Staff Profile

Before I came to Newcastle in 2012, I studied Sociology at Manchester University (1997) before then taking a Masters in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations at the Manchester School of Management (UMIST). My first academic post was as Research Assistant on a UMIST-based Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) project titled "Changing Organisational Forms and the Reshaping of Work". Whilst developing this project I also worked towards my PhD, titled "A labour process analysis of inter-organisational exchange networks", which I eventually submitted in 2004. When my research contract at UMIST ended, in 2002, I took a post as a Teaching Fellow at Leeds University Business School. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2007.

Whilst at Leeds University Business School I undertook various roles, including Programme Director of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in HRM, Director of Student Education (HRM) and finally, Deputy Head of Division. Whilst at Newcastle I have acted as Programme Director for the Masters level programme in Global Human Resource Management. I was also Head of Group [Leadership, Work and Organisation] and am now acting as Research Community Leader in the area of HRM, Work and Employment. 

Professional Affiliations:

- Chartered Member: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

- Member: British Universities Industrial Relations Association

- Member: British Sociological Association

Google scholar: Click here.

My research interests include organisational forms and their consequences for employment; critical perspectives on Human Resource Management; professional self-employment; skills and soft skills; and, various diversity-based issues. I often use critical theories, such as Labour Process Theory, Critical Realism, and Bourdieusian Sociology, and consider the implications for critical perspectives for applied social research about contemporary work and organisational issues. I have edited one book on Critical Realism and research methods, and have edited various special issues of peer review journals. I have also published widely, including a range of book chapters in edited collections and peer review journals, including papers in teh following journals: Administrative Theory and Praxis; Human  Relations; Industrial Relations Journal; Human Resource Management Journal; Journal of Critical Realism; Journal of Management Studies; Work, Employment and Society, Public Administration; and, New technology, Work and Employment. 

I am also an active academic organiser. I was a member of the Editorial Board of Work, Employment and Society journal between 2006 and 2010. I am also currently a member of the steering group of the International Labour Process Conference. I have organised one International conference (the International Labour Process Conference, 2011), various workshops and streams in conferences, 

Major research awards, to date:

2019: Best Symposium Prize, American Academy of Management, Careers Division. Reimagining career Boundaries: Alternative Theoretical perspectives [Boston, MA]

2009-2010: Critical Realism in Action – ESRC: Seminar Series – co-applicant with Prof. Paul Edwards (Warwick) and Dr Joe O’Mahoney (Cardiff) £13, 416 (ref: ES/H002197/1), £13, 416.

2008-2010: Enhancing the effectiveness of Clinical Directorates, £118,655, ESRC: Knowledge Transfer Partnership, Northern Way and Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust - Consultant, under Principal Investigator: Prof. Ian Kirkpatrick, £118,655.

Key words: Inter-organisational relations and networks, employment relations, work organisation, freelance workers, critical realism, labour process theory

I have taught modules across a wide range of areas, including organisation theory, research methods, the sociology of work and employment relations, as well as HRM. I have also taught at all levels, from year one to research students and executive education.

Whilst developing my modules I have managed various initiatives to improve the student experience, including funded projects titled 'Developing Management Research Practice amongst HRM students' (£4000), 'Research into Teaching: Strategies for HRM students' (£1200) and 'Developing Case Studies to support Learning and Teaching' (£1200).

• Kozhevnikov A, Vincent S. Critical Realism. In: Paul Anthony Atkinson, Sara Delamont, Melissa Hardy, Malcolm Williams, ed. Sage Research Methods Foundations. Sage Publications Ltd, 2019.
• Vincent S, Pagan V. Entrepreneurial agency and field relations: A Realist Bourdieusian Analysis. Human Relations 2019, 72(2), 188-216.
• Vincent S, Hurrell S. Exploring the HRM performance link: Are we on a road to nowhere?. In: Ian Roper, Rea Prouska and Uracha Chatrakul Ayudhya, ed. Critical Issues in Human Resource Management. CIPD, 2019.
• Hallée Y, Taskin L, Vincent S. A Renewed Approach to Human Resource Management (HRM). Relations Industrielles 2018, 73(1), 3-10.
• Vincent S, O'Mahoney J. Critical Realism and Qualitative Research: An Introductory Overview. In: Cassell, C; Cunliffe, A; Grady, G, ed. The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Business and Management Research Methods. London: SAGE, 2018, pp.201-216.
• O'Mahoney J, Vincent S, Harley B. Realist studies of oppression, emancipation and resistance. Organization 2018, 25(5), 575-584.
• Brannan M, Fleetwood S, O'Mahoney J, Vincent S. Critical Essay: Meta-Analysis: A Critical Realist Critique and Alternative. Human Relations 2017, 70(1), 11-39.
• Vincent S. Bourdieu and the gendered social structure of working time: A study of self-employed human resources professionals. Human Relations 2016, 69(5), 1163-1184.
• Edwards PK, O'Mahoney J, Vincent S. Concluding Comments. In: Edwards, PK; O'Mahoney, J; and Vincent, S, ed. Studying Organizations Using Critical Realism: A Practical Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, pp.318-326.
• Vincent S, Wapshott R. Critical Realism and the Organizational Case Study: A Guide to Discovering Institutional Mechanisms. In: Edwards, PK; O'Mahoney, J; Vincent, S, ed. Studying Organizations Using Critical Realism: A Practical Guide. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2014, pp.148-167.
• O'Mahoney J, Vincent S. Critical Realism as an Empirical Project: A Beginner's Guide. In: Edwards, PK; O'Mahoney, J; Vincent, S, ed. Studying Organizations Using Critical Realism: A Practical Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, pp.1-20.
• Vincent S, Wapshott R, Gardiner J. Putting the Agent into Research in Black and Minority Ethnic Entrepreneurship: A New Methodological Proposal. Journal of Critical Realism 2014, 13(4), 368-384.
• Edwards P, O'Mahoney J, Vincent S. Studying Organizations Using Critical Realism: A Practical Guide. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2014.
• Vincent S. The emotional labour process: An essay on the economy of feelings. Human Relations 2011, 64(10), 1369-1392.
• Thompson P, Vincent S. Labour Process Theory and Critical Realism. In: Thompson, P., Smith, C, ed. Working Life: Renewing Labour Process Analysis. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, pp.47-69.
• Vincent S, Grugulis I. Employment relations, cost minimisation and inter-organisational contracting. Industrial Relations Journal 2009, 40(1), 40-59.
• Grugulis I, Vincent S. Whose skill is it anyway? 'Soft' skills and polarization. Work, Employment and Society 2009, 23(4), 597-615.
• Vincent S. A transmutation theory of inter-organizational exchange relations and networks: Applying critical realism to analysis of collective agency. Human Relations 2008, 61(6), 875-899.
• Grugulis I, Vincent S, Hebson G. Jobs, discretion and skill. In: T. Redman and A. Wilkinson, ed. Contemporary Human Resource Management: Text and Cases. Financial Times: Prentice Hall, 2008, pp.131-134.
• Vincent S. Really dealing: A critical perspective on inter-organizational exchange networks. Work, Employment and Society 2005, 19(1), 47-65.
• Marchington M, Vincent S. Analysing the Influence of Institutional, Organizational and Interpersonal Forces in Shaping Inter-Organizational Relations. Journal of Management Studies 2004, 41(6), 1029-1056.
• Grugulis I, Vincent S. Changing Boundaries, Shaping Skills: the 'New' Organisational Form and Employee Skills. In: Marchington, M., Grimshaw, D., Rubery, J., Willmott, H, ed. Fragmenting Work in New Organisational Forms: Blurring Boundaries and Disordering Hierarchies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, pp.199-216.
• Vincent S, Grugulis I. Strategy, Contracts and Control in Government IT Work. In: Stewart, P, ed. Employment, Trade Union Renewal and the Future of Work: The Experience of Work and Organisational Change. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, pp.231-249.
• Cooke FL, Marchington M, Vincent S. The Role of Boundary-Spanning Agents in Inter-Organisational Contracting. In: Marchington, M., Grimshaw, D., Rubery, J., Willmott, H, ed. Fragmenting Work in New Organisational Forms: Blurring Boundaries and Disordering Hierarchies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, pp.135-156.
• Carrol M, Cooke F, Hassard J, Vincent S. The Strategic Management of Contracting in the Private Sector. In: Marchington, M., Grimshaw, D., Rubery, J., Wilmott, H, ed. Fragmenting Work in New Organisational Forms: Blurring Boundaries and Disordering Hierarchies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, pp.89-110.
• Grugulis I, Vincent S, Hebson G. The rise of the ‘network organisation’ and the decline of discretion. Human Resource Management Journal 2003, 13(2), 45-59.
• Rubery J, Earnshaw J, Marchington M, Cooke FL, Vincent S. Changing Organisational Forms and the Employment Relationship. Journal of Management Studies 2002, 39(5), 645-672.
• Grimshaw D, Vincent S, Willmott H. Going Privately: Partnership and Outsourcing in UK Public Services. Public Administration 2002, 80(3), 475-502.
• Grimshaw D, Cooke FL, Grugulis I, Vincent S. New Technology and Changing Organisational Forms: Implications for Managerial Control and Skills. New Technology, Work and Employment 2002, 17(3), 186-203.
• Grimshaw D, Vincent S, Willmott H. New Control Modes and Emergent Organisational Forms: Private-Public Contracting in Public Administration and Health Service Provision. Administrative Theory and Praxis 2001, 23(2), 407-430.