Aqeel Awan is a PhD candidate in Management (Organisational Behaviour) at the London School of Economics, on track to defend his dissertation by June 2026. His research seeks to understand engagement at work amidst insecurity, vulnerability and uncertainty in work or non-work lives. Adopting a range of qualitative methods and maintaining a core interest in precarity, his research aims to address the following questions: 1. How work (re-)produces recognition and authenticity discourses among disenfranchised populations, and 2. How workers engage with precarious work.

Aqeel’s dissertation project has received revise and resubmit from Administrative Science Quarterly (ASQ), and has previously won the prestigious Carolyn Dexter Award at the 83th Academy of Management meeting in 2023 in Boston.

Aqeel’s previous research has been published in Human Relations and Gender, work and organizations.

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Job Market Paper Title:

When the world is not your oyster: Anti-agentic meaning making in precarious work

Google Scholar Profile

Published Papers:

Awan, M.A & Pianezzi, D. (2023). Constructing subjects that matter: A case of conditional recognition for Pakistani Khawajasiras. Gender, Work, and Organization, 30(3): 1124-1141.

Ashraf, M.J., Pianezzi, D. & Awan, M.A. (2023).Doing Transgender ‘Right’: Bodies, Eroticism and Spirituality in Khwajasira Work. Human Relations, 76(2): 286-309.

Research Under Review:

Awan, M.A. & Janardhanan, N.S. *Precarious livelihoods and work meanings. Administrative Science Quarterly. 1^st Revise & Resubmit.

Research in Progress:

Awan M.A. & Saeed, S. Course against discourse: Aurat march and the social practices in Pakistan. Conference paper accepted – additional data collection planned. Target Journal: Organization Science

Soane, E, Janardhanan, N.S., Awan, M.A, Aufegger, L. & Bicknell, C.. Decision making discussions amidst crises. Data Analysis & Writing stage. Target Journal: Administrative Science Quarterly.

Awan M.A. Guided by Passion or Money: Navigating entrepreneurial identity amidst uncertainties. Data Analysis & Writing stage.

Awan M.A., Khan, U.A, & Pletneva, L.. Recovery workers’ calling and disidentification from ‘junkie’ stigma. Data collection ongoing.

Awan M.A. & Khan, U.A. When the stigmatised do not perceive stigma. Theoretical paper – writing in process.

Awan M.A. & Janardhanan. Agency among the marginalised. Theoretical paper – writing in process.

Awan M.A. & Khan, U.A. Agency, fate and meaning making among brick kiln workers. Proposal/ethics review approved, Data collection in early stages

Awan, M.A. Unmaking of an Entrepreneur. Proposal / ethics review approved, Data collection in early stages.

Conference/Workshops Participation:

Awan, M.A. & Saeed, S. Course against discourse: Aurat march and the social practices in Pakistan. 85^th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management at Copenhagen, Denmark, 25^th to 29^th July, 2025.

Awan, M.A. & Janardhanan, N.S. Fishing (for) Identity: Intergenerational work identity among fathers and sons. Symposium title: Parent(-ing) at Work: How Employees Navigate Parenthood at Work. 85^th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management at Copenhagen, Denmark, 25^th to 29^th July, 2025.

Awan, M.A., Khan, U.A., & Pletneva, L. How workers facilitate clients’ disidentification from stigmatised identities. Symposium title: The Good, the Unconscious, and the Dynamic: Rethinking Disidentification at Work. 85^th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management at Copenhagen, Denmark, 25^th to 29^th July, 2025.

Awan, M.A. & Janardhanan, N.S. Work Engagement and Multiple Work Identities: Livelihood construction amidst precarity. 83^rd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management at Boston, USA, 4^th to 8^th August, 2023. (Carolyn Dexter Award Winner)

Awan, M.A. & Janardhanan, N.S. Work Engagement and Multiple Work Identities: Livelihood construction amidst precarity. 10^th Annual Paper Development Workshop at the University of Edinburgh Business School, 6^th March, 2023.

Awan, M.A. & Janardhanan, N.S. Resigning to Fate: Job and career crafting amid multiple precarity. Positive Organizations Scholarship (POS) Conference, 2021. Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, 21-22 June 2021.

Ashraf, M.J., Pianezzi, D. & Awan, M.A. “Accounting for Transgenders: Khwajasira Community in Pakistan,” 11th International Critical Management Studies Conferences – CMS 2019, at Milton Keynes, UK, on 27-29 June 2019.