How organisations are judged, interpreted, and contested
in politically charged environments
Social Evaluation & Organisations
Organisations today operate in an environment of intensified social evaluation. They are evaluated not only on the basis of performance, products, services, or formal responsibilities, but also through political, ideological, and geopolitical lenses. Governments, regulators, funders, media, employees, job seekers, investors, communities, partners, and host societies all interpret what organisations do, what they represent, and whom they are seen to serve.
My research explores how organisations become objects of evaluation, how legitimacy and trust are granted or challenged, and how external scrutiny shapes organisational identity, stakeholder relationships, and strategic action. Across my work, I examine how organisations are evaluated not only by what they do, but also by how different audiences interpret, contest, and attach meaning to their actions.
A central focus of my research is the role of the state in the process of social evaluation. The state evaluates organisations through regulation, policy, funding, and public accountability. At the same time, state actions and interventions are themselves interpreted and contested by organisations, employees, investors, communities, and wider publics.
Empirically, my current research focuses on two settings. In international business, I study Chinese multinational technology firms and how technology, foreignness, ownership, and national security concerns become entangled with legitimacy challenges. In the UK third sector, I study how nonprofits are evaluated by public authorities, funders, partners, and communities, and how these evaluations shape power relations, cross-sector collaboration, voice, and daily operations.
Through this work, I seek to understand how organisations make sense of external scrutiny, 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.
My research focuses on social evaluation: how organisations are judged, interpreted, and contested by different audiences, especially in politically charged environments. I am particularly interested in how these evaluations shape organisational legitimacy, identity, stakeholder relationships, and strategic action.
My work is especially relevant to multinational enterprises navigating geopolitical tensions and national security scrutiny, and to third-sector organisations operating within complex systems of commissioning, funding, partnership, and public accountability.
Through research, teaching, advisory work, and executive education, I help leaders and managers understand how their organisations are evaluated by stakeholders, where legitimacy challenges emerge, and what forms of strategic engagement are possible.
My Research
Across different settings, the central concern in my research is similar: organisations are evaluated not only by what they do, but by how external audiences interpret what they do.
This perspective connects my research on geopolitics and foreign investment, organisational identity under scrutiny, recruitment and employer attractiveness during crises, and third-sector commissioning and partnerships. In each area, I examine how audiences such as states, regulators, funders, employees, job seekers, media, communities, partners, and host societies define what is legitimate, risky, trustworthy, valuable, or problematic.
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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3373-1265-1.ch007
My research develops across four connected areas.
Geopolitics, foreign direct investment, and national security
This stream examines how foreign investment and multinational enterprises become politicised or securitised through ambiguous rules, national security narratives, and state intervention. I am interested in how states evaluate foreign firms, and how firms, investors, employees, and other audiences interpret such evaluation as signals of openness, protectionism, political risk, or changing investment regimes.
Organisational identity under scrutiny
This stream explores how organisational identity can be both a strategic resource and a liability. Identity, values, history, culture, ownership, and national origin may help organisations build trust, but they can also become sources of vulnerability when external audiences interpret them through political or ideological lenses.
Recruitment, HRM, and crises
This stream examines how crises, negative third-party signals, and public narratives affect employer reputation, organisational attractiveness, and the way job seekers and employees evaluate organisations. I am especially interested in how organisations can respond to negative signals in credible and targeted ways.
Third-sector commissioning and partnerships
This stream examines how nonprofits and third-sector organisations are evaluated by public authorities, funders, commissioners, partners, and communities. I study how commissioning, funding dependence, accountability demands, and partnership expectations shape organisational voice, service quality, innovation, collaboration, and strategic choice.
In 2021, I was invited by the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee to contribute to the inquiry into the role of the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) in screening foreign investments in UK companies for possible national security concerns (in the context of the new 2021 UK National Security and Investment Bill).
Advisory, Workshops &
Executive Education
I provide research-based advisory, workshops, and executive education for organisations operating under social evaluation, crisis, or external scrutiny. My work helps leaders and managers understand how their organisations are evaluated by stakeholders, where legitimacy and trust 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 to understand the evaluative environment in which the organisation operates: who is judging the organisation, what meanings are being attached to it, where trust is vulnerable, and how the organisation can act while protecting strategic agency.
At the centre of this work is the SENSE framework I developed: Signals, Evaluators, Narratives, Stakeholder Relationships, and Engagement. The framework helps organisations make sense of external pressure by identifying how they are interpreted, who is judging them, what narratives shape their legitimacy, how relationships are affected, and how they can engage constructively while protecting strategic agency.
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
and Briefings
Identity Under Scrutiny
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For leadership teams, communications teams, values-led organisations, and international organisations.
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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 Legitimacy for MNEs
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For MNE leaders, public affairs teams, trade bodies, investors, and professional service firms.
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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 managers, service managers, local authority partners, commissioners, and funders.
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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.