping International Business School), & Samuel Mutarindwa (University of Rwanda)
Track 9: Teaching and Learning
Paper: Case-Based Teaching in Africa: Is AI the Route Forward?
Co-Authors: Anders Melander (Jönköping International Business School), Olof Brunninge (Jönköping International Business School), Andrew Schenkel (Stockholm School of Economics), & Ciara Sutton (Stockholm School of Economics)

2024 Conference - Cape Town, South Africa

Track 1: Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Paper: Rinse and Repeat? Entrepreneurial Pre-entry Search by Habitual Entrepreneurs in the Informal Economy
Author: Shelter Selorm Teyi (Copenhagen Business School)
Track 2: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
Paper: Navigating the Effects of Abusive Supervision on Turnover Through Psychological Contract Breach Among Third Parties
Co-Authors: Yannick Griep (Radboud University), Johannes Kraak (Radboud University), Wieke Knol (Radboud University), & Elizabeth Beekman (Radboud University)
Track 3: Public Policy, Administration of Government, and Non-Governmental Organizations
Paper: Africanization of Developmental State Model: On Rwanda's Industrial Policy and Institutional Arrangements
Co-Authors: Francis Gaudreault (Zayed Military University/Rabdan University), & Virginia Bodolica (American University of Sharjah)
Track 4: Strategy and International Management
Paper: Institutional Anaesthetization and Heliotropic Strategies
Co-Authors: Baniyelme D Zoogah (McMaster University), & Mike Peng (University of Texas at Dallas)
Track 5: Social Issues in Management
Paper: Deconstructing the Controversial Performance of Micro-Finance Institutions: A Sensemaking Lens on Loan Default
Author: Rose Bote—Neoma Business School
Track 6: Sustainability and Green Management
Paper: Assessing Adoption Barriers of Sustainable Packaging in Egypt
Co-Authors: Carol Ramses Morgan (American University in Cairo), & Sherwat Elwan Ibrahim (American University in Cairo)
Track 8: Management Practice
Paper: An Empirical Study on Competitive Intelligence and Firm Competitiveness
Co-Authors: Zohor Kettani (Africa Business School), & Abdulkader Aljandali (Africa Business School)
Track 9: Teaching and Learning
Paper: Student Preferences for Arts-Based Methods in Leadership Education: A Cluster Analysis from Morocco
Co-Authors: Albrecht Fritzsche (Rabat Business School), & Hendrik S Kriek (University of Witwatersrand)

2023 Conference - Cairo, Egypt

Track 1: Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Paper:The Endogamy Tradition and the Performance of Informal Owner-Manager Ventures in Sub Saharan Africa
Co-Authors: Peng Zhang (Simon Fraser University), Saul Estrin (London School of Economics), & Tomasz Mickiewicz (Aston University)
Track 2: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
Peper: Ubuntu-'I am because we are.' Servant Leadership in South Africa
Co-Authors: Kim Elizabeth Dowdeswell (University of Pretoria), & Jenny Hoobler (Nova School of Business and Economics)
Track 3: Public Policy, Administration of Government, and Non-Governmental Organizations
Paper: Toward a Developmental State in Africa? The Case of Rwanda's Developmentally-Oriented Leadership and Capable Public Administration
Co-Authors: Francis Gaudreault (Zayed Military University), & Virginia Bodolica (American University of Sharjah)
Track 4: Strategy and International Management
Performance Discrepancy, Social Embeddedness and Informal Firms Willingness to Formalize
Selorm Agbleze (University of Leeds)
Track 5: Social Issues in Management
Paper: How Women Entrepreneurs Create Social Change by Filling Institutional Voids: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa
Co-Authors: Giacomo Ciambotti (Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), Andrea Sottini (Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), & David Christopher Littlewood (University of Sheffield)
Track 6: Sustainability and Green Management
Paper: Sustainable Supply Chain Management Practices and Firm Performance: The Mediating Effect of Supply Chain Integration
Co-Authors: Fanny Saruchera (University of Witwatersrand), & Disraeli Asante-Darko (Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration)

2018 Conference - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Track 1: Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Delineating African Innovation Hubs from Business Incubators: A Process Perspective
Nicholas Friederici (University of Oxford, United Kingdom)
Track 2: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
Paper:Work-Life Balance Policies, Cognitive Engagement and Perceived Organisational Support: A Multi Level Analysis
Co-Authors: Felicity Asiedu-Appiah (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana), David Zoogah (Xavier University, USA), & Hannah Vivian Osei (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana)
Track 3: Public Policy, Administration of Government, and Non-Governmental Organizations
Paper: Feedback Mechanisms and their Influence on Service Delivery in State Corporations in Kenya
Author: Damaris Monari (Technical University of Mombasa, Kenya)
Track 4: Strategy and International Management
Paper: Innovation-Performance Relationship: The Moderating Role of Market Dynamism
Co-Authors: Henry Kofi Mensah (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana), Ahmed Ayapong (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana), & Yaw Amo Sarpong (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana)
Track 5: Social Issues in Management in the Context of Africa
Paper:he Influence of Business Schools on the Ethical Behaviour of Students: A Study of Ghana
Co-Authors: Obi Damoah (University of Ghana Business School, Ghana), & Emmanuel Wiredu Appiah (University of Ghana Business School, Ghana)
Track 6: Sustainability and Green Management
Paper: The Role of Stakeholders' Influence on Green Innovation Practice: The Mediating Role of Managers' Environmental Concern
Co-Authors: Hailemickael Deres Mekonnen (Addis Ababa University, School of Commerce, Ethiopia)