Stacey Fitzsimmons

Biography

Stacey Fitzsimmons brings a passion for helping individuals and organizations realize the strengths of a diverse workforce. Her research goal is to improve the way people work with others across differences.

Her current research examines how globally mobile employees contribute to their teams and organizations. This includes migrants, immigrants, refugees, multicultural employees, and other forms of diversity in international organizations. For example, when one person can see the world through more than one cultural lens, they can use those lenses to solve problems, build networks across groups and think differently than people who have one culture. Her research helps organizations value multicultural employees’ skills that often go unrecognized. Read Harvard Business Review's coverage of her research about discovering whether you’re multicultural, and intersectional pay gaps across gender, race, mother tongue and immigrant generation. You can also read summaries of her research about the organizational benefits of bicultural employees and integrating refugee employees.

See below for her awards, publications, current projects, and opportunities to connect. In addition to her role at University of Victoria, she is also a Research Associate at GIBS, South Africa. She serves on the editorial review boards of the Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of International Business Policy, Academy of Management Review, and Journal of Business Research, and is currently serving a second term on the board of WAIB. Prior to joining the University of Victoria in 2014, she enjoyed three years as an assistant professor at Western Michigan University.

Teaching

Courses taught

• PhD Seminar in Cross-cultural management

• Leading People & Organizations I (BCom)

• Selected Topics in Management: #MeToo & #BlackLivesMatter (BCom)

• Leadership seminar (BCom)

Selected publications

Awards & grants

Recognition & awards

• 2021 - Gustavson Award of Excellence; Leader for Research

• 2019 - Best paper award finalist, Academy of International Business

• 2018 - Gustavson Scholar, Gustavson School of Business

• 2016 - Emerging Scholar Award from the Women of the Academy of International Business (WAIB), Women of the Academy of International Business (WAIB)

• 2014 - International Human Resources Scholarly Research Award, Human Resources Division, Academy of Management

• 2014 - Best Reviewer Award, Academy of International Business

Grants

• From Refugees to Talent (2022). Funded by UVic’s internal IRCPG. ($7,000)
• Colloquium on the Global Mobility of People (2022). Funded by SSHRC’s Connection Grant. ($25,000)
• From Refugees to Talent (2022). Funded by SSHRC’s Insight Development Grant, together with Robin Pesch and Ebru Ipek. ($69,470)
• Who's at the Top? How Racialized Female Newcomers Ascend to Top Management Teams. Mitacs-Scotiabank Fellowship grant for PhD student Aminat Muibi, in partnership with MOSAIC. (June-October 2021) ($20,000). 
• Women and Leadership Across Cultures. Funded by SSHRC Partnership Development Grant. Part of the GLOBE Project. ($200,000). 
• Organizing with the New Demographic: The Bidirectional Influence of Immigrant and Bicultural Employees on Their Organizations, ($52,661) Funded by SSHRC (June 1, 2016 – May 31, 2020). PI Stacey Fitzsimmons with CoInvestigators Mary Yoko Brannen and Jelena Zikic
• Societal Cultures, Leadership and the Human Side of Organizations: A multi-country study with a focus on women leaders and HR practices, ($270,000), Funded by SSHRC (August 2016). PI Ali Dastmalchian with CoPIs Claudia Steinke and Stacey Fitzsimmons, CoInvestigator Peter Dorfman.
• PhD Fellowship, Funded by Social Sciences Research Council of Canada (September 1, 2007 - August 31, 2009) ($40,000), Completed, Spring 2009, PI Stacey Fitzsimmons

Special projects

From Refugees to Talent 

Employment is crucial for refugee integration, sometimes even surpassing language skills. Unemployment or underemployment is devastating for individuals and problematic for societal integration. Yet, refugees bear the responsibility of finding and maintaining jobs in their host countries. 

Well-meaning managers want to help but lack clear, evidence-based guidance on supporting. For example, they need help deciding whether to offer career-related support such as additional job training, or adjustment-related support such as help with asylum paperwork or accessing children’s education. Consequently, despite their goodwill, many managers avoid it altogether. 

Stacey’s work with Robin Pesch and Ebru Ipek aims to solve this problem by looking at the issue from the lens of managers and businesses. In 2022, they secured new funding from SSHRC to build on our previous findings that pragmatic approaches to employing refugees may be best (read more here). They’ve partnered with a large German employer that is developing its first refugee support program. Over the next few years, they will follow a cohort of refugee employees, along with their colleagues, bosses and peers to discover how workplace support influences refugees over time. Our results will support a new longitudinal model, along with training tools, workshops and resources for managers employing refugees. 

Interested? Please email Stacey or connect on LinkedIn if this sounds like research you could use. For example, you might find this interesting if you’re a refugee employee, a manager who wants to employ refugees, a policy-maker whose work involves refugee workplace integration, or an employee at an immigrant/refugee support service organization. 

The GLOBE Project 

Stacey is also on the leadership team for the GLOBE project. Almost 500 researchers have collected data across 143 countries. It’s the largest ever global study of culture and leadership.