Rate My Professor Esra Memili

Esra Memili is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Margaret Van Hoy Hill Dean's Notable Scholar in the Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Hospitality and Tourism within the Bryan School of Business and Economics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She holds a PhD from Mississippi State University, an MBA from Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin, a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance—graduating with highest standing—from Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey, and completed an exchange program on full scholarship in Business Administration at Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Dr. Memili’s research specializations encompass entrepreneurship, family firms, hospitality and tourism, socioemotional wealth, psychological capital, corporate governance, innovativeness, and family business heterogeneity.

Throughout her career at UNCG, she has made significant contributions to academia through editorial roles and prolific publications. Dr. Memili serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Business Review, Journal of Small Business Management, and Journal of Family Business Strategy. She is also on the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Management Studies, Family Business Review, and Entrepreneurship Research Journal. Her notable books include co-editing The Palgrave Handbook of Heterogeneity among Family Firms (Palgrave, 2018), Entrepreneurial Family Business (Springer, 2020; 2nd ed. 2024), and leading the Palgrave Studies in Family Business Heterogeneity series since 2021. Key peer-reviewed articles feature "Family-friendly work practices in family firms: A study investigating job satisfaction" (Journal of Business Research, 2023), "The antecedents of family firms’ resilience to crisis in hospitality and tourism" (International Journal of Hospitality Management, 2023), "Nonfamily managers, family firms, and the winner's curse: The influence of noneconomic goals and bounded rationality" (Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 2014), "The impact of small-and medium-sized family firms on economic growth" (Small Business Economics, 2015), and "Building a family firm image: How family firms capitalize on their family ties" (Journal of Family Business Strategy, 2012). These works, among others, underscore her influence on understanding family business governance, performance, and entrepreneurial dynamics in various sectors.