Dr Sarah Chua

Sarah Chua is Program Director and Senior Lecturer at UniSA Business. As a lecturer Sarah’s main commitment is to excellence in quality teaching. As a researcher, Sarah’s main objective is to have an impact and generate greater awareness about critical issues in management and society.

Sarah submitted her Doctorate of Philosophy in 2016 and was officially conferred in December of that year. She also holds a Bachelor of Management Honours (First Class) and a Bachelor of Public Relations. Her research and teaching interests lie in leadership, both the good and toxic sides of leadership, gender, physical appearance, diversity, and organisational behaviour. Her research has been published in national and international journals, as well as presented at international leadership conferences across the globe. In 2017 her co-authored paper, titled “Toxic Dons: How the shift to academic capitalism and managerialist principles within universities facilitates leader toxicity” was awarded the Best Paper Award for the leadership stream at the British Academy of Management.

Understanding the importance of applied and practical research, Sarah has worked on a number of commissioned research projects for CERM PI, beginning with a project with the Indigenous Land Corporation, focused on effective stakeholder engagement. Sarah is now Chief Investigator on a project developed with CERM-PI which benchmarks and explores Organisational Culture across Local Government in Australia. Adding to her consulting experience Sarah has completed her IECL (Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership) Level Two Certification as an organisational and executive coach. Sarah strongly believes in the value of embedding a learning / coaching culture within and across organisations, and has a growing passion in further developing the strategic side of female leadership and organisational coaching.

Sarah has shown a strong research and teaching trajectory and a passion for tertiary education. In 2012 she was awarded the School of Management Honours Scholarship and in 2013 the UniSAPA Scholarship for a Doctor of Philosophy (Business management). In 2016 and again in 2017 Sarah received an Excellence in Teaching Commendation from the UniSA Business School for her commitment to quality tertiary education, while in 2018 Sarah was awarded the UniSA Business School 'Student Voice' Award. In 2022 Sarah was awarded the Mid-Career Teaching Excellence Award for UniSA Business.

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy (Business and Management) University of South Australia

• Bachelor of Management (Honours) University of South Australia

• Bachelor of Public Relations University of South Australia