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Selected academic articles and book chapters are listed here (with links to publications).
Recent articles can also be accessed via City Research Online and Research Gate.
Empson, L. and Howard-Grenville, J. (2024) ‘How to lead when the future feels unpredictable’ , Harvard Business Review.
Empson, L. and Howard-Grenville, J. (2023) ‘Three Ways to Prepare for the Future of Work’ , Harvard Business Review.
Empson, L., Langley, A., and Sergi, V. (2023) ‘When everyone and no one is a leader: Constructing individual leadership identities while sustaining an organizational narrative of collective leadership’, Organization Studies, 44(2), pp. 201-227.
Empson, L. (2021) 'Researching the post-pandemic professional service firm: Challenging our assumptions', Journal of Management Studies, 58(5), pp. 1383-1388.
Empson, L. and Howard-Grenville, J. (2021) 'How has the past year changed you and your organization', Harvard Business Review.
Empson, L. and Alvehus, J. (2020) 'Collective leadership dynamics among professional peers: Co-constructing an unstable equilibrium', Organization Studies, 41(9), pp. 1234-1256.
Empson, L. (2020) 'The Emperor’s new clothes: How our fear of seeming stupid became a self-fulfilling prophecy', Academy of Management Learning and Education, 19(2), pp. 227-229.
Mosonyi, S., Empson, L., and Gond, J-P. (2020) 'Management consulting: Towards an integrative framework of knowledge, identity, and power', International Journal of Management Reviews, 22(2), pp. 120-149.
Empson, L. (2020) 'Ambiguous authority and hidden hierarchy: Collective leadership in a professional service firm', Leadership, 16(1), pp. 62-86.
Empson, L. (2019) 'How to lead your fellow rainmakers', Harvard Business Review, March-April, pp. 114-123.
Mosonyi, S. and Empson, L. (2019) 'From hippies to suits: Nested paradoxical tensions in CSR consultants’ identity work', Proceedings of 2019 Academy of Management Annual Meeting.
Lupu, L., Spence, C., and Empson, L. (2018) 'When the past comes back to haunt you: The enduring influence of upbringing on the work-family decisions of professional parents', Human Relations, 71(2), pp. 155-181.
Empson, L. (2018) 'If you're so successful why are you still working 70 hours a week?', Harvard Business Review, February.
Empson, L. (2018) 'Elite interviewing in professional organizations', Journal of Professions and Organizations, 5(1), pp. 58-69.
Costas, J., Ekman, S., Empson, L., Kärreman, D., and Muhr, S.L. (2018) 'Working time regimes: Continuing problems', German Journal of Human Resource Management, 32(3-4), pp.271-282.
Gustafsson, S. and Empson L. (2018) 'Climbing invisible walls: The construction of career (im)mobility in liminal professional roles', Proceedings of 2018 Academy of Management Annual Meeting.
Mosonyi, S. and Empson, L. (2018) 'Shooting for the stars: Co-constructing a professional mandate for corporate social responsibility', Proceedings of 2018 Academy of Management Annual Meeting.
Ashley, L. and Empson, L. (2017) 'Understanding social exclusion in elite professional service firms: Field level dynamics and the “professional project”', Work, Employment, and Society, 31(2), pp. 211-229.
Empson, L. (2017) 'My liminal life: Perpetual journeys across the research-practice divide', in Bartunek, J. and McKenzie, J. (eds.) Academic practitioner research partnerships: Developments, complexities and opportunities. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 200-216.
Ashley, L. and Empson, L. (2016) 'Convenient fictions and inconvenient truths: Dilemmas of diversity at three leading accountancy firms', Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 35, pp. 76-87.
Ashley, L. and Empson, L. (2016) 'Explaining social exclusion and the “war for talent”', in Nelson, R., Headworth, S., Dinovitzer, R., and Wilkins, D. (eds.) Diversity in practice: Cambridge's studies in law and society. Cambridge: University of Cambridge.
Lupu, I. and Empson, L. (2015) 'Illusio and overwork: Playing the game in the accounting field', Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 28(8), pp. 1310-1340.
Empson, L. and Langley, A. (2015) 'Leadership and professionals' , in Empson, L., Muzio, D., Broschak, J., and Hinings, B. (eds.) The Oxford handbook of professional service firms. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 163-188.
Empson, L., Muzio, D., Broschak, J., and Hinings, B. (2015) 'Researching professional service firms: An introduction and overview', in Empson, L., Muzio, D., Broschak, J., and Hinings, B. (eds.) Oxford handbook of professional service firms. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1-24.
Empson, L. (2015) 'Reprint of classic article - My affair with the “other”: Identity journeys across the research-practice divide', in Bell, E. and Willmott, H. (eds.) Qualitative Research in Business and Management. London: Sage.
Empson, L. (2015) 'Leadership, power, and politics in law firms', in Normand-Hochman, R. (ed.) Leadership for lawyers. International Bar Association.
Empson, L., Cleaver, I., and Allen, J. (2013) 'Managing partners and management professionals: Institutional work dyads in professional partnerships', Journal of Management Studies, 50(5), pp. 808-844.
Ashley, L., and Empson, L. (2013) 'Differentiation and discrimination: Understanding social class and social exclusion in the UK's leading law firms', Human Relations, 66(2), pp. 219-244.
Empson, L. (2013) 'My affair with the “other”: Identity journeys across the research–practice divide', Journal of Management Inquiry, 22(2), pp. 229-248.
Empson, L. (2012) 'Beyond dichotomies: A multi-stage model of governance in professional service firms', in Reihlen, M. and Werr, A. (eds.) Handbook of research on entrepreneurship in professional services. Camberley: Edward Elgar, pp. 274-294.
Empson, L. (2012) 'Reprint of classic article. Fear of exploitation and fear of contamination: Impediments to knowledge transfer in mergers between professional service firms' in Avakian, S. and Clark, T. (eds.) Management consulting. Camberely: Edward Elgar.
Alvesson, M., and Empson, L. (2008) 'The construction of organizational identity: Comparative case studies of consulting firms', Scandinavian Journal of Management, 24(1), pp. 1-16.
Empson L. and Popham, S. (2007) 'Introducing modern management', in Empson, L. (ed.) Managing the modern law firm. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1-9.
Empson, L. (2007) 'Surviving and thriving in a changing world: The special nature of partnership', in Empson, L. (ed.) Managing the modern law firm. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 10-36.
Empson, L. (2007) 'Professions', in Clegg, S. (ed.) International encyclopaedia of organization studies. London: Sage, pp. 1315-1318. AND Empson, L. (2007) 'Professional service firms', in Clegg, S. (ed.) International Encyclopaedia of Organization Studies. London: Sage, pp. 1311-1315.
Empson, L. (2007) 'Wrestling with the intangible: Creating value in knowledge-based mergers', in Angwin, D. (ed.) Mergers and acquisitions: A multidisciplinary perspective. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 229-255.
Empson, L., and Chapman, C. (2006) 'Partnership versus corporation: Implications of alternative forms of governance in professional service firms', Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 24, pp. 139-170.
Empson, L. (2006) 'Professionals in partnership', in Craig, J. (ed.) Production values: Futures of professionalism. Demos, pp. 144-152.
Empson, L. (2004) 'Organizational identity change: Managerial regulation and member identification in an accounting firm acquisition', Accounting, Organizations and Society, 29(9), pp. 759-781.
Greenwood, R. and Empson, L. (2003) 'The professional partnership: Relic or exemplary form of governance?', Organization Studies, 24(6), pp. 909-933.
Empson, L. (2003) 'Changing identification in professional firm mergers'. Proceedings of 2003 Academy of Management Annual Meeting.
Empson, L. (2001) 'Introduction to special issue: Knowledge management in professional service firms', Human Relations, 54(7), pp. 811-818.
Empson, L. (2001) 'Fear of exploitation and fear of contamination: Impediments to knowledge transfer in mergers between professional service firms', Human Relations, 54(7), pp. 839-862.
Empson, L. (2000) 'Merging professional service firms', Business Strategy Review, 11(2), pp. 39-46.