Dr David Littlewood

PhD MA BSc (Hons), SFHEA

Management School

Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management

David Littlewood wearing a white shirt and dark grey jacket.
Profile picture of David Littlewood wearing a white shirt and dark grey jacket.
David.Littlewood@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 3493

Full contact details

Dr David Littlewood
Management School
Room E017
Sheffield University Management School
Conduit Road
Sheffield
S10 1FL
Profile

I am a Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management. I joined Sheffield University Management School in 2015 as a Lecturer in Strategic Management and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2018. I teach on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and supervise PhD students.

Prior to my appointment at Sheffield, I was a Lecturer in Reputation and Responsibility at the Henley Business School, the University of Reading. Before that I was a research fellow at Queen’s University Belfast Management School, working on the Trickle Out Africa Project: www.trickleout.net which examined social and environmental enterprises in East and Southern Africa and their role in sustainable development. I completed my PhD at the University of Sheffield in Geography, with my research examining corporate social responsibility (CSR) and development in the context of the mining industry in Namibia.  

I am a Fellow of the Institute for Global Sustainable Development at the University of Sheffield, and member of the Centre for Regional Economic and Enterprise Development (CREED).

I am an Associate Editor for the Africa Journal of Management and The Social Enterprise Journal, a Visiting Professor at ALTIS – Graduate School Business & Society, the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, Italy, and currently serve as an external examiner at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University.

Qualifications

PhD MA BSc (Hons), FHEA

Research interests

I conduct research in the field of business and society, and more specifically on social entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility (CSR), stakeholder management, and the informal economy. By geography, my work focusses particularly on sub-Saharan Africa.

My research has been published in various academic journals, including the Academy of Management PerspectivesBusiness & Society, the California Management ReviewBusiness Strategy and the EnvironmentEuropean Journal of Marketing, International Small Business Journal, the Journal of Business Ethics, the Service Industries Journal and Technological Forecasting and Social Change amongst others.

I am a former Marie Curie Fellow and was seconded to the EU funded GREY research project examining the informal economy in Southeast Europe. I chaired the 2020 International Social Innovation Research Conference (ISIRC 2020) and continue to lead streams on social innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa and the wider majority world. 

I have led special issues in the Social Enterprise Journal and Africa Journal of Management. I am an Associate Editor for the Africa Journal of Management, and sit on the editorial review boards of the Social Enterprise Journal and Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. I am a regular speaker at international conferences, and my research has won various prizes. I collaborate with academics and practitioners in Africa, Asia, North America, and Europe – including the UK and Sheffield.

Publications

Journal articles

Chapters

Conference proceedings papers

  • Littlewood D, Ciambotti G & Negri G (2023) Social entrepreneurial ecosystems for sustainable development: evidence from an African resource-constrained context. INNODAYS Proceedings, 4 November 2022 - 8 November 2022. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Littlewood D, Ciambotti G & Sottini A (2023) How women entrepreneurs create social change by filling institutional voids: Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa. Africa Academy of Management Conference Proceedings, 8 January 2023 - 10 January 2023. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Littlewood D, Sottini A, Ciambotti G & Lashitew A (2023) Spaces of inclusion: How women use social enterprising to advance gender inclusion in Africa. Social Entrepreneurship Annual Conference Proceedings, 11 November 2022 - 12 November 2022. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Littlewood D, Negri G, Ciambotti G & Theodoraki C (2023) How Entrepreneurial Support Organizations Navigate Constraints In Nascent Ecosystems. Academy of Management Proceedings, 4 August 2023 - 8 August 2023. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Littlewood D, Leger M, O'Donnell P & Holt D (2023) Prosocial growth in the informal economy: A study of microentrepreneurs in South Africa. Academy of Management Proceedings, 4 August 2023 - 8 September 2023. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Littlewood D, Ljubownikow S & Rizaldy M (2023) Faith and hybridity in Indonesian sui generis Islamic microfinance organizations. International Social Innovation Research Conference Proceedings, 6 September 2023 - 8 September 2023. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Littlewood D, Ljubownikow S, Mirfin-Bourkouris H & Sepulveda IP (2023) Assessing the state, impact, and potential of Sheffield's social enterprise community. International Social Innovation Research Conference Proceedings, 6 September 2023 - 8 September 2023. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Littlewood D (2022) Social enterprise internationalisation: How, why and the challenges South African social entrepreneurs face when going global. Academy of Management Proceedings, 5 August 2022 - 9 August 2022. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Littlewood D & Ciambotti G (2022) Art for social change: Exploring creative social entrepreneurship in Africa. International Social Innovation Research Conference Proceedings, 16 September 2022 - 18 September 2022. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Littlewood D, Leger M, O'Donnell P & Holt D (2022) Exploring divergent notions of ‘Growth’: A study of informal micro-entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa. International Social Innovation Research Conference Proceedings, 16 September 2022 - 18 September 2022. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Littlewood D (2021) Social enterprise internationalisation: Insights from South Africa. International Social Innovation Research Proceedings, 8 September 2021 - 10 September 2021. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Littlewood D, Mayasari D & Kedir A (2021) Women’s entrepreneurship in a matriarchal society: Insights from the Minangkabau in Indonesia. ISBE Conference Proceedings, 14 November 2021 - 15 November 2021. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Sottini A, Littlewood D & Ciambotti G (2020) Building Sustainable Business Models in the BoP: Evidence from Social Enterprises in East Africa. Academy of Management Proceedings, Vol. 2020(1) (pp 20654-20654) View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Littlewood D (2019) Informal entrepreneurship in Windhoek Namibia: A configurational perspective. Academy of Management Proceedings RIS download Bibtex download
  • Garnelo-Gomez I, Money K & Littlewood D (2019) “I Live Sustainably”: Exploring Sustainable Living Narratives Through Identity and Motivation. Academy of Management Proceedings RIS download Bibtex download

Website content

Grants
  • Assessing the state, impact, and potential of Sheffield's social enterprise sector. Sheffield Innovation Programme [£8906].
  • The ecosystem for impact entrepreneurship in Kampala, Uganda'. QR GCRF - Pump priming [£3500].
  • Social entrepreneurship in South Africa: Internationalisation, Institutional Work, and Partnerships for Sustainable Development. Development Higher Education Funding Council for England, Global Challenges Research Fund [£2370].
  • The Role of Innovation Hubs in Promoting Social Entrepreneurship in Kenya University of Sheffield, GLOSS Research Associate Scheme. Co-researcher Ms Wilkister Kiyumbu (GLOSS Research Associate) [£2300]. 
  • Motivations, Agglomeration, and the Formal/Informal Economy Nexus – A Study of Informal Economy Entrepreneurship in Windhoek, Namibia. Sheffield University Management School Research Stimulation Fund [£2500].
  • ESRC 1+3 Scholarship, University of Sheffield Department of Geography. [£64,000].
  • African universities as enablers of social innovation and sustainable development, WUN Research development fund 2022 [£9919]. PI Dr Annika Surmeier, University of Cape Town.
Teaching activities

Responsibility and sustainability are key themes that I embed across all of my teaching. I see my role as a facilitator of student learning and seek to help students develop as critical and reflective thinkers and responsible future business leaders.

I am an advocate of collaborative group-based learning and encourage active student participation in the classroom.

I also believe in research-led teaching, providing opportunities for student inquiry, and drawing upon current research and thinking in the field including my own research on CSR, social entrepreneurship, stakeholder management, and wider relationships between business and society.

At Sheffield University Management School, I contribute to teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the area of strategy. I have also taught internationally in Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Italy, and Spain. I am a Visiting Professor at ALTIS – Graduate School Business & Society, the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, Italy, and a visiting member of faculty at IE University, Madrid Spain. 

I believe in reflective teaching practice and continuing professional development. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

PhD Supervision

I have supervised four PhD students to completion:

  • Linda Stretz (PhD awarded 31st July 2023)
  • Bala Auwalu (PhD awarded 22nd February 2021)
  • Naeem Albihany (PhD awarded 21st November 2019)
  • Irene Garnelo Gomez (PhD at Henley Business School, PhD awarded 21st September 2017).

I currently supervise six PhD students:

  • Yiren Wu (2nd year, start date: 01-Oct-2019)
  • Zara Seini (4th year, start date: 30-May-2017)
  • Dian Eka Mayasari (4th year, start date: 01-February-2017)
  • Valentina Varbanova (6th year [Part time], start date: 01-Oct-2015)
  • Muhamad Rizky Rizaldy (1st year, start date: 01-Oct-2022)
  • Yiqun Han (1st year, start date: 25-Sept-2023)

I have examined more than 20 PhDs in the UK, Australia, Italy, South Africa, and Switzerland.