Queen Margaret Business School Research Clusters
Our research themes cover: Fair Work & Employee Wellbeing; Responsible Hospitality, Tourism and Events; Leveraging Analytics; Dispute Resolution; Governance & Reporting; Circular Consumption; Business Education.
Queen Margaret Business School is committed to United Nations PRME – the Principles for Responsible Management Education. Purpose and values driven collaborative research to share practice are core principles of our activities. We seek to contribute to the understanding of often systematic, social and environmental challenges and to development and sharing of effective solutions in support of social progress.
The overarching concept of Responsible Hospitality, Tourism and Events is explored through various themes, with a strong focus on social justice, sustainability, and purpose.
These themes focus on transformative, long-term changes in how destinations are developed, managed, and experienced by both tourists, local communities, and the workforce, and advocate for systemic change to address pressing global challenges, such as climate change.
Our research group is committed to apply the power of data to address complex challenges and drive meaningful change.
By leveraging big data for business decision-making, we enable organisations to unlock valuable insights. We explore innovative ways to engage in analytics, creating transformative approaches to data interpretation.
Our work extends to space data for sustainability, promoting environmental resilience, and health informatics, reinventing healthcare systems. Additionally, we focus on utilising AI to process large-scale qualitative data, uncovering hidden patterns and opportunities.
Our research group is committed to exploring the synergies between corporate governance, social innovation, and sustainability within Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and the public sector.
We aim to develop and promote governance frameworks that enhance transparency, accountability, and ethical practices, driving significant social impact. By integrating social innovation, we seek to create novel solutions to societal and environmental challenges, fostering sustainable development.
Our purpose is to empower both SMEs and public sector entities to adopt practices that not only improve operational efficiency, but also contribute to a more inclusive and resilient society.
Through interdisciplinary research, collaboration, and knowledge dissemination, we strive to build a community dedicated to advancing sustainable and socially impactful governance practices across sectors.Â
Our research interests explore a wide range of themes that impact the workplace relating to fair work and employee wellbeing. Key areas include work on the Fair Work agenda in Scotland, focusing on equality at work, addressing occupational segregation, and ensuring procedural justice.
We investigate training programs like modern apprenticeships, examining gender and other characteristic differences. Employee wellbeing is a key theme, encompassing psychological safety, inclusive decision-making, and facilitating positive workplace environments.
Our research also focuses on change management in assessing the effects of technological advancements, policy shifts, and cultural changes in the workplace. Additionally, we explore fulfilment, precarious work, and the significance of spirituality in the workplace. This work seeks to drive social innovation, developing solutions to systemic social issues through collaborative efforts across a range of sectors.
The emergence of alternative business models, social enterprise and generally social innovation are key to circular economy and community wealth building.
Challenges remain in understanding these social innovation driven alternative business models and consumer engagement with them. For example, identifying effective intervention mechanisms to drive behavioural change towards sustainability.
By leveraging research in consumer psychology and behavioural science, to develop nudge intervention strategies that promote green and responsible consumption while ensuring consumer well-being.
For instance, the research focuses on normative information, emotional appeals to that may facilitate habit formation for promoting green and responsible consumption.
The research also includes examining the role of micro-influencers in shaping consumer-decision making e.g. how micro-influencers leverage their brand equity to build community-driven social enterprises, influencing responsible consumption.
Another facet is understanding the cross-cultural consistency of sustainability and responsible consumption and thus the effectiveness of interventions across different contexts.
Higher education and training are ever evolving in response to environmental factors such as socio-economic, but also technological changes. Navigating cultural differences across dimensions, from place to discipline-base, is challenging in an increasingly connected and interdisciplinary world.
Additionally, the rise of generative AI, machine learning and big data in the place of work further blurs disciplinary boundaries requiring business education to innovate.
Intercultural competences, sustainability competences and data-driven innovation competences need to be purposely developed in staff and learners.
Being at the forefront of pedagogic innovation for business, we seek to collaboratively enhance practice with partners locally and globally.
