Award for PhD Student Saouré Kouamé and Professor Taïeb Hafsi

(From left to right) Professor Taïeb Hafsi and PhD student Saouré Kouamé

Doctoral student Saouré Kouamé and Professor Taïeb Hafsi have been recognized for an article they submitted to the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (ASAC) in the Strategy Division. The ASAC held its annual conference at HEC Montréal from May 29 to June 1, 2017, at which the authors received the Best Paper Award for their article, “The Influence of CEO Positive Affectivity on Corporate Entrepreneurship.”

Saouré Kouamé is pursuing a doctoral degree at HEC Montréal (PhD) in Administration –Management, Strategy and Organizations. He is writing a manuscript-based dissertation under the direction of Taïeb Hafsi. His topic of research, which is also the topic of the article that won him the award, explores the affective aspect of company strategy—a subject he says has received very little attention in administrative science. Kouamé’s study conducted on a sample of 300 people including 102 business executives, revealed that when an executive experiences positive emotions, it has a sizable influence on the company’s success, especially its ability to innovate, adapt, transform and launch new activities for growth.

Saouré Kouamé also received the Jean-Marie-Fecteau Award for best paper in 2013, at the annual student symposium put on by the Centre for Research on Social Innovations (CRISES).