https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/8607 Known as Brunel Business School until 2024/25 Sun, 18 Oct 2026 21:52:59 GMT 2026-10-18T21:52:59Z https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/34030 Title: Racialised Conditional Capital Conversion: Race, Class and the Limits of Recognition in Elite Organisations Authors: Han, Christine; Özbilgin, Mustafa F; Groutsis, Dimitria; Szkudlarek, Betina Abstract: This paper examines how racial inequality persists within organisations alongside career advancement among racialised professionals. Drawing on in‐depth interviews with fifty Chinese professionals in Australia's Big Four firms, we examine how race shapes the recognition and conversion of economic, cultural and social capital in White‐dominant organisations. Participants possessed substantial resources that enabled entry, mobility and strategic action, yet those resources did not convert on equivalent terms. Their capital could be dismissed, discounted or confined. We conceptualise this process as racialised conditional capital conversion and identify five mechanisms operating across micro, meso and macro levels. The analysis shows that racialisation need not prevent capital conversion or professional advancement altogether. Instead, it can shape the rates, routes and limits through which capital is recognised and valued. By theorising conditional conversion, the study extends Bourdieusian accounts of capital and explains how mobility and racial inequality can coexist within elite organisations. Description: Data Availability Statement: The data from this research study is not publicly available due to ethical considerations and the lack of consent from participants for public data sharing. Access to any sensitive information is governed by strict adherence to privacy and ethical guidelines. Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/34030 2026-10-02T00:00:00Z https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/34029 Title: Billable Hours and Work Flexibility: Navigating the Paradox in Law Firms Authors: Tekeste, Milena; Mergen, Aybike; Özbilgin, Mustafa F; Zakariah, Amalina; Laker, Benjamin Abstract: Flexible work promises control over where and when work is performed, yet organisations still need credible performance evidence at a distance. Drawing on 30 interviews with women lawyers in UK‐based international firms, we examine how billable hours mediate these demands. Records of billable hours allow fee‐earning output to be observed regardless of where the work is performed. This visibility can warrant flexible work, while the continuing availability of the same record preserves review and encourages self‐monitoring. We develop datafied trust to describe confidence in remote productivity warranted by recorded output and conditional on its continued measurability. The evidence speaks more strongly to control than to autonomy. Participants describe critical awareness, target pressure, and the possibility that flexibility will be questioned when figures decline. The study specifies how an established professional metric makes autonomy governable. It also shows how selective, self‐reported records can support oversight and self‐government without invasive automatic monitoring. Description: Data Availability Statement: The qualitative interview data are not publicly available because they contain potentially identifiable professional narratives and were collected under commitments of confidentiality. Further information about the analytical materials may be available from the corresponding author, subject to ethical and consent constraints. Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/34029 2026-10-09T00:00:00Z https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/34028 Title: Standing shoulder-to-shoulder: Female solidarity and CEO–employee pay gap Authors: Uyar, Ali; Kuzey, Cemil; Gundogdu, Nur; Özbilgin, Mustafa F; Karaman, Abdullah S Abstract: Drawing on an international sample of 20,576 observations between 2002 and 2021, we find that greater female employment is positively associated with a higher salary gap, implying that firms employing more women are more prone to a higher salary gap. However, a greater proportion of female executives and directors per se are not associated with the salary gap. Considering the outputs of interaction effects, the solidarity of female executives with female employees, female directors with female employees, and female directors with female executives diminishes the firm’s salary gap. Besides, smaller firms having more female employees are more afflicted by the salary gap than larger firms, and female solidarity is less functional in smaller firms. Lastly, firms domiciled in high-Worldwide Governance Indicator (WGI) countries with more female employees are more beset by salary gaps than those in low-WGI countries. Although female solidarity is functional in both institutional environments, it is stronger in high-WGI countries. Description: Data availability statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from LSEG. Restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for this study. Data are available from https://www.lseg.com/en/data-analytics with the permission of LSEG. Mon, 07 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/34028 2026-09-07T00:00:00Z https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/34013 Title: Can the ‘Dark Triad’ traits be a predictor of cyber hate speech? Authors: Tennakoon, Hemamali Abstract: Antisocial behaviours have escalated to the cyberspace. Yet, the views on identification, mitigation and interventions relevant to minimising such behaviours lack consensus. Also, there are a multitude of antisocial behaviours studied in various online settings but not with clear demarcations between behaviours and their predictors. Hence, there is room for further research on cyber hate speech (a variant of online antisocial behaviour), particularly in Social Networking Sites (SNS). Hence, this article presents a brief review of literature exploring the triggers of antisocial behaviour, broadly identified as ‘cyber aggression’. Then, the question is raised whether cyber hate speech, a sub-set of cyber aggression is triggered by personality factors such as the ‘Dark Triad’ traits. Consequently, this paper contributes to knowledge by proposing to test personality traits as an important predictor of computer-mediated anti-social behaviour in SNS and provide directions for future research. ... Thu, 01 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/34013 2021-07-01T00:00:00Z