Dr Keyan Lai
Identity & Social Evaluation (ISE) Lab
The Politics
of Identity & Evaluation
Organisations today operate in an environment of intensified social evaluation. They are judged not only by their performance, products, services, or formal responsibilities, but also through political, ideological, and cultural lenses. Governments, regulators, media, employees, job seekers, investors, communities, and business partners all interpret what organisations do, what they represent, and whom they are seen to serve.
These judgements are rarely neutral but closely intertwined with identity and power. They can affirm or challenge how organisations and individuals understand who they are and who they are expected to be. They also raise important questions: who defines what is appropriate, desirable or valued, whose judgement counts, and how individuals and organisations negotiate or resist competing expectations and demands.
My primary research programme examines how individuals and organisations engage in social evaluation, construct and negotiate identities, and navigate complex power dynamics within and between organisations.
About Me
I am a Lecturer in International Human Resource Management based at the University of Edinburgh Business School. My research examines identity, power, and social evaluation within and around organisations.
One central question guiding my research is: How do individuals and organisations navigate identity tensions and power dynamics in social evaluation?
I explore these dynamics across organisational contexts, including multinational enterprises navigating geopolitical complexities and national security scrutiny, and third-sector organisations operating within complex systems of commissioning, funding, and partnership.
My Research
My research has appeared in leading academic journals, such as Journal of Management Studies, Organization Studies, Public Management Review, Journal of International Business Policy, and Strategic Organization.
Selected publications:
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Lai, K. & Potočnik, K. 2026. Recruitment in times of crisis: The impact of negative signals and CSR on job seekers’ attraction to multinational enterprises. Journal of Management Studies. http://doi.org/10.1111/joms.70109 (FT50, ABS4)
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The paper examines how job seekers evaluate prospective employers during organisational crises, particularly whether they would be willing to identify with organisations implicated in scandals or accused of wrongdoing despite their positive CSR activities.
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Drawing on signalling and social identity theories, it explores how emotional, moral and rational concerns—reflected in anticipated pride in organisational membership, perceived value fit and expected treatment—shape organisational attractiveness and job pursuit intentions, and whether CSR can mitigate the negative effects of organisational crises.
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Lai, K. 2026. Developing a power perspective on public service contracting: Evidence from Scotland’s homelessness sector. Public Management Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2026.2653081 (ABS4)
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This paper reconceptualises public service contracting not merely as a technical instrument for service delivery, but as a governance system that institutionalises and reinforces power asymmetries.
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It examines how public authorities in Scotland exercise three forms of power (decision-making, non-decision-making and ideological) through their evaluation and commissioning of health and social care providers in the homelessness sector. Drawing on accounts from non-profit leaders, it shows how these evaluations and power asymmetries shape non-profit strategies and operations and create identity tensions—such as feeling ‘almost like an extension of the local authority’.
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Lai, K., & Fortwengel, J. (2025) Constructing an organizational identity with political ideology: The case of Huawei, 1987-2020. Strategic Organization. https://doi.org/10.1177/14761270251327988 (ABS3)
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The paper examines how the founder and leadership of a Chinese firm draw on political ideology to construct organisational identities in response to changing institutional environments and stakeholder expectations.
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It reveals how organisations navigate tensions between competing identity claims, ideological commitments, and external evaluations, demonstrating how political ideology becomes a double-edged resource that both enables and constrains organisational identity work and strategic actions.
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Lai, K., Morgan, G., & Morris, J. (2020). ‘Eating bitterness’ in a Chinese multinational: Identity regulation in context. Organization Studies. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840619835271 (ABS4)
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The paper examines how senior leaders in a Chinese firm exercise power by drawing on societal discourses and HR practices to construct and reinforce particular employee identities.
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It shows how these practices establish expectations and criteria for evaluating employees, creating a sense of individual choice about becoming “corporate soldiers” within a managerially defined hierarchy of identities, expectations and rewards.
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Advisory, Workshops & Executive Education
I provide research-based advisory services, workshops, and executive education for organisations navigating competing stakeholder expectations, identity tensions, and complex evaluative environments.
This work is particularly relevant to leadership and HR teams managing organisational identity and crisis-related reputation challenges; multinational enterprises facing national security scrutiny; and third-sector organisations navigating commissioning, funding dependence, partnership expectations, and public accountability.
At the centre of my advisory and workshop work is the SENSE diagnostic and action framework that I developed based on my research: Signals, Evaluators, Narratives, Stakeholder Relationships, and Engagement.
S — Signals
What signals are being sent by the organisation itself and by third parties, intentionally or unintentionally? What makes the organisation appear trustworthy, appropriate, risky, valuable, responsible, or problematic?
E — Evaluators
Who is watching, judging, regulating, funding, commissioning, or evaluating the organisation? Who defines the criteria, and whose judgement carries the most weight?
N — Narratives
What meanings are attached to the organisation through media, public policy, social discourses, or stakeholder storytelling? How do these narratives shape expectations about who the organisation and its members are, or should be?
S — Stakeholder Relationships
How do external pressures shape relationships with commissioners, regulators, employees, candidates, partners, communities,
or host country societies? How is influence exercised within these relationships?
E — Engagement
What can the organisation realistically say, change, negotiate, resist, or prioritise while maintaining trust, legitimacy, and effectiveness?
Example
Workshops
Identity Under Scrutiny
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For leadership teams, communications teams, values-led organisations, international organisations, and organisations whose identity, history, values, or ownership are potentially perceived as problematic.
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This session helps participants understand how organisational identity, values, history, and narratives are interpreted differently across audiences and contexts, and how these interpretations can affect trust, legitimacy, and strategic options.
Geopolitics and MNEs
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For MNE leaders, public affairs teams, trade bodies, investors, professional service firms, and organisations exposed to national security scrutiny amid geopolitical tensions.
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This session helps participants understand how national security narratives, foreignness, ownership, and identity shape stakeholder trust and strategic options.
Recruitment and HRM in Times of Crisis
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For HR leaders, employer branding teams, recruiters, and communications teams.
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This session helps organisations understand how negative signals, third-party narratives, and public crises affect organisational attractiveness and employer reputation, and how organisations can respond with credible and targeted communication.
Navigating Commissioning Pressures
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For charity leaders, nonprofit managers, service managers, local authority partners, commissioners, funders, and organisations involved in public service delivery.
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This session helps participants understand how commissioning, funding, accountability, and partnership dynamics affect service quality, organisational voice, innovation, and strategic choices.