Rosemary A. McGowan

McGowan’s research explores organizational discourse and uses qualitative approaches to examine organizational issues including those related to careers of millennials in the public service sector, women in leadership and management, perceptions of employment equity, as well as managerial roles and identities.

Currently, she is a co-investigator on a SSHRC-funded Insight Grant examining the career motivations of public sector employees. This project involves researchers from Dalhousie University, University of Winnipeg, and ENAP. She is also working with colleagues from St. Mary’s University and Carleton University on a project exploring gender representation in social enterprise cases.

• Honourable Mention Award, Gender and Diversity in Organizations Division of the 2022 Administrative Sciences Association of Canada Annual Conference. Carroll, W., Chaudhury, T., McGowan, R. A., & Neilson, L. A preliminary analysis of roles, funding, and Big Five personality characteristics of protagonist in social enterprise cases: A content analysis of business school cases. Halifax, NS.
• Distinguished Speaker. Case Track Division of the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada 2016 Conference. Edmonton, Alberta, 2016
• Outstanding Research Paper Award. McLaren, P., McGowan, R.A., Gerhardt, K., Diallo, L., & Saeed, A. “Business without the math: Competing discourses and the struggle to develop an undergraduate Leadership program.” Association of Leadership Educators Annual Conference. Key West, Florida, 2012.
• Burns Endowment Fund Visiting Fellow, Faculty of Management, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge Alberta, 2011.
• Graduate Gold Medal Recipient, MBA, Wilfrid Laurier University. 

I have served on doctoral dissertation committees and have served in the role of external examiner for doctoral dissertations. I have supervised independent research projects (graduate and undergraduate). Students who may be interested in working on an independent research project examining issues related to leadership and/or followership should feel free to contact me to see about the possibility of a directed study.

A sample of recent research includes:

• 2023 Wranik, W. D., McGowan, R., DeRiviere, L., Caron, I., Grace, J., Boulet, M., & Filbee, K. S. (December 2023). Staying motivated: The study protocol for a life-course analysis of the career paths of Canadian public servants. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22 (December 2023). /doi.org/10.1177/16094069221149497
• 2022 Ng, Ed. & McGowan, R.A. Breaking the glass ceiling: Views of women from the second-wave feminist movement. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences. http://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1694. Wiley Publishing recognized this paper as one of the most downloaded CJAS papers in 2022.
• 2022 Stamper, C., & McGowan, R.A. (2022). Furthering the metaphor of the leadership labyrinth: Different paths for different people. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 29(4), 443-460. https://doi.org/10.1177/154805182211106063
• 2022 Carroll, W., Chaudhury, T., McGowan, R.A., Neilson, L. A preliminary analysis of roles, funding, and Big Five personality characteristics of protagonists in social enterprise cases: A content analysis of business school cases. Gender & Diversity in Organizations Division, Administrative Sciences Association of Canada 2022 Conference. Halifax, Nova Scotia. Recipient of Honourable Mention Award for the Gender and Diversity in Organizations Division.
• 2018 Sharen, C., & McGowan, R.A. Invisible or clichéd: How are women represented in business cases? Journal of Management Education, 43(2), 129-173. DOI: 10.1177/1052562918812154. Notification from the JME Editor that, this was one of the “top downloaded articles from JME in 2018.”
• 2016 McGowan, R.A., & Ng, E.S. Employment equity in Canada: Making sense of employee discourses of misunderstanding, resistance, and support. Canadian Public Administration, 59(2), 310-329.   
• 2016 Henstra, D., & McGowan, R.A. Millennials and public service motivation: An exploratory analysis of graduate student career motivations and expectations. Public Administration Quarterly, 40(3), 78-104.