Dr Neil Malone
Salford Business School
The Crescent,
University of Salford
Salford
M5 4WT
Current positions
Lecturer
Biography
Neil lectures across a range of business and research modules, with specific interest in entrepreneurship, digital business and qualitative research methods. He joined The University of Salford in 2018 after several years teaching in HE, managing his own web development business and spending over a decade in industry as both a senior manager and practitioner in the digital, online and creative industries. His PhD explores nascent entrepreneurship and new venture creation in the area of indie videogames and he welcomes enquires regarding supervision of PhD students in these fields as well as videogames more broadly.
During his time in industry Neil worked extensively on international projects in both Europe and Asia, overseeing developments in technology, management and education for schools and universities as well as videogame studios with over 200 million players. These roles involved managing complex multi-million pound global projects in commercial change management and outsourcing projects, as well as contrasting public-sector awareness-raising campaigns to educate children regarding online safety.
Areas of Research
nascent entrepreneurship, indie videogames, interpretative phenomenological analysis, employability, entrepreneurial learning, knowledge management
Areas of Supervision
Temporality, selfhood and sociality: experiences of the emergent indie game developer
The thesis explores how individuals who independently create a new venture in the videogames industry (indies), make sense of the early entrepreneurial period prior to venture creation (nascent entrepreneurship). Via phenomenological interview, the experiences of six indie videogame developers and business owners are explored via interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The study is therefore primarily concerned with exploring the experiences of indie nascent entrepreneurs. The concept of nascent entrepreneurship falls within the broader body of research on new venture creation (NVC), which in contemporary literature is perceived as a process rather than an event (Gartner and Shaver, 2012). As such, this research examines the ‘entrepreneurial journey’ from the position of the entrepreneurs themselves, via IPA of their individual lived experiences. The primary research question thus asks: ‘How do indie videogame developers make sense of their nascent entrepreneurial journey?’
Keywords: entrepreneurship, nascency, new venture creation, videogames, indie, interpretative phenomenological analysis
Qualifications
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PhD
2021 -
Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in HE
2017 -
MSc. Managing IT
2008 -
BA (Hons) Communications
1999