Prof. Afam Icha-Ituma

Dean, Faculty Management and Social Sciences

Biography (Professional Experience & Professional Accomplishments)

Afam Icha-Ituma is a Professor of Human Resource Management and Dean, Faculty of Management and Social Sciences (FMSS), Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike (AE-FUNAI). He has a BSc (Hons) in Mass Communication from ESUT (Nigeria), MBA (Organizational Development) from University of Leicester (UK), and PhD in Human Resource Management from Brunel University (UK). He has published widely cited research on a broad range of people management and entrepreneurship issues in developing economies, in a number of top-tier journals. His current research, which is oriented around international management, has two key strands. The first strand is characterised by a strong emphasis on the influence of societal institutions in shaping human resource management, particularly career dynamics. The second strand concerns the career benefits of the MBA in different national contexts.

As Dean reporting to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Icha-Ituma oversees academic and administrative matters in FMSS. He has overall responsibility for the five departments in the Faculty and the Faculty Office. This responsibility is exercised in partnership with the Heads of these Departments. He seeks to promote internationalization, effective governance, transformative teaching and multidisciplinary research in collaboration with his academic and professional colleagues in the Faculty. He is also keen to ensure high levels of external engagement with various publics related to the Faculty’s teaching and research strengths. He is passionate about creating the right systems, processes and approaches to help ensure that academic performance and students’ experience is the best it can possibly be.

Prof Icha-Ituma has been part of the University Management Team from the inception of the University and has served AE-FUNAI in various capacities including as pioneer Director of Academic Planning and ICT Services, founding Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Employability (CEE), pioneer Dean Faculty of Education and pioneer Director, Internationalization, Linkages, Advancement and Global Ranking. He has chaired major University committees relating to Strategic Plan (2018-2023), Academic Programmes Review and Performance Culture. He has successfully championed efforts to internationalise academic practices, processes and curriculum of the University and improve student satisfaction in relation to both teaching and the wider student experience.

Prior to joining AE-FUNAI, he held a number of academic positions in the UK, including Lecturer at Brunel University, Senior Lecturer at Bournemouth University and Academic Consultant at Mountbatten Institute. He has been a Visiting Research Fellow at Kingston Business School (UK), the University of Leiden (Netherlands), the University of London (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellowship), University of Lisbon (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellowship) and the University of Kent (Erasmus+ Visiting Professor). He has successfully supervised several doctoral students and has served as external examiner at the University of Manchester, University of Northumbria, University of Wales and Pan-Atlantic University (Lagos Business School). He has consulted for a number of organisations in the United Kingdom including Kent Police on Race and Diversity Training Programme. He consults to higher education institutions in Africa to develop their human capital needs through an effective recruitment process, improve student-learning outcomes through robust assessment, and to build institutional capacity for teaching effectiveness, research, service and extension.  He is a member of the Editorial Board of Management and Organisation Review (published by Cambridge Press) and African Journal of Management and Social Sciences (published by Emerald Press). He is a Fellow of UK Higher Education Academy and regularly presents his work nationally and internationally.

Academic Qualifications

 S/No. Institutions Attended Degree(s) Awarded Year
* Brunel University, UK PGCert in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 2007-2009
* Brunel University, UK PhD in Management Studies 2002- 2005
* University of Leicester, UK Master of Business Administration 2000-2001*
* Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Nigeria B.Sc (Hons) Mass Communication 1995-1999

Teaching and research interests

* Management education
* Career dynamics
* International management
* Human resource management
 * Organisational behaviour

 Membership of professional bodies

Professional body

*

 Fellow, Higher Education Academy (FHEA), UK

*

 Fellow, Institute of Policy and Management Development (Nigeria)

*

 Member, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (MCIPD), UK
* International Academy of African Business and Development (IAABD)

*

 Member, British Academy of Management (BAM)
* Academy of Management (AoM)

Selected publications

JOURNAL PAPER
  1. Igwe, P.A., Ituma, A., & Madichie, N.O. (2018). An Evaluation of CSR and Social Value Practices Among UK Commercial and Social Enterprises. Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, 6(1), 37-52. Scimago ranked Journal
  2. Ituma, A.N, (2017) Gender, Feminization and the MBA: A review of the contribution of Ruth Simpson.  Gender in Management: An International Journal. An International Journal. Vol. 32 Issue: 7, pp.461-467 Emerald (UK). Scimago ranked Journal
  3. Onyishi, I.E., Enwereuzor, I,  Ituma, A.N,   Omenma, J.T.  (2015) The mediating role of perceived employability in the relationship between core self-evaluations and job search behaviour, Career Development International, Vol. 20, No 6, pp. – Emerald UK, Thomson Reuters Impact Factor 1.290
  4. Bui, H. Ituma, A.N. and Antonacopoulou, E. (2013) Antecedents and outcomes of personal mastery in the higher education sector:  Cross country evidence. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. Volume 24, Issue 1, pages 167-194(28). Routledge, Taylor & Francis, London, Thomson Reuters Impact Factor: 1.043.
  5. Ituma, A.N., Simpson, R. Ovadje, F. Nelarine, C. and Mordi, C. (2011) Four ‘Domains’ of Career Success: How Managers in Nigeria evaluate Career Outcomes. International Journal of Human Resource Management Vol. 22, Issue 17, pp 3638-3660(23). Routledge, Taylor & Francis, London Thomson Reuters Impact Factor: 1.043.
  6. Ituma, A.N. (2011) Africa: A fertile but ‘unchartered’ territory for Career Studies. African Journal of Economics and Management Studies Vol. 2 No.2, pp. 243-254. Emerald (UK). Scimago ranked Journal
  7. Ituma, A. N (2011) An evaluation of students’ perceptions and engagement with e- Learning components in a campus based university. Active learning in Higher Education Journal, Vol. 12 (1)57-68. London: Sage. Thomson Reuters Impact Factor:1.00
  8. Ituma, A.N. and Simpson, R. (2009) The ‘boundaryless’ career and career boundaries: Applying an institutionalist perspective to ICT workers in the context of Nigeria. Human Relations. 62, (5): 727–761.London: Sage. Thomson Reuters Impact Factor: 2.376.
  9. Ituma, A. N. & Simpson, R. (2007) Moving beyond Schein’s Typology: Career Anchors of IT workers in Nigeria. Personnel Review Journal, Vol. 36 No 6, 978-995. Emerald (UK) Thomson Reuters Impact Factor 0.696.
  10. Ituma, A.N. & Simpson, R. (2006) The chameleon career: An exploratory study of the work biography of information technology workers in Nigeria. Career Development International, Issue 1, Vol. 11,   p.48-65. Emerald (UK) Thomson Reuters Impact Factor: 1.290
  11. Simpson, R. and Ituma, A.N.(2009) Transformation and Feminization: The Masculinity of the MBA and the ‘Un-development’ of Men. Journal of Management Development.  28, (4), 301-316. Emerald (UK). Scimago ranked Journal
  12. Ituma, A.N, Simpson, R., Xiangping, B., Woods, A. Sturges, J. (2007) Forms of Capital and Career Benefits of the MBA in China and the UK. International Journal of Management Education, Vol. 6, No 2, pp 63-78. Elsevier Amsterdam. Scimago ranked Journal
BOOKS AND BOOK  CHAPTERS
  1. Igwe, Paul, Newbery, P. and Ituma, A (2017) Entrepreneurship challenges and gender issues in the African informal rural economy in Vanessa Ratten, Carla Marques and Vitor Braga (Ed) Knowledge, learning and innovation: Research insights into cross sector collaboration. Publisher: Springer, Netherlands
  2. Ezeoha, A. and Ituma, A. (2017) An Institutional Analysis of Entrepreneurship Development in Nigeria in Akinyinka Akinyoade, Ton Dietz and Chibuike Uche (Ed), Entrepreneurship in Africa. Brill Publishers, Netherlands.
  3. Eyisi, J. and Icha-Ituma, A (2016) Building Entrepreneurial Universities in a Developing Economy. FUNAI Press
  4. Epie, C. and Ituma, A. (2014) Working Hours and Work-Family Conflict in the Institutional context of Nigeria in Mokomane , Z. edited  Achieving Supportive Workplaces and  Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Social Policy, Springer, Netherlands
  5. Ituma, A.N. (2013) Career dynamics: A Nigerian perspective, Scholar’s Press: Germany
  6. Chudzikowski, K; Ogliastri, E; Ituma, A.; Astrid Reichel, and Khapov, S (2011) Culture and Context: Understanding Their Influence Upon Careers in Hall D, T, Briscoe, Jon and Mayrhofer, W. (Ed) Careers across Culture: Routledge.
Staff Information
Campus Address
Dean, Faculty Management and Social Sciences, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo, Ebonyi State, NIGERIA.
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