Dr. Tolulope Oluwafemi Assistant Professor, HEI Dept.

Research Interests

• Creating and growing entrepreneurial ventures
• Leadership of innovation in entrepreneurial ventures
• Immigrant and social entrepreneurship
• Leadership and female entrepreneurs

Tolulope is an active member of the Innovation for Social Good (ISG) research cluster at TRU. The ISG research cluster brings together faculty and students from a range of disciplines to create new knowledge about innovation that improves lives, organizations, and communities.

Publications

PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES

Oluwafemi, T.B; Ogundana O.M. (2025). Revamping Performance Management: Exploring Front-Line Managers' Roles Through HR Co-Creation Lens". Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal

Oluwafemi, T.B; Kang, W., & Ho, Shuna (2025). From Nigeria to Canada: Unpacking Intersectional Women Entrepreneurship through a Transnational Feminist Perspective. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship (Accepted for publication; Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print).

Oluwafemi, T. B., Ogundana, O. M., Dana, L. P., & Hasnaoui, J. (2025). Antecedents of Ambidextrous Leadership in Entrepreneurship: The Role of Emotional Intelligence and Entrepreneurial Leadership Styles. Strategic Change, Volume 34, Issue 6, 845-858.

Oluwafemi, T. B. (2024). Are female entrepreneurs ambidextrous leaders? A qualitative study through the lens of social role theory. Development and Learning in Organizations: An International Journal.

Oluwafemi, T. B., & Duff, A. J. (2024). Entrepreneuring as existential transformation: a review of entrepreneurial identity with a typology of career and personal change. Cogent Business & Management, 11(1), 2418424.

Oluwafemi, T. B., Mitchelmore, S., and Nikolopoulos, K. (2020). Leading innovation: Empirical evidence for ambidextrous leadership from UK High-tech SMEs. Journal of Business Research, 119, 195-208

Book Chapter

Kang, W., & Oluwafemi, T.B. (2024).Entrepreneurial Wellbeing of Nigerian Women Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Canada: An Intersectional Perspective. In Zwiegelaar, J., & Beck, S. (Eds.). Entrepreneurial Wellbeing: Perspectives in SMEs based on Gender and Immigrant Entrepreneurs (1st ed.). Routledge.

PEER-REVIEWED CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

Barragan, S., Oluwafemi, T., Rankin, S., & Martin, B. (2025). Responding to Ethical Dilemmas Through Adaptive Caring Work: Evidence from a Social Enterprise. Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings, 2025(1),1-6.

Barragan, Oluwafemi, Rankin, Martin (2022). How social enterprise can flourish under extreme adversity: Why ethics of care is everything and not enough. Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (ASAC) proceedings and Best Paper Award, Halifax (hybrid).

SELECTED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Duff, A. and Oluwafemi, T.B., Voloshyna Viktoriya. (2025). Entrepreneuring as existential transformation: stories of life and career transition of four individuals who live in vans: An exploratory qualitative study. Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (ASAC) Conference. Waterloo, Ontario.

Jilani, P., Barragan, S., Rankin, S., Oluwafemi T., and Martin, B. (2023). Social Enterprise Outcomes Measure (TRUSEO). Proceedings of the 2023 Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (ASAC) Conference. Toronto, Ontario.

Oluwafemi, T., Rankin, S., Pergelova, A., Barragan, S., and Martin, B. (2023). Sustained Scoping and Scaling In Social Enterprise; An RBV Versatility Perspective. Proceedings of the ANSER-ARES Divisional Conference at the Congress of the Humanities. York University, Toronto.

Oluwafemi, T., Rankin, S., Barragan, S., Reed, M., and Martin, B. (2023). Proceed (And Grow) With Care: Exploring Dimensions of Care in Social Enterprise Leadership And People Management. Proceedings of the ANSER-ARES Divisional Conference at the Congress of the Humanities. York University, Toronto.

Kang, W., Yu, M., Oluwafemi, T.B. (2022) Top Executive Gender Diversity, Gender Bias and ESG Performance. Annual Conference of The BAFA Financial Markets and Institutions and Northern Area Groups (14-15 September 2022, University of York, UK)

Duff, A. and Oluwafemi, T.B (2022). VanLife as Emancipatory Entrepreneuring. Western Academy of Management, Hawaii (March 16-19, 2022). WAM 2022 Conference Theme - From Resilience to Thriving: The Crisis Remade

Courses Taught

• BUSN 6040 Leadership and Organizational development
• ENTR 4750 New Venture Creation
• ENTR 3710 Marketing for Entrepreneurs
• ENTR 4760 Small Business Management
• ORGB 3770 Teamwork in organizations
• MNGT 3730 Leadership
• ORGB 2810 Organizational Behavior