University of Guelph · Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics
Nexus LabBusiness × Technology

Nexus Lab for Business and Technology

Where business meets the technologies reshaping it.

We study how AI, cybersecurity, digital platforms, and frontier technologies shape performance, resilience, innovation, and decision-making.

Explore our research Work with the lab
ResearchRigorous empirical inquiry
PartnershipsQuestions shaped with practice
TrainingResearchers across career stages
Research nexus

The Research Nexus

Four lenses. One consequential question.

How can organizations turn technological change into responsible, resilient, and competitive action? Select each lens to explore the questions connecting our work.

Nexus Lab

Business valueEvidence at the centre
01Adoption

AI & Digital Innovation

How artificial intelligence and frontier technologies reshape strategy, work, innovation, and performance.

Explore this lens

How can organizations adopt intelligent systems while strengthening human judgment and creating measurable value?

Human–AI collaborationInnovation capability
02Resilience

Cybersecurity & Resilience

How organizations anticipate digital risk, absorb disruption, and recover with stronger capabilities.

Explore this lens

How do cyber shocks cascade through an enterprise—and which capabilities interrupt their spread?

Digital riskRecovery capacity
03Ecosystems

Platforms & Entrepreneurship

How digital ecosystems create new ventures, markets, relationships, and paths to competitive growth.

Explore this lens

How do platforms alter opportunity, participation, and performance across entrepreneurial ecosystems?

Venture growthPlatform strategy
04Governance

Technology Governance

How leaders make responsible, evidence-informed decisions about complex and fast-moving technologies.

Explore this lens

What governance choices help organizations move quickly without losing accountability, trust, or control?

Responsible decisionsOrganizational trust
AdoptionRiskGovernancePerformanceResilience

About / 01

Evidence for organizations navigating an era of accelerating change.

Nexus Lab investigates the adoption, governance, and impact of emerging and disruptive technologies across firms, industries, and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Through empirical research, industry collaboration, and applied analysis, the lab develops actionable insight for organizations seeking to manage digital risk, improve competitiveness, and build future-ready business models.

EmpiricalRigorous evidence grounded in real organizational contexts.
CollaborativeResearch questions shaped with industry and community partners.
ActionableFindings translated into clearer decisions and stronger capabilities.

How research becomes useful

  1. 01Question
  2. 02Evidence
  3. 03Insight
  4. 04Action

Projects / 02

Research built around consequential questions.

Current and emerging initiatives examine how technology-driven shocks move through organizations—and how leaders can prepare.

Active flagship project · NCC-supported research

Cyber-Synthetic Risk: Forecasting Advanced Cyberattack Impacts

This project develops a generative multi-agent approach to forecast how advanced cyberattacks can cascade across operations, data systems, supply chains, and stakeholder confidence. The goal is to help organizations see beyond the initial technical incident and anticipate enterprise-wide consequences.

01Attack signalThreat enters the ecosystem
02OperationsServices and workflows shift
03EnterpriseFinancial and supply effects spread
04StakeholdersTrust and confidence respond
05ResilienceLeaders compare response pathways
CybersecurityGenerative AIOrganizational resilience
NFRF Exploration 2026 · Proposed research

Aftershock Atlas: Forecasting How Cyberattacks Spread Through Organizations

An interdisciplinary research concept for mapping cascading cyber impacts and comparing mitigation and recovery pathways before disruption occurs.

Research pipeline

More initiatives coming soon.

Selected publications

Scholarship at the intersection of adoption, risk, and performance.

Selected work shows how the lab’s research themes have developed across digital platforms, privacy, cybersecurity, emerging technologies, and entrepreneurial performance.

View Google Scholar
  1. 2025Digital platforms

    A Systematic Literature Review of Social CRM’s Impact on Customer Loyalty

    Journal of Relationship Marketing

    Synthesizes the mechanisms connecting social CRM, digital engagement, and customer loyalty while setting a future research agenda.

  2. 2024Digital innovation

    Towards a framework for successful metaverse adoption in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: An exploratory study

    International Journal of Engineering Business Management, 16

    Develops an adoption framework for SMEs evaluating the organizational opportunities and requirements of the metaverse.

  3. 2023Cyber resilience

    Evaluating the adoption of cybersecurity and its influence on organizational performance

    SN Business & Economics, 3(5), 97

    Connects organizational cybersecurity adoption with performance, providing evidence for technology and risk leaders.

  4. 2023Technology governance

    Privacy enhancing technology adoption and its impact on SMEs’ performance

    International Journal of Engineering Business Management, 15

    Examines how privacy-enhancing technology adoption can shape SME performance and responsible digital capability.

  5. 2021Entrepreneurship

    Analyzing antecedents affecting the organizational performance of start-up businesses

    Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, 13(1), 107–130

    Identifies technological, organizational, and environmental factors that influence start-up performance.

  6. 2017Platform adoption

    Investigating the antecedents to the adoption of SCRM technologies by start-up companies

    Telematics and Informatics, 34(5), 655–675

    Explains how technology, organization, environment, and management factors influence social CRM adoption in start-ups.

People / 03

A research constellation built across career stages.

Faculty leadership, postdoctoral expertise, and student researchers connect across disciplines to investigate complex business and technology questions.

Dr. Tahereh HasaniDirector

Lab Director

Dr. Tahereh Hasani

Assistant Professor in Cyber-Entrepreneurship and Information Management, Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics, University of Guelph

Dr. Hasani’s research examines how organizations adopt, govern, and create value from emerging technologies, with a focus on cybersecurity, digital innovation, organizational performance, and resilience.

Cybersecurity managementTechnology adoptionDigital innovationEntrepreneurial performance
University profile ORCID Google Scholar

Research team

Connected by the questions we pursue.

Select a profile to see how each researcher contributes to the lab’s growing network.

01Cyber-Synthetic Risk

Postdoctoral Scholar

Ahmed Abdelmoaty

Nexus Lab · University of Guelph

View contribution

Contributing to cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and organizational resilience research through the Cyber-Synthetic Risk program.

LinkedIn

02MSc research

Master’s Researcher

Wilma Maria Vieira

Management · University of Guelph

View contribution

Contributing to the lab’s master’s research community, with a detailed profile to follow as thesis research develops.

LinkedIn

03Since July 2026

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Sahibjot Chandla

Cyber-Synthetic Risk Project

View contribution

Supporting the lab’s NCC-funded Cyber-Synthetic Risk research as an undergraduate research assistant.

LinkedIn

Profiles reflect current lab roles. Team details will evolve as the lab grows.

Industry collaboration / 04

Bring a real business challenge into the research.

We welcome conversations with firms, public organizations, industry associations, and community partners facing complex questions about technology adoption, digital risk, governance, and organizational change.

Collaborative researchApplied analysisKnowledge exchangeIndustry insight
  1. 01

    Frame the challengeBegin with the decision, risk, or opportunity that matters.

  2. 02

    Build the evidenceShape an appropriate research or applied-analysis pathway.

  3. 03

    Mobilize insightTranslate findings into learning, capability, and action.

Start a conversation

Student opportunities

Curious minds belong at the nexus.

Students and prospective researchers interested in AI, cybersecurity, digital platforms, innovation, and technology governance are invited to introduce themselves and share their research interests.

Doctoral researchMaster’s researchResearch assistantships
Express your interest

News & updates / 06

From the lab.

Lab update · 2026

Nexus Lab for Business and Technology launches at the University of Guelph.

The new academic lab will connect rigorous research with the technology questions shaping organizations, industries, and entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Contact / 07

Let’s investigate what comes next.

Choose the conversation that best fits your interest. Every enquiry reaches the lab directly through the University of Guelph.

ResearchDiscuss scholarship or a research questionPartnersExplore industry or community collaborationStudentsIntroduce your research interests
htahereh@uoguelph.ca Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics
University of Guelph · Ontario, Canada