Dr. Kedir Tessema

Dr. Tessema graduated from University of San Diego in 2015 with a PhD in Leadership Studies. Having completed his study at a university that first started offering Ph.D in Leadership Studies, Dr. Tessema began teaching graduate courses at Shenandoah University with a rank of Visiting Assistant Professor. In Aug. 2017, he was appointed Assistant Professor at Wilkes University. Dr. Tessema teaches courses both in the undergraduate and graduate programs.

Dr. Tessema has published more than 16 peer reviewed articles. His research interest includes interdisciplinary topics such as leadership discourses, leadership education and workplace sensemaking behaviors of employees, culture, and social media and higher education leadership.

Journal Articles

• Tessema, K. A., & Endashaw, A. A. (2025). Celebration of athletic victories and the victorious: the political, ethnic, and narrative fractures in the reception of Tigrayan runners. Sport in Society, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2025.2573287 external website
• Tessema, K. A., & Reilly, S. (2024). Managing peer groups in family business centers: Directors' sensemaking practices. Journal of Family Business Management, 14(1), 56–78. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFBM-06-2022-0072 external website
• Tessema, K. A. (2023). Early-career employees' sensemaking strategies in organizationally constrained workplaces: A longitudinal multiple-case study. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, 18(2), 123–145. https://doi.org/10.1108/QROM-08-2021-2207 external website
• Tessema, K. A., & Florivito, B. (2021). Subject position and manifestations of workplace followership. Journal of Organizational Psychology, 21(3), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.33423/JOP.V21I3.4314 external website
• Xiao, G., Lee, H., Tessema, K. A., & Wang, S. (2021). The examination of cultural values and social media usages in China. Review of Marketing Science, 19(1), 101–120. https://doi.org/10.1515/roms-2020-0044 external website
• Tessema, K. A. (2020). Using authentic leader dilemmas to teach micro-influence making. Journal of Leadership Education, 19(1), 189–198. https://doi.org/10.12806/V19/I1/A3 external website
• Tessema, K. A. (2019). Primacy of the leader, obscuration of followers: The discourse of leadership in the business media. Discourse, Context & Media, 29, Article 100277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2019.04.001 external website
• Xiao, G., & Tessema, K. A. (2019). Values, materialism and life satisfaction: A study of cultural influence and gender differences in China. Journal of Business Diversity, 19(5), 80–92. https://doi.org/10.33423/jbd.v19i5.2648 external website
• Getz, C., & Tessema, K. A. (2017). Educating graduate leadership students to become active participants in their discourse communities. Journal of Leadership Education, 16(1), 64–80. https://doi.org/10.12806/V16/I1/R5 external website
• Tessema, K. A. (2012). The rocky terrain between delocalized to localized and duplication to originality: Learning to write and learning to teach academic English. Educational Action Research, 20(4), 515–533. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2012.727612 external website
• Melketo, T. B., & Tessema, K. A. (2012). Reluctance to write among students in the context of academic writing courses in an Ethiopian university. Asian EFL Journal, 14(1), 45–60. https://www.asian-efl-journal.com/main-editions-new/reluctance-to-write-among-students-in-the-context-of-an-academic-writing-course-in-an-ethiopian-university/ external website
• Tessema, K. A. (2009). The unfolding trends and consequences of expanding higher education in Ethiopia: Massive universities, massive challenges. Higher Education Quarterly, 63(1), 29–45. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2273.2008.00408.x external website
• Tessema, K. A. (2008). An exploration for critical practicum pedagogy: Dialogical relationships and reflections among a group of student teachers. Educational Action Research, 16(3), 345–360. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650790802260299 external website
• Tessema, K. A. (2007). Clinging to the managerial approach in implementing teacher education reform tasks. International Journal of Progressive Education, 3(3), 51–68. https://ijpe.inased.org/makale/2587 external website
• Tessema, K. A. (2007). The teacher education reform process in Ethiopia: The consequence on educators and its implications. Teaching Education, 18(1), 29–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/10476210601151532 external website
• Tessema, K. A. (2007). The threats of massification of higher education to educators: The case of Haramaya University. FSS Bulletin, 5(2), 33–41.
• Tessema, K. A. (2006). Contradictions, challenges, and dilemmas in Ethiopian teacher education. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 4(1). http://www.jceps.com/archives/516 external website
• Tessema, K. A. (2006). A critical inquiry-oriented teacher education pedagogy: An insider’s reflection on a teacher education project in Ethiopia. Journal of In-service Education, 32(3), 387–405. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674580600842057 external website
• Tessema, K. A. (2005). Stimulating writing through project-based tasks. English Teaching Forum, 43(4), 22–28. https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/05-43-4-d.pdf (.pdf)

Conference Proceedings

• Tessema, K. (9-13 August 2019 ). Discursive representation of "Leadership" in the business media, Academy of Management Proceeding, 79th Annual Meeting of AOM, Boston, Massachusetts. https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/AMBPP.2019.10839abstract external website

• Tessema, K. (2025, October). Unpacking leadership through retrospective situational framing. 26th Annual Global Conference of the International Leadership Association, Prague, Czechia .
• Tessema, K. (2025, July). Exploring the use of case rewriting to enhance students’ mastery of theories and imagination. Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Copenhagen, Denmark. [Recipient of Best Symposium Proposal Award] .
• Tessema, K. (2024, November). Exploring the potential of case rewriting as a method in leadership education. 26th Annual Global Conference of the International Leadership Association, Chicago, IL .
• Tessema, K. (2023, October). Workers as followers and their workplace sensemaking. 25th Annual Global Conference of the International Leadership Association, Vancouver, BC .
• Tessema, K. (2021, October 21–26). Reimagining the content of undergraduate Leadership Studies curriculum. 23rd Annual Global Conference of the International Leadership Association, Geneva, Switzerland .
• Tessema, K. (2021, October 21–26). Workplace followership: Adopting and adjusting to complex leadership. 23rd Annual Global Conference of the International Leadership Association, Geneva, Switzerland .
• Tessema, K. (2020, November 4–9). Understanding followership in workplaces: The Utility of sense-making approach. 22nd Annual Global Conference of the International Leadership Association (ILA), Virtual Conference .
• Tessema, K. (2019, October 24–27). Discursive practices to impose a leadership meaning in the business media. 21st Annual Global Conference of the International Leadership Association (ILA), Ottawa, Canada .
• Tessema, K., & Quigley, M. (2019, October 24–27). Deconstructing and disrupting hegemonic leadership perspectives and practices in leadership education. 21st Annual Global Conference of the International Leadership Association (ILA), Ottawa, Canada .
• Tessema, K. (2019, August 9–13). Discursive representation of "Leadership" in the business media. 79th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Boston, Massachusetts .
• Tessema, K. (2018, October). Pedagogical sense making in leadership classrooms. 20th Annual Global Conference of the International Leadership Association (ILA), West Palm Beach, FL, USA .
• Getz, C., & Tessema, K. A. (2014, October). The pedagogy of socializing students into their communities of practice. 16th Annual Global Conference of the International Leadership Association (ILA), San Diego, California, USA .
• Tessema, K. A. (2012, August). Addressing student inequality through leadership in higher education. Annual Conference of the International Network of Philosophers of Education (INPE), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia .
• Tessema, K. A. (2010, November). Refashioned for local-relevance and originality: academic writing at an Ethiopian university. Annual Conference of the Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN), Cambridge, UK .
• Tessema, K. A. (2010, May). University-based teacher education in Ethiopia in this decade: A case study. National Teacher Education Conference of Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia .
• Tessema, K. A. (2008, November). Conducting action research in third world contexts: rigor and relevance. Annual Conference of the Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN), Liverpool, UK .
• Tessema, K. A. (2007, November). The emergence of action researchers out of linked experiences: Seized opportunities in impoverished contexts. Annual Conference of the Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN), Umeå, Sweden .
• Tessema, K. A. (2007, April). The threats of massification to educators: The case of Haramaya University. National Conference on Higher Education, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia