Scholarship

Published and presented

Research spans entrepreneurship pedagogy, the history of management thought, and technology adoption in the public sector.

Selected Publications

  • Muldoon, J., & Smith, D. (forthcoming). Creative Destruction; Drucker’s Seven Sources; Joseph Schumpeter (three entries). In T. Montonen & P. Eriksson (Eds.), Elgar Encyclopedia of Innovation Management. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
  • Vecchiarini, M., Muldoon, J., Smith, D., & Boling, R. J. (2023). Experiential Learning in an Online Setting: How Entrepreneurship Education Changed During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy. https://doi.org/10.1177/25151274231179194
  • Muldoon, J., Deal, N. M., Smith, D., & Lakshmikanth, G. S. (2022). The Past Masters: The Impact of the Evolution of Management Thought on History. Journal of Management History. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMH-10-2021-0057
  • Smith, D., Muldoon, J., & Lakshmikanth, G. S. (2022). The Need for Modification: The Impact of COVID-19 on Pitch Competitions. Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy. https://doi.org/10.1177/25151274221079119
  • Smith, D., & Muldoon, J. (2021). COVID-19 and Its Impact on Venture Pitching Competitions in Higher Education: A Case Study. Small Enterprise Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/13215906.2021.1962397
  • Smith, D. P. (2016). E-Government Initiatives Case Study: New Models for Success. International Journal of Applied Management and Technology, 15(1), 21–40. https://doi.org/10.5590/IJAMT.2016.15.1.02
  • Smith, D., Ezell, S., & Brooks, J. (2015). MOSAIC: Teaching Cultural Competence. The Advocate, 23.
  • Smith, D. P. (2008). Models of Successful Adoption and Implementation for IT Projects in the Public Sector. ProQuest.

Speaking Topics

  • Escalation and the Transparency Trap Why teams keep reporting green on projects that are already red, what the pressure to stay positive costs, and how a project manager raises bad news without losing standing. Drawn from ongoing research on status reporting.
  • Teaching Project Management That Sticks Simulation, experiential learning, and familiar narrative as instructional design. For faculty, training teams, and anyone who has to make process content land with people who did not ask for it.
  • Technology Projects in the Public Sector What separates government and agency IT projects that succeed from those that stall, from the vantage of a former state CIO. Based on doctoral research on adoption and implementation.
  • Trust, Data, and the Generations Technology trust in healthcare across Generation Z and millennials, longitudinal trends in data breach metrics, and what students actually believe about institutional data collection.
  • Faith in the Marketplace For congregations, men’s ministries, and professional groups. How Scripture speaks to the decisions people face at work, and what marketplace ministry asks of ordinary Christians.
Project timeline Reported status: green Actual health The gap nobody sees Escalation lands here, as a surprise Healthy Failing
The watermelon effect. Status holds green long after the work has gone red, so the gap widens unseen and the correction arrives as a shock. Escalating earlier trades a small, survivable surprise for a large one. Read the full article.

Selected Engagements

Sep 21, 2026
Kansas City PMI Professional Development Day
Escaping the Transparency Trap: The Adaptive PM’s Guide to Reporting Bad News
Drawn from ongoing research on escalation and status reporting. Part of the KU and PMI partnership event, on the theme “The Adaptive PM: Expanding Your Impact in a Changing World.”
2026
University of Kansas Webinar
Project Management Under Pressure: When Should You Go Red?
On the “watermelon effect,” where a status stays green on the outside while turning red underneath, and the practical question of when a project manager should escalate. Built around live audience polling.
2024
MBAA International Conference
Impact of Using Simulation in Project Management Courses: A Case Study · Time-Based Trends in Data Breach Metrics: Insights from a Longitudinal Analysis
2021
Decision Sciences Institute, 52nd Annual Conference
Social Media Discourse: An Analysis of Students’ Political Viewpoints and Their Influence on Social Media Behavior
2021
International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations
Poster: Social Media Political Discourse Among Students
2020
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-54)
Toward Understanding the Technology Trust Calculus in Healthcare: Generation Z and Millennial Views
2019
MBAA International Conference
Digital Citizenship: Social Media and Civic Engagement
2018
MBAA International Conference
Web Conferencing Efficacy · Student Predictors of Civic Engagement · Student Perceptions of Higher Education Data Collection

Grants & Honors

  • Beta Gamma Sigma — Honor Society for Collegiate Schools of Business2024
  • Faculty Research Grant — Emporia State University2023–2024
  • Koch Center for Leadership and Ethics Grant — Emporia State UniversityFall 2015
  • Innovative Teaching Grant — Emporia State UniversitySpring 2015
  • Upsilon Pi Epsilon — Honor Society for the Computing and Information Disciplines2013