Dr. Mzamo P. Mangaliso, PhD, MBA
Department Chair | Associate Professor of Strategy
Dr. Mzamo Mangaliso recently served as Chair of the Management Department at the Isenberg School of Management. A recipient of the University's Distinguished Teaching Award, he has taught undergraduate, MBA, and doctoral courses and served on more than 30 doctoral dissertation committees. His research examines strategy in uncertain and complex global environments with a particular focus on the epistemic foundations of management thought. Drawing on human-centric and relational perspectives, his recent work explores how diverse knowledge traditions can enrich the conceptual foundations of the field by advancing more globally inclusive approaches to organizational and strategic management theorizing. He is the author of two books and numerous articles published in leading peer-reviewed journals. Prior to joining UMass, he served as President and CEO of South Africa’s National Research Foundation, where he led national efforts to strengthen research and innovation capacity. He is a Fellow of the Eastern Academy of Management.
Education
Professional Experience
Academic Appointments
Recent Honors / Awards
Research Interests
Teaching Interests
- Business Policy and Strategy
- Principles of Management
- Foundations of Strategic Management
- International Management
Media, Industry, and Public Impact
- PBS NewsHour TV Program Panelist on how Nelson Mandela forever changed South Africa. Panel moderated by PBS’s Jeffrey Brown.
- Chair: External Review Panel of the College Model at the University of KwaZulu-Natal
- Panelist: 5-Year Institutional Review of the Council for Geosciences of South Africa.
Selected Working Papers / Current Research
- Vlas, C., Garg, G., Vlas, D. & Mangaliso, M. P. Permission meets pressure: How institutional risk and CEO self-monitoring shape the extremeness of strategic change. Revise & Resubmit at Management Decision, Revised April, 2026
- Mangaliso, M. P., ogilvie, dt, Ndanga, L. B., & Jean-Denis, H. Epistemic authority and knowledge production in the Global South: A positionality-based taxonomy. Under review at Organization Science, Submitted May, 2026.
Selected Publications
Mangaliso, M. P., Ndanga, L. B., & Jean-Denis, H. (2026). Agency of TMT investment in innovation and technology: Impact on the UN SDGs. In J. Kabongo (Ed.), Elgar Companion to Strategic Management and the Sustainable Development Goals. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing. In Press.
Delgado, J., Triani, M. d. C., & Mangaliso, M. P. (2026). Sustainability in the United States and China: A cross-country comparison of the literature. Sustainability, 18(4): 2037.
Culhane, J-M., & Mangaliso, M. P. (2023). Entrepreneurial orientation, and performance: An international comparative study of the US-Germany high-tech industry. Global Journal of Entrepreneurship and Management, 4(1), 1-25.
Mangaliso, M. P., Mangaliso, N.A., Ndanga, L. B., & Jean-Denis, H. (2022). Organizational Change Management in Africa: Incorporating the core values of Ubuntu. Journal of African Business, 23(4), 1029-1048.
Mangaliso, M. P., Ndanga, L. Z. B., & Major, D. L (2022). Behavioral strategy, innovation, and environmental disruptions. In T. K. Das (Ed.). Innovation and Behavioral Strategy, pp. 53-84. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Akisik, O. A., Gal, G., & Mangaliso, M. P. (2020). IFRS, FDI, Economic growth and human development: The experience of Anglophone and Francophone African countries. Emerging Markets Review, 45 (December), 1-22.