Research in Management

Explore the findings of academics in the Department of Management, based within the Business School.

Our focus

We focus on providing rigorous, relevant and evidence-based insights into today’s most pressing management questions and aim to be at the forefront of these debates.

Our research explores the behaviour of individuals, groups and teams, and organizations, as well as inter-organisational topics.

Research in our department explores a diverse range of topics and questions, including:

  • How do we tackle gender and race discrimination?
  • How can we motivate individuals and develop socially responsible leaders?
  • What could be done to promote environmental sustainability across supply chain networks?
  • How can better employee engagement help organisational performance?
  • How do people use digital technology and innovative work practices to manage agile working in a post-pandemic world?
  • How do platforms shape how we organise work and what impact do they have on skills and re/de-skilling?
  • What forms of activism do digital technologies open up?

We have academics in several research groups, which cut across the traditional subjects and involve staff beyond the department:

  • Digit Centre - The Digital Futures at Work Research Centre aims to advance our understanding of how digital technologies are reshaping work, how they are impacting on employers, employees, job seekers and governments.
  • Future of Work hub - The Hub is a focal point for interdisciplinary research on work and employment.
  • Supply Chains 4.0 Hub - The Supply Chain 4.0 Hub aims to advance cutting-edge research on how emerging technologies are transforming global supply chains. 
  • Circular Economy - The Circular Economy Research Mobilisation Group takes a fresh approach to long-established topics in sustainable development, materials management and value retention.
  • Information Systems and Technology Management. With expertise in a range of sectors including healthcare and education, the Group’s research aims to advance academic debates and shape management practice and policy.

Expertise

We pride ourselves on our world-class academics whose research furthers the understanding of management theory and practice.

We produce theoretical and empirical research that is disseminated in leading academic journals, at conferences, and in other publication outlets.

Our academics are editors of major international journals, with Professor Blome Co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Operations & Production Management, and Professor Dennis Tourish Editor-in-Chief of Leadership. We also have a large number of Associate Editors on our faculty, including on the boards of high-ranking publications such as the Journal of Operations Management; Research Policy; the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Work, Employment & Society; the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology; New Technology, Work and Employment and Information Systems Journal.

Funding for our research

We have attracted research grants from well-known UK and international funders such as:

Impact

We disseminate our findings beyond academia to wider audiences including practitioners and professionals in industry, associations, chartered institutes, decision-making bodies and public policy organisations. Here are some examples:

  • Agile Working

    The agiLab aims to promote and facilitate an evidence-based approach to best practice and research in agile working through academic and practitioner collaboration and knowledge exchange with NHS HR Directors Network (SE). Agile working involves using digital technology and innovative practices to liberate people from traditional time, space and role boundaries in order to achieve organisational and personal goals. A key strategic aim of the NHS is to develop more flexible and pioneering ways of meeting the diverse needs of workers, patients and society.

  • COVID and Medical Supplies

    At the beginning of the pandemic, with panic buying wiping products off supermarket shelves and nations scrambling to source medical supplies – equipment, drugs and personal protective equipment – supply chain expert Dr Sam Roscoe called on the Government to subsidise a parallel, UK-based, pharmaceutical supply chain capable of coping with the huge and abrupt increases in demand. Dr Roscoe told the International Trade Committee that a UK-based parallel supply chain for critical drugs, including those that treat the symptoms of coronavirus, was essential to ride out the disruption to international supply centred on China and India. Read the blog.

  • Skills Commission Inquiry: Career transitions and development in a challenging labour market

    Dr Chidiebere Ogbonnaya is working with Policy Connect, several parliamentarians and the Skills Commission to explore how careers guidance in England can be improved to support adults and young people (16+) in a difficult post-Covid-19 labour market. The study will develop understanding of the interplay between further education and higher education, and how pathways between them may be strengthened to provide social mobility and economic benefits to local populations. It will help to identify scalable and transferable good practice, and develop recommendations for policy interventions appropriate for the new economic context.

  • Co-creating Connected and Intelligent Care Homes for People with Dementia

    Connected Care aims to address three main challenges that care homes face with regards to people living with dementia. The team has engaged with care homes in Brighton and Hove and West Sussex to gain an insight into what technology is currently like within care homes, and what gaps are there in the technology assisting care home staff, people with dementia, and their families. Read the Research Brief.

  • Costs and Value of Due Diligence in Mineral Supply Chains

    Research by Professor Constantin Blome reveals that responsible sourcing of raw minerals from conflict regions could be achieved if firms were to collaborate and if there was more pressure from consumers. His research is cited in the latest OECD Position Paper - Costs and Value of Due Diligence in Mineral Supply Chains.

Furthermore, the department has some of the highest-ranking academics in their field. According to the Clarivate 2020 ranking, Professor Subramanian is placed in the top 1-2% in their field, while colleagues Blome and Tourish are placed within the top 2-3%.

We are a member of the Responsible Research in Business & Management (RRBM) network which promotes the wide-spread use of research in business and other organisational practices for the benefit of society. We were awarded ‘Pioneering’ status in early 2021.

Latest publications

These are the most recent publications added to Sussex Research Online (SRO).

See the full list for the current calendar year.

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