Dr Marta Fernandez De Arroyabe Arranz

Biography

Marta F. Arroyabe is a senior lecturer and deputy head of the Strategy Operations and Entrepreneurship (SOE) Group at Essex Business School. She is also associate editor of the Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies. Previously, she held the undergraduate programme director and the Q-step lead positions at the SOE group. Marta’s research focuses on four primary areas: innovation, environmental management, digitalisation & cybersecurity, and entrepreneurship. In the area of innovation, her research aims at understanding the development and implementation of innovation in firms, and explores firms’ innovation decisions and strategies. In the area of environmental management, she primarily focuses on two topics, eco-innovation and circular economy, where she studies business responses to improving environmental performance and to increasing societal concerns for the environment. Her research explores the development of eco-innovation and circular economy business models in firms and the impact of these on firms’ performance. In the area of digitalisation and cybersecurity, her research investigates the drivers behind firms’ implementation of and investment in cybersecurity, and the role of cybersecurity in firms’ decision-making process in the implementation of new digital technologies. Finally, in the area of entrepreneurship, her research primarily focuses on entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial intention. Her work aims at understanding to which extent entrepreneurial education in higher education institutions (such as universities) spurs the entrepreneurial intention of students and fosters entrepreneurial activity. She has published her work in “Journal of Business Research”, "R&D Management", “Technovation”, “Studies in Higher Education”, “British Journal of Management”, “European Journal of Innovation Management”, “Technology Analysis and Strategic Management”, “Journal of Cleaner Production”, “Technological Forecasting and Social Change”, and “Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism”. Marta has successfully attracted external funding through several grants: ESRC Digital Security by Design Social Science Hub+ (Discribe) for a project on “The impact of cyber security on the adoption of new digital technologies in UK’s SMEs” (£168,519.90), Leverhulme Trust International Fellowship for the project on “Evaluating the effects of R&D tax credits on the market for corporate control” (£45,924.00), BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants for the project “The implementation of circular economy models in UK small and medium enterprises: a pilot study of East England & London” (£9,883.20), Society for the Advancement of Management Studies (SAMS) for the organisation of a workshop on “Innovation, Technology and R&D Management” (Project’s award: £3,430). She is also investigator on the project “Accelerating Women’s Enterprise” from the European Commission (EU INTERREG, £146,298+ 125,971.72€). Marta has received the EBS Teaching Leadership Award in 2022, best reviewer award at Industry and Innovation journal in 2022, and has been nominated for the Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award for three consecutive years at the University of Essex. She is permanent member of the scientific committee of the International Conference on University, Enterprise, and Society (UES). She is also External Examiner to the University of Glasgow.

Qualifications

• Fellow (D2) Higher Education Academy,

• PhD in Management University of Luxembourg,

• PhD in Management United Nations University – Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology,

• Research Master in Economics and Financial Research Maastricht University,

Appointments

University of Essex

• Deputy Head of Group, Strategy, Operations and Entrepreneurship Group, University of Essex (1/9/2021 - present)

• Undergraduate Programme Director, Strategy, Operations and Entrepreneurship Group, University of Essex (1/6/2019 - 30/4/2022)

• Q-step lead, Strategy, Operations and Entrepreneurship Group, University of Essex (1/7/2019 - 31/8/2022)

Other academic

• Associate Editor, Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies (1/9/2021 - present)

• External Examiner, University of Glasgow (25/5/2022 - present)