The Politics
of Social Evaluation

Politicised Social Evaluation

Organisations today operate in an environment of intensified social evaluation. They are judged not only on the basis of performance, products, services, or formal responsibilities, but also through political, ideological, and geopolitical lenses. Governments, regulators, funders, news media, employees, job seekers, investors, communities, and business partners all interpret what organisations do, what they represent, and whom they are seen to serve.

My research examines the politics of social evaluation: how organisational judgments are formed, contested, and made consequential. I am interested in how different audiences apply different criteria, how evaluations travel or clash across institutional and national contexts, and how external scrutiny shapes organisational legitimacy, identity, stakeholder relationships, market acceptance, and strategic action.

Empirically, my current research focuses on two organisational settings. In international business, I study the political and geopolitical dimensions of global technology business: how multinational technology firms and their products are evaluated across institutional contexts, and how these evaluations shape global strategy, organisational legitimacy, market acceptance, and access to markets and resources. In the third sector, I study how nonprofits are evaluated by public authorities, funders, partners, and communities, and how these evaluations shape power relations, collaboration, voice, and organisational operations.

Across both settings, I seek to understand how organisations navigate competing judgments, maintain trust and legitimacy, and protect strategic agency: the ability to make meaningful choices, preserve voice, and act effectively under constraint.

About Me

I am a researcher, lecturer, and consultant based at the University of Edinburgh.

Through research, teaching, advisory work, and executive education, I help leaders and managers understand how their organisations are interpreted, where legitimacy and relationship challenges emerge, and what forms of strategic engagement are possible.

My Research

My research examines the politics of social evaluation: how organisations are judged, interpreted, and contested when their activities, identities, relationships, or social roles become exposed to public scrutiny. I am interested in how evaluative criteria emerge, why judgments differ across audiences, and how organisations respond when those judgments affect legitimacy, resources, relationships, or strategic agency.

This perspective connects my research on geopolitics and foreign investment, organisational identity under scrutiny, recruitment and employer reputation during crises, and third-sector commissioning and partnerships. Across these areas, I examine how states, regulators, funders, employees, job seekers, news media, communities, business partners, and host societies define what is legitimate, risky, trustworthy, valuable, or problematic, and how their judgments reinforce, compete with, or challenge one another.

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.

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. 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. 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. https://doi.org/10.1177/14761270251327988
Lai, K. (2021). National security and FDI policy ambiguity: A commentary. Journal of International Business Policy. https://doi.org/10.1057/s42214-020-00087-1
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

Advisory, Workshops & Executive Education

I provide research-based advisory, workshops, and executive education for organisations navigating complex evaluative environments. My work helps leaders and managers understand how their organisations are interpreted, where legitimacy challenges emerge, how relationships are affected, and what forms of strategic engagement are possible.

This work is particularly relevant to multinational enterprises facing geopolitical and national security scrutiny; HR, employer branding, and communications teams managing crisis-related reputation challenges; and third-sector organisations navigating commissioning, funding dependence, partnership expectations, and public accountability.

The aim is not simply to manage reputation. It is to understand the evaluative environment in which the organisation operates: how judgments are formed and contested, what meanings are attached to the organisation, how evaluations move across stakeholder groups, where trust is vulnerable, and how the organisation can act while protecting legitimacy and strategic agency.

At the centre of my advisory and workshop work is the SENSE framework: Signals, Evaluators, Narratives, Stakeholder Relationships, and Engagement. It translates research on social evaluation into a diagnostic and strategic framework for organisations under external scrutiny.

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?

N — Narratives

What meanings are attached to the organisation through media, public policy, social discourses, or stakeholder storytelling?

S — Stakeholder Relationships

How do external pressures shape relationships with commissioners, regulators, employees, candidates, partners, communities,

or host country societies?

E — Engagement

What can the organisation realistically say, change, negotiate, resist, or prioritise while maintaining trust, legitimacy, and effectiveness?

Example
Workshops

Identity Under Scrutiny

For leadership teams, communications teams, values-led organisations, international organisations, and organisations whose identity, history, values, or ownership are potentially perceived as problematic.
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 Legitimacy for MNEs

For MNE leaders, public affairs teams, trade bodies, investors, professional service firms, and organisations exposed to national security or geopolitical scrutiny.
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

For HR leaders, employer branding teams, recruiters, and communications teams.
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

For charity leaders, nonprofit managers, service managers, local authority partners, commissioners, funders, and organisations involved in public service delivery.
This session helps participants understand how commissioning, funding, accountability, and partnership dynamics affect service quality, organisational voice, innovation, and strategic choices.

The Politics of Social Evaluation