Expertise:
Project Management, Entrepreneurship, Experiential Learning, Strategic Management, Small Business, Family Business, Social Entrepreneurship and Non-Profits, Entrepreneur-Friendly Cities, Business Consulting, Organizational Behavior, Community Engagement Embedded in TeachingNastaran Simarasl seeks to understand how entrepreneurs succeed in the face of significant hardships. Applying her background in organizational psychology and strategic management, she helps entrepreneurs and business start-ups run successful operations. Her research focuses on entrepreneurship, family business, social networks and institutions.
At Cal Poly Pomona, she is the Faculty Director of the College of Business Administration Dean’s Research Seminar Series. She is also the Faculty Advisor of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO) club, Faculty Fellow at the Student Innovation Idea Labs (SIIL), organizing the Bronco Startup Challenge, an annual startup business pitch competition open to all CPP students and alumni. She is a member of the Heterodox Academy, advocating open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement on campus.
Simarasl teaches strategic management, entrepreneurship, business consulting and research-based graduate courses at the College of Business Administration. Students in her courses have engaged in industry projects such as research-based consulting for the Pomona Chamber of Commerce and Healed Women Heal, and competitor analysis for Tokyo-based LogoVista, a high-tech start-up specializing in translation software considering entry into the U.S. market.
Simarasl has been invited to speak on the topic of female entrepreneurship in constrained contexts — environments lacking technical, social and economic resources — at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany, and Jaipura School of Management in India.
Recent Grants and Fellowships:
- Provost Teacher-Scholar Grant, Cal Poly Pomona, $10,000 (2023-present)
- Special Projects for Improving the Classroom Experience (SPICE) Grant, Cal Poly Pomona,$5,000 (2023-24)
- Student Innovation Idea Labs (SIIL), Cal Poly Pomona, Faculty Fellow, $5,000 (2023-present)
- Center for Community Engagement, Cal Poly Pomona, Faculty Fellow, $2,000 (2023-24)
- Global Development Network (Japanese Award for Outstanding Research on Development), “Female entrepreneurship and the institutional context in developing countries,” $5,000 (2014)
Selected Publications:
- With P. Tabesh and M. Jessri, “Navigating hardships: Resilience-building coping strategies and actionable techniques for entrepreneurs,” Business Horizons, 2024
- With Tabesh and Y. Lee, “The paradox of resource access: Influence on location decision comprehensiveness and new venture performance,” New England Journal of Entrepreneurship, 2023
- With B.D. Wilhelm, F. Riar and F Kellermanns, “Organizational citizenship behavior: Understanding the interaction effect of psychological ownership and agency system designs,” Review of Managerial Science (impact factor: 7.12), 2022
- With D. Jiang, S. Pandey and C. Navis, “Constrained but not contained: How marginalized entrepreneurs across institutional contexts overcome bias and mobilize resources,” Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 16, 853-888 (Listed in the Financial Times Top 50 Journals; impact factor: 5.76, 2022
- With P. Tabesh, T. Munyon and Z. Marzban, “Unveiled confidence: Exploring how institutional support enhances the entrepreneurial self-efficacy and performance of Iranian female entrepreneurs,” European Management Journal (impact factor: 5.07), 2022
- With K. Moghaddam and D.W. Williams, “Antecedents of business location decisions: The case of aspiring immigrant opportunity entrepreneurs. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 28(7), 1057-1094, 2021
- With T.P. Munyon, J.D. Houghton, D.D. Dawley and M. Howe, M., “Limits of authenticity: How organizational politics bound the positive effects of authentic leadership on follower satisfaction and performance,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 51(6), 594-609 Journal of Applied Social Psychology Impact Factor: 2.12, 2021
- With M. Cheraghi, “Age effects on entry into entrepreneurship of the unemployed, employed, and self-employed,” International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 42(3), 259-281, 2021
- With D. Jiang, F. Kellermanns and B. Debicki, “Unmasking the social ghost in the machine: How the need-to-belong and family business potency affect family firm performance,” Family Business Review, 33(4), 351-371 and Family Business Review Impact Factor: 9.84, 2021
- With T. Rua, Z. Aytug and L. Lin, “How traditional gender roles hurt both men and women: Negative processes and outcomes in mixed-gender negotiations,” Gender in Management: An International Journal, 36(2), 271-293, 2020
- With A. Attafar, A. Shahin and H. Talebi, H. “The current state of management development in Iran: The case of the insurance industry,” International Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 1(4), 618-626, 2012
- With A. Attafar and A. Shahin, “Investigating the influence of per-case plan on treatment capacity utilization and staff efficiency in hospitals of Isfahan,” International Journal of Business and Social Sciences, 2(11), 177-18, 2011
- With A. Attafar and A. Shahin, “Effects of demographic and personal factors on job burnout: An empirical study in Iran. International Journal of Management, 28(7), 275-286, 2011
Interviews:
- “CPP Community Innovation Hub opens in downtown Pomona,” The Poly Post, Sept. 11, 2024
- “CBA Students Mean Business (Consulting, that is),” College of Business Administration, Cal Poly Pomona, Sept. 9. 2024
- “Students Win Draper Competition For Collegiate Women Entrepreneurs,” The Poly Post, April 23, 2019
Education:
B.A., Business Administration, College of Economic Affairs (Tehran, Iran)
M.A., Business Administration, Allameh Tabataba’i University (Tehran, Iran)
Ph.D., Business Administration, University of Isfahan (Isfahan, Iran)
Ph.D., Business Administration, The University of Tennessee
Languages:
English, Farsi/Persian