Research Summary
Research Summary
Overview
Description
I am an ethnographer and field researcher studying how people experience and interpret their work and cultural contexts, as well as how this shapes inequality and organizational outcomes like normative control. I specialize in utilizing in-depth, inductive field studies to discover and theorize novel, hidden, and nuanced processes in these areas of inquiry. Currently, I focus on three research streams: (1) how organizational culture is double-edged; (2) processes and mechanisms of work inequality; and (3) the role of occupations and professions in people’s lived experiences. With an eye towards harnessing theoretically generative field sites, I conduct my research across a variety of occupational contexts, including occupations that are knowledge-intensive (e.g., consulting), highly routinized (e.g., security screening), or informal (e.g., street dancers). I also conduct my research in a range of organizational settings, including a bureaucratized government agency as well as a non-elite consulting firm that strongly featured culture in its recruiting process. My research contributes to literatures on culture, organization theory, inequality, and the sociology of work and occupations.
I was awarded the 2014 Best Student Paper Award from the Organization and Management Theory (OMT) Division of the Academy of Management (AOM). My scholarly research is published in Administrative Science Quarterly and the Academy of Management Annals, with written pieces also appearing in the Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings, Work and Occupations, and the Industrial and Labor Relations Review.
Please see my personal website (www.curtiskchan.com) and CV (on my personal website).