Profile

I am a Lecturer in Management (equivalent to Assistant Professor) at Newcastle University Business School. I joined NUBS in 2020 as an ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Prior to this position, I completed my PhD degree (with no corrections) at the University of Warwick, where I also taught various modules and mentored postgraduate students. In 2018, I visited Victoria University of Wellington's School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, as well as Victoria Business School's Centre for Labour, Employment and Work, as part of an ESRC-funded institutional visit. 

In addition to my research and teaching responsibilities at NUBS, I also serve on the admissions team as the academic selector for the N120 programme.

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Research interests

My multidisciplinary research focuses on the role of language and discourse in various professional settings. I employ qualitative methods and draw on multiple datasets including: ethnographic observations, interviews, recorded workplace interactions, as well as secondary data sources such as corporate documents. Broadly put, my research interests lie in:

• Critical enquiry  
• Sociolinguistics 
• Language and power
• Professional identity construction
• Intercultural communication
• In/exclusive workplace culture
• (Linguistic) Diversity management

In addition to the above, I have recently developed an interest in understanding the relationship between material objects, multimodality and social interaction in the workplace. 

Ongoing project

In January 2023 I started a new project, "Talking strategy: Taking an interactional lens to business meetings". The study explores the connections between team dynamics, decision-making and strategy from an interactional perspective at a growing start-up in the medical supplies sector.

Past research projects 

I was awarded an ESRC Research Grant (ES/V011413/1) in 2020-2021 for a project “Managing for Inclusion in the Multilingual Workplace”. The multi-sited research drew on ethnographically collected data from a Nordic multinational corporation, and critically examined language policy-practice misalignment.

My doctoral project, 2015-2019, was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (UK), the Foundation for Economic Education (Liikesivistysrahasto, Finland) and the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters (Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia). My work examined different forms of linguistic penalties that migrant employees may or may not face in their working environments.

I am passionate about applying research in various organisational contexts and have collaborated with many international businesses over the years, ranging from engineering and information technology companies to businesses operating in the hospitality industry.

Academic presentations

I have presented my work at various international academic conferences, including EGOS, ICMS, GEM&L, Sociolinguistic Symposium, iMean, and AILA, as well as non-academic events and workshops. Additionally, I have been invited to participate in special panels in the UK, Finland and New Zealand.

In 2023, my conference paper, 'Linguistic habitus and social inequalities', won the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Best Paper Award at the 16th GEM&L Conference on Language and Management in Paris.

PhD supervision availability

I am currently accepting PhD applications from highly motivated candidates who share research interests and methodologies similar to mine. I particularly welcome applications focusing on the role of language, social interactions or organisational discourse.

I have had the privilege of teaching at three different Russell Group Universities since 2017. For the 2024-2025 academic year, I am leading or co-teaching the following modules:

•  BUS1015 Introduction to Management and Organisations 
•  BUS3035 Contemporary Issues in International and Comparative Business 
• BUS3062 Corporate Communication and Social Media
•  BUS3052 IBM Dissertations  
•  NBS8061 Managing Across Cultures 

• Articles

  • Wilmot NV, Vigier M, Humonen K. Language as a source of Otherness. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management 2024, 24(1), 59-80.
  • Angouri J, Humonen K. ‘I just sit, drink and go back to work’; Topographies of language practice at work. Multilingua: Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication 2022, Epub ahead of print.
  • Humonen K, Whittle A. "Just relax and ram it in": Dimensions of power in workplace sexual humour. Organization 2023, 32(3), 345-376.

• Book Chapters

  • Humonen K, Angouri J. Revisiting ethnography and reflexivity for language-sensitive workplace research. In: Lecomte P; Vigier M; Gaibrois C; Beeler B, ed. Understanding the Dynamics of Language and Multilingualism in Professional Contexts: Advances in Language-Sensitive Management. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2023, pp.84-101.
  • Humonen K, Angouri J. “[They] thought I didn’t know how to be a chef because I didn’t speak Finnish”: Gatekeeping and professional role enactment in a multilingual kitchen context. In: Angouri J; Kerekes J; Suni M, ed. Language, Migration and In/Exclusion in the Workplace. Bristol: De Gruyter Multilingual Matters, 2023, pp.191-215.