Profile

Irene Chu is a Senior Lecturer in International Management at Newcastle University Business School. She is also the Degree Programme Director for BSc (Hons) International Business Management.

She gained her MBA and PhD from Durham University Business School and previously worked in the international public and private sectors in Taiwan. She joins NUBS from the University of Bradford School of Management, where she was Associate Professor in Business Ethics and Cross-cultural Studies, Programme Leader for MSc International Business and Management and UN PRME Lead for the School.

She was awarded the Best Paper Awards and Best Symposium at the Academy of Management conference’s Management, Spirituality and Religion stream in Boston, 2019. She was also awarded the Founders’ Award for Emerging Scholars at the Society for Business Ethics conference in Atlanta, USA 2017 for her PhD thesis.

She is on the editorial boards of the journals Business and Professional Ethics and Frontiers in Sociology.She is also an international subject matter expert in International Business Management for the Irish National Agency's National Framework of Qualifications.

My main research interests are centred around the theme of how the environment influences individuals and organisations, especially regarding well-being and human flourishing. I take a philosophical approach based on concepts from the moral philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre of how practices generate different types of goods with differing contributions to human flourishing. Not only do these practices take place in differing organisational forms influenced by differing institutional logics, the individuals involved also differ depending on environmental influences. Consequently, my interdisciplinary research covers a wide range of areas including virtue ethics, the moral psychology of the self, institutional logics and sustainability. On-going projects include the following:

• Corporate social innovation (CSI) and UN SDGs in emerging markets.

• Moral psychology – focusing on virtue ethics, the moral self, Confucianism and Alasdair MacIntyre’s work. 

• Entrepreneurship in Africa – focusing on entrepreneurs’ behaviour, decolonisation and embracing the pluralism of entrepreneurship activity. 

I am also taking on PhD students' supervision. I have supervised 2 PhD students to complete their PhD theses so far.

With over 12 years' teaching experience in HE, Irene has designed and delivered courses across different levels for UG, PG and MBA executive learners in business ethics, sustainable business, corporate social responsibility, cross-cultural management and strategic management.

Irene delivers lectures for the following modules:

BUS3078 Advanced Global Strategy

BUS3017 CSR & Ethics

NBS8128 Transition in the Global Economy

NBS8432 Sustainability Management and the Natural Environment

• Articles

  • Cox AC, Gyensare MA, Lanivich SE, Adomako S, Chu I. Polychronicity and Entrepreneurial Intentions: Exploring Cognitive Flexibility and Adaptability in Potential Entrepreneurs. Journal of Business Research 2025, 189, 115153.
  • Adomako, S, Zahoor, N, Tang, S, Chu, I, Zhang, SX. CEO Vision Articulation, TMT Relational Attachment, and Corporate Entrepreneurship. Leadership Quarterly 2025. In Preparation.
  • Chu, I, Sewak, M, Trivedi, R. Market or Community? An institutional logics interpretation of how MNE subsidiaries respond to mandated social innovation in India. Management International Review 2024. In Preparation.
  • Chu I, Vu M, Adomako S, Lanivich S. Human flourishing from eudaimonic balance of values in entrepreneurs. Journal of Business Research 2024, 175, 114546.
  • Franczak J, Gyensare G, Lanivich S, Adomako S, Chu I. How and when does founder polychronicity affect new venture performance? The roles of entrepreneurial orientation and firm age. Journal of Business Research 2024, 172, 114408.
  • Adams K, Attah-Boakye R, Yu H, Chu I, Mali D. African Continental Free Trade Area and Regional Trade in ICT and Digital Technologies. Journal of International Management 2024, 30(4), 101156.
  • Adams K, Attah-Boakye R, Yu H, Chu I, Ishaque M. Competence and enterprise of management as drivers of early foreign listing of medium-sized emerging market multinationals (EMNEs) from Africa. Journal of Business Research 2023, 158, 113660.
  • Chu I, Vu CM. The Nature of the Self, Self-Regulation and Moral Action: Implications from the Confucian Relational Self and Buddhist Non-self. Journal of Business Ethics 2022, 180, 245-262.
  • Adomako S, Amankwah-Amoah J, Debrah YA, Khan Z, Chu I, Robinson C. Institutional Voids, Economic Adversity, and Inter-firm Cooperation in an Emerging Market: The Mediating Role of Government R&D Support. British Journal of Management 2021, 32(1), 40-58.
  • Donbesuur F, Ampong GOA, Owusu-Yirenkyi D, Chu I. Technological innovation, organizational innovation and international performance of SMEs: The moderating role of domestic institutional environment. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 2020, 161, 120252.
  • Chu I, Moore G. From Harmony to Conflict: MacIntyrean Virtue Ethics in a Confucian Tradition. Journal of Business Ethics 2020, 165, 221-239.
  • Amankwah-Amoah J, Adomako S, Chu I. Entrepreneurs’ Passion, Home Country’s Institutional Voids and Small Firm Internationalization. Research in International Business and Finance 2020, 53, 101178.

• Book Chapters

  • Chu, I. Confucianism and Sustainability. In: Nadia Singh; Main Chi Vu; Irene Chu; Nicholas Burton, ed. Faith Traditions and Sustainablity: Key discourses and energing field. Switzerland: Springer, 2023. In Preparation.
  • Chu I. Harmony and MacIntyrean Virtue Ethics in Taiwan’s Confucian Covid Response. In: Vu,CM;Singh,N;Burton,N;Chu,I, ed. Faith traditions and practices in the workplace – Implications for coping mechanisms in unprecedented times. Palgrave, 2022. In Preparation.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Chu I, Vu CM, Adomako S. The Importance of an Eudaimonic Balance of Values in Entrepreneurial Ventures: An Analysis Using Institutional Logics and Critical Realism. In: Academy of Management Annual Conference 2022. 2022, Academy of Management.
  • Vazquez D, Preuss L, Adomako S, Chu I. How does Corruption Influence the Corporate Sustainability Performance of Firms in Developing Countries?. In: 33rd Annual Meeting of the International Association for Business and Society (IABS 2022). 2022, San Francisco, California: International Association for Business and Society.
  • Vazquez D, Adomako S, Chu I. Perceived Corruption and Environmental Performance of SMEs in Ghana. In: Academy of Management. 2020, Virtual: Academy of Management.
  • Chu I, Burton N, Vu CM. MacIntyre and the Morality of Inclusion: A Critical Review. In: Society for Business Ethics. 2020, Virtual: Society for Business Ethics.
  • Chu I, Vu CM. The Influence of Confucianism and Buddhism on Family Business in Taiwan and Vietnam. In: Academy of Management. 2019, Boston: Academy of Management.
  • Vu CM, Chu I. Reflexive Identity Construction: Interpretations from the Notions of the Relational Self and Non-self. In: European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) 35th EGOS Colloquium. 2019, Edinburgh.
  • Burton N, Chu I, Vu CM, Koehn D, Mejia S, Skorburg JA. Management, spirituality and religion in conversation with the self and virtue. In: Academy of Management. 2019, Boston: Academy of Management.
  • Vu CM, Chu I. A transcultural interpretation of the self: Implications for Self-Regulation towards Ethicality. In: Society for Business Ethics. 2019, Boston: Society for Business Ethics.
  • Chu I, Moore G. Bringing Morality Back In: A Conceptual Synthesis of Institutional Logics and MacIntyrean Virtue Ethics. In: Society for Business Ethics. 2018, Chicago.
  • Chu I. Are MacIntyrean Virtue Ethics Meaningful in a Confucian Tradition?. In: Society for Business Ethics. 2017, Atlanta, Georgia.

• Edited Books

  • Singh, N, Vu, M, Chu, I, Burton, N, ed. Faith Traditions and Sustainability: Key Discourses and Emerging Field. Switzerland: Springer, 2023. In Preparation.
  • Vu CM, Singh N, Burton N, Chu I, ed. Faith traditions and practices in the workplace – Implications for coping mechanisms in unprecedented times. Palgrave, 2022. In Preparation.