Management Research Seminar

Theme group: Critical and historical perspectives on management (CHP)

Speaker: Dr Peter Lugosi, Oxford Brookes University

Accessing work helps migrants adapt to life in ‘host’ societies, facilitating the development of a portfolio of translatable/transferable capacities, including language skills, and creating networks that provide informational, instrumental and emotional support.

Past research has shown that refugees often struggle to access, and progress in, the labour market – resulting in lower levels of employment than members of other migrant groups. The rapidly evolving nature of contemporary migration, coupled with rising socio-political tensions, have made migrants’ integration and adjustment to life and work pressing issues.

Drawing on research conducted in the United Kingdom and Brazil, this study examines the experiences of refugees accessing work as part of their settlement in a new place. We consider refugees’ interactions with diverse agencies including State, commercial and charitable organisations, alongside informal social networks, focusing in particular on how their engagement shapes entry into and experiences with work.

Data are used to examine how refugees access (or are denied access to) support through a disparate network of organisations and actors, each with their own logics, goals and capacities. These encounters and employment-related experiences are considered in the context of their broader adjustment journeys. We explore the impact of various configurations of practices associated with work, whilst recognising refugees’ agency in shaping their migration trajectories.

Bio

Peter Lugosi is a Reader at the Oxford School of Hospitality Management, Oxford Brookes University. He has researched and published on a wide range of subjects including parenting cultures, migration and migrant labour issues, research methods and ethics, consumer experiences, and organisational behaviour.

His work appears in a variety of outlets including Qualitative Inquiry, Space and Culture, The Sociological Review, Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Service Management, Tourism Management, and Urban Studies. Peter co-founded the Hospitality & Society journal, and he is currently the Controversies and Reviews Editor.