April J. Spivack, Ph.D., joined Hanken School of Economics in 2021 as an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship, Management, & Organisation and has been promoted to Full Professor in 2026. Previously, she served as an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC, USA, and as an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and Management at the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh.
She has an interdisciplinary educational background, earning her PhD in Organizational Science and a MA in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, an MBA in Marketing Managment from Syracuse University, and a Bachelor in Science from the University of Florida.
Her research has examined the entrepreneurial experience, from the entrepreneur's perspective. This includes considerations of the emotional, cognitive, and physiological affects of being an entrepreneur, with attention to health and issues of work-life "balance." In so doing, she discovered that some entrepreneurs become addicted to entrepreneurship. In addition to this topic area, she also is interested in issues of neurodiversity, creativity and well-being in the context of the changing nature of work, and the interaction between environment and behavior.
Her research has been published in a variety of outlets including Academy of Management Perspectives, Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice, the Journal of Business Research, and the Journal of Business Venturing. She has also published a book, "Entrepreneurship Addiction: Exploring Patterns of Engagement with Venturing Activiites." She has received awards for her research including the EDRA Certificate of Research Excellence and the Blanton Distinguished Research Impact Award. And her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Inc. Magazine, among other outlets.
