Professor Mark Ciavarella

Office: Taylor Hall 319

Phone: 570.577.3972

Email: mciavare@bucknell.edu 

"So much of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to work." Peter Drucker

Background 

I am a native Pennsylvanian, who grew up in Shippensburg, attended Shippensburg University (SU), and majored in Marketing.  During my junior year at SU, I bought an established retail store in downtown Shippensburg and I operated the business for more than five years before selling it.  I returned to school for my MBA at UNC-Wilmington.  While receiving my MBA, I worked in the Strategic Planning Department of a large regional hospital in Southeast North Carolina and at the Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) on the campus of UNCW.  After completing my MBA, I continued to work full time at the SBTDC.  Finally, I pursued my Ph.D. at the University of Georgia, studying Strategic Management, Entrepreneurship, and Organizational Behavior. 

Teaching 

I enjoy teaching at Bucknell because of the unique pedagogies designed to help students learn about management through experiential methods.  Students learn by doing.  At Bucknell, students have an opportunity to see how management works not only in theory, but also in practice.  At the same time, professors have an opportunity to work closely with the students and assess their performance on a broader level than typical exams provide.

Interests

My primary research interest is in the field of entrepreneurship, where my experience as a former small business owner has guided this interest.  I particularly focuses on the impact entrepreneurs have on the development, performance, and survival of new ventures.  My dissertation examined whether charismatic entrepreneurs have a positive or negative impact on employees and performance of new ventures.  I discovered that some behaviors associated with charismatic leadership positively affect the entrepreneur’s relationship with employees and venture performance, while others charismatic behaviors negatively affect these outcomes.