Keyan Lai

I am a Lecturer in International Human Resource Management at the University of Edinburgh Business School. Prior to joining Edinburgh in 2019, I worked at the University of St Andrews as an Associate Lecturer in Management. I obtained my PhD from Cardiff Business School.

Focusing on social evaluation, my research explores how organisations are increasingly evaluated by different audiences through political, ideological, and geopolitical lenses, and how these evaluations shape organisational legitimacy, identity, stakeholder relationships, and strategic action.

I am particularly interested in the complex role of the state as both an evaluator and an object of evaluation: states evaluate organisations through regulation, policy, funding, and public discourse, while state actions and interventions are themselves interpreted, contested, and evaluated by a wide range of audiences. For example, in the context of international business, foreign direct investment screening allows states to evaluate foreign firms in relation to national security and strategic priorities, whereas organisations, employees, investors, and other stakeholders may interpret such screening as a signal of openness, protectionism, geopolitical risk, or a changing inward investment regime.

Empirically, my current research focuses on Chinese multinational technology firms and third-sector organisations in the UK. In the context of Chinese technology firms, I examine how technology becomes a site of state power and geopolitical contestation, and how firms and innovations become entangled with national security concerns and legitimacy challenges. In the context of the UK third sector, I examine how nonprofits are evaluated by public authorities, funders, partners, and communities, and how these evaluations shape power relations, cross-sector collaboration, and nonprofit operations.

My recent publications on social evaluation, state power, and work:

• Lai, K. & Potocnik, 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. (Accepted/in press). http://doi.org/10.1111/joms.70109
• Lai, K. 2026. Developing a power perspective on public service contracting: Evidence from Scotland’s homelessness sector. Public Management Review. (Accepted/in press). https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2026.2653081
• Lai, K., & Fortwengel, J. (2025) Constructing an organizational identity with political ideology: The case of Huawei, 1987-2020. Strategic Organization. (Accepted/In press). https://doi.org/10.1177/14761270251327988
• Lai, K. (2021). National security and FDI policy ambiguity: A commentary. Journal of International Business Policy, 4(4), 496-505.
• Lai, K., Morgan, G., & Morris, J. (2020). ‘Eating bitterness’ in a Chinese multinational: Identity regulation in context. Organization Studies, 41(5), 661-680.
• Lai, K. (2025). How foreign investments by multinational enterprises become national security threats: An organizational field perspective. In B. Christiansen & J. Branch (Eds.), Impacts of Geoeconomics and Geopolitics on International Business. IGI Global. (Accepted/ In press) https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3373-1265-1.ch007

* I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students who are interested in social evaluation, particularly those working on emerging market multinationals, technology firms, and third-sector organisations.

• Social evaluation 
• State power
• Crises and resilience
• Politics of technology and innovation
• Emerging market multinationals
• Third sector and nonprofits
• Historical and archival research