Research
My research can be divided into three main areas. The first deals with issues of connection and challenges to connection. Connections to others often involve identity and identification. We have multiple identities, that are constructed and deconstructed over time (e.g., identity work); influenced by others (e.g., organizations and occupations), deeply felt (sometimes ambivalently); and enacted materially (via symbols and artifacts). Connections to others can become broken (e.g., identity conflicts) and require trust repair. Connections with work can be experienced as highly meaningful. Meaningful work can be achieved via a variety of paths (e.g., utilitarian, achievement, self-expressive passion, kinship, service and craftsmanship-quality). Meaningful work in organizations can enhance and be enhanced by creativity and heightened with organizational purpose.
The second area deals with how we come to know the world around us - processes that are foundational to understanding connection. This area of research involves sensemaking and intuition. Such knowing is not always conscious, and often emotional. These streams come together in my most recent research on tackling a key issue of our times: polarization.
A third stream is methodological and looks at the various processes inherent in qualitative research ranging from how to ask questions, how to access research sites, gathering data via observations, coding and analysis and writing and publishing. Understanding how people connect and how they come to know the world around them often involves gathering data onsite, and utilizing various qualitative analytic moves.
Identity
My research on identity has been in three primary areas: identification, multiple identities and identity conflict, including polarization. Central to my work is viewing identity and its management as a dynamic process. On this page, I focus on collective-level identities, identity work, identity conflicts.
Recent and Representative Publications
Micelotta, E., Cappellaro, G., Gabbioneta, C., Pratt, M.G., Occupational Identity Formation in Unsaturated Spaces: The Layered Accretion of the American Astronauts’ Identity. (forthcoming), Administrative Science Quarterly.
Crosina, E., Pratt, M.G. & Lifshitz-Assaf, H. 2024. A Part of, or Apart from, Me?: Linking Dynamic Founder-Venture Identity Relationships to New Venture Strategy. Organization Science, 35(6): 2198-2222.
Pratt, M.G., Hedden, L.N, Kahn, H., Sala, G & Sciarappa, S. 2024. Identity in and of Organizations: Docents’ Guide Through the Academy of Management Journals. Academy of Management Collections, 3(2): 17-34.
Pratt, M.G. 2020. Identity saves the world. In A. Brown’s (Ed.) Oxford Handbook of Identities in Organizations (pp. 881-895). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pratt, M. G., Shultz, M., Ashforth, B. & Ravasi, D. (Eds.) 2016. Oxford Handbook of Organizational Identity. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
- Pratt, M.G., Shultz, M., Ashforth, B. & Ravasi, D. 2016. Introduction: Organizational identity, mapping where we have been, where we are, and where we might go. (pp. 1-18)
- Pratt, M.G. 2016. Hybrid and multiple organizational identities (pp. 106-120)
- Pratt, M.G., Ashforth, B., Schultz, M. & Ravasi, D. 2016. Conclusion: The identity of organizational identity, looking backwards towards the future (pp.494-500)
Vadera, A. & Pratt, M.G. 2016. “Is it me, or is it me?” The role of coactivated multiple identities and identifications in promoting or discouraging workplace crimes. In D. Palmer, K. Smith-Crowe & R. Greenwood (Eds). Organizational Wrongdoing: Key Perspectives and New Directions (pp. 337-369). Cambridge
Lepisto, D. A., Crosina, E., & Pratt, M. G. 2015. Identity Work Within and Beyond the Professions: Toward a Theoretical Integration and Extension. In A. Desilva and M. Aparicio (Eds.), International Handbook of Professional Identities (pp. 11-37). Rosemead, CA: Scientific & Academic Publishing.
Pratt, M.G. 2012. Rethinking Identity Construction Processes in Organizations: Three Questions to Consider. In M. Schultz, S. Maguire, A. Langley, & H. Tsoukas (Eds). Perspectives on Process Organization Studies: Constructing Identity In and Around Organizations (pp. 21-49). London: Oxford University Press
Pratt, M.G., Fiol, C.M., O’Connor, E., & Panico, P. 2012. Promoting Positive Change in Physician-Administrator Relationships: Lessons for Managing Intractable Identity Conflicts. In K. Golden-Biddle & J. Dutton (Eds) Exploring Positive Social Change and Organizations (pp. 267-288). New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Fiol, C.M., Pratt, M.G., & O’Connor, E. 2009. Managing Intractable Identity Conflicts. Academy of Management Review, 34 (1): 32-55.
Pratt, M.G. & Corley, K.G. 2007. Managing Multiple Organizational Identities: On Identity Ambiguity, Identity Conflict, and Members’ Reactions. In C. Bartel, S. Blader, and A. Wrzesniewski (Eds.) Identity and the Modern Organization (pp. 99-118). Mahway, NJ: Erlbaum.
Pratt, M.G., Rockmann, K, & Kaufmann, J. 2006. Constructing Professional Identity: The Role of Work and Identity Learning Cycles in the Customization of Identity among Medical Residents. Academy of Management Journal, 49(2): 235-262.
Pratt, M.G. 2003. Disentangling Collective Identity. In J. Polzer, E. Mannix, & M. Neale (Eds.), Identity Issues in Groups: Research in Managing Groups and Teams, Vol. V (pp. 161-188). Stamford, CT: Elsevier Science Ltd.
Pratt, M.G. & Foreman, P.O. 2000. Classifying Managerial Responses to Multiple Organizational Identities. Academy of Management Review, 25(1): 18 – 42.
Pratt, M.G. & Rafaeli, A. 1997. Organizational Dress as a Symbol of Multilayered Social Identities. Academy of Management Journal, 40(4): 862 - 898.
Identification
Identification "involves an individual coming to see another (individual, group, object) as being definitive of one's own self" (Pratt, 1998: 172). Although often measured and conceptualized as an outcome (i.e., the degree to which a person identifies), identification itself is that process whereby individuals view something beyond themselves as a partial answer to "who am I?" My dissertation explores the process through which collectives (e.g., organizations) foster that process, and it has remained a focal part of my research ever since.
Recent and Representative Publications
Crosina, E., Sciarappa, S. & Pratt, M.G. (forthcoming). Ties that Bind and Ties that Break: The Identification Trajectories of Bereft Lehman Bankers. Academy of Management Perspectives
Cardador, T. & Pratt, M.G. 2018. Becoming Who We Serve: A Model of Multi-Layered Employee-Customer Identification. Academy of Management Journal, 61(6): 2053-2080.
Hekman, D., van Knippenberg, D. & Pratt, M.G. 2016. Channeling Identification: How Perceived Regulatory Focus Moderates the Influence of Organizational and Professional Identification on Professional Employees’ Diagnosis and Treatment Behaviors. Human Relations, 69(3): 753-780.
Elstak, M., van Riel, C., Bhatt, M., Pratt, M.G. & Berens, G., 2015. Organizational Identification during a Merger: The Role of Self-Enhancement and Uncertainty Reduction Motives during a Major Organizational Change. Journal of Management Studies, 51(1): 32-62
Vadera, A.K. & Pratt, M.G. 2013. Love, Hate, Ambivalence, or Indifference?: A Conceptual Examination of Workplace Crime and Organizational Identification. Organization Science, 24(1): 172-188.
Rockmann, K.W., Pratt, M.G., & Northcraft, G. 2007. "Divided Loyalties:" Determinants of Identification in Inter-Organizational Teams. Small Group Research, 38(6): 727-751
Pratt, M.G. 2007. Identification. In S. Clegg and J. Bailey (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Organization Studies, Volume 2 (pp. 627-630). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Cardador, M.T. & Pratt, M.G. 2006. Identification Management and its Bases: Bridging Management and Marketing Perspectives through a Focus on Affiliation Dimensions. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34(2): 174-184.
Rock, K.W. & Pratt, M.G. 2002. Where Do We Go from Here?: Predicting Identification among Dispersed Employees. G. Soenen and B. Moingeon (Eds.), Corporate and Organizational Identities: Integrating Strategy, Marketing, Communication and Organizational Perspectives (pp. 51-71). New York: Routledge.
Pratt, M.G. 2001. Social Identity Dynamics in Modern Organizations: An Organizational Psychology / Organizational Behavior Perspective. In M. Hogg & D. J. Terry (Eds.) Social Identity Processes in Organizational Contexts (pp. 13 – 30). Philadelphia: Psychology Press.
Pratt, M.G. 2000. The Good, the Bad, and the Ambivalent: Managing Identification among Amway Distributors. Administrative Science Quarterly, 45(3): 456-493.
Pratt, M. G., Fuller, M. & Northcraft, G.B. 2000. Media Selection and Identification in Distributed Groups: The Potential Cost of “Rich” Media. T. Griffith, E. Mannix, & M. Neale (Eds.), Research in Managing Groups and Teams, Vol. III (pp. 231 – 255). Stamford, CT: JAI Press.
Pratt, M.G. 1998. To Be or Not To Be: Central Questions in Organizational Identification. D. Whetten, and P. Godfrey(Eds.), Identity in Organizations: Developing Theory Through Conversations (pp. 171 – 207). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Meaningful Work
Meaningful work is about what what makes work worth doing. Most of my research in this area has been on conceptualizing various work orientations, and how organizations can facilitate meaningful work. I view organizational purpose as a specific way to foster meaingfulness. As with most of my research, I take a cross-level approach to understanding meaningful work. Although what we find meaningful is "in our heads," it is strongly influenced by our culture and others around us.
Recent and Representative Publications
Pratt, M.G. & Hedden, L.N. 2023. Accounts and Accountability: On Organizational Purpose, Organizational Identity, and Meaningful Work. Strategy Science, 8(2): 182-192.
Fetzer, G. & Pratt, M.G. 2020. Meaningful work and creativity: Mapping out a way forward (pp. 131-142). R. Reiter-Palmon, C.M. Fisher & J. S. Mueller (Eds), Creativity at Work: A Festschrift in Honor of Teresa Amabile. Springer Nature.
Boova, L., Pratt, M.G., & Lepisto, D. 2019. Exploring work orientations and cultural accounts of work: Toward a Research Agenda for Examining the Role of Culture in Meaningful Work. In R. Yeoman, C. Bailey, & M. Thompson (Eds.) Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work (pp. 186-207). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lepisto, D. A., & Pratt, M. G. 2017. Meaningful work as realization and justification Toward a dual conceptualization. Organizational Psychology Review, 7(2): 99-121.
Michaelson, C., Pratt, M.G., Grant, A. & Dunn, C. P. 2014. Meaningful Work: Connecting Business Ethics and Organizational Studies. Journal of Business Ethics, 121: 77-90.
Cardador, M.T., Dane, E. & Pratt, M.G. 2011. Linking Calling Orientations to Organizational Attachment via Organizational Instrumentality. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 79: 67-378.
Pratt, M.G. & Ashforth, B. E. 2003. Fostering Meaningfulness in Working and at Work. In K. Cameron, J. Dutton, and R. Quinn, (Eds.) Positive Organizational Scholarship (pp. 309 – 327.) San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Qualitative Methods
Most of my empirical research incorporates qualitative research. I gravitate towards this approach given my problem-centered view of research; and the belief that we, as academics, have much to learn from those we study.
Recent and Representative Publications
Pratt, M.G. 2025. On the Evolution of Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 12: 109-131
Pratt, M.G., Kohler. T., Welch, C. & Rumyantseva, M. 2025. Trustworthiness in Qualitative Research: Reconsidering Replication. Flick, U. (Ed.) SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research Quality (pp. 451-468). London: Sage.
Pratt, M.G. 2023. General Coding and Analysis in Qualitative Research. Oxford Research Encyclopedias, Psychology.
Pratt, M.G., Sonenshein, S. & Feldman, M. S. 2022. Moving Beyond Templates: A Bricolage Approach to Conducting Trustworthy Qualitative Research. Organizational Research Methods, 25(2): 211-238.
Pratt, M., & Sala, G. 2021, e 28. A Researcher's Toolkit for Observational Methods. In the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Business and Management. Oxford University Press.
Rouse, E., & Pratt, M. G., 2021. Using Qualitative Methods to Generate Givergence in Creativity Theory. In J. Zhou and E.D. Rouse (Eds.) Handbook of Research on Creativity and Innovation (pp. 309-329). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Pratt, M.G., Kaplan, S. & Whittington, R. 2020. Editorial Essay: The Tumult over Transparency: Decoupling Transparency from Replication in Establishing Trustworthy Qualitative Research. Administrative Science Quarterly, 65(1): 1-19.
LeBaron. C., Jarzabkowski, P., Pratt, M.G., & Fetzer, G. 2018. An Introduction to Video Methods in Organizational Research. Organizational Research Methods, 2(2): 239-260.
Pratt, M.G. & Bonaccio, S. 2016. Qualitative Research in I/O Psychology: Myths, Maps and Moving Forward. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 94(4): 693-715.
Pratt, M.G. 2016. Crafting and Selecting Research Questions and Contexts in Qualitative Research. In K. Elsbach & R. Kramer’s (Eds.) The Handbook of Qualitative Organizational Research (pp. 177-185). New York: Taylor & Francis/Routledge.
Pratt, M.G. & Kim, N. 2012. Designing for Drift: Planning Ethnographic Qualitative Research on Groups. In A. Hollingshead and M.S. Poole (Eds.) Research Methods for Studying Groups and Teams: A Guide to Approaches, Tools, and Technologies (pp. 6-29). New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Pratt, M.G. 2011. Spiraling to Hope after Years of Struggle. In A. Carlsen & J. Dutton (Eds.) Generativity in Doing Qualitative Research (pp. 186-188). Copenhagen, Denmark: Copenhagen Business School Press.
Pratt, M.G. 2009. From the Editors: For the Lack of a Boilerplate – Tips on Writing Up (and Reviewing) Qualitative Research. Academy of Management Journal, 52(5): 856-862.
Pratt, M.G. 2008. Fitting Oval Pegs into Round Holes: Tensions in Evaluating and Publishing Qualitative Research in Top-Tier North American Journals. Organizational Research Methods, 11 (3): 481-509.
Pratt, M.G. 2003. Access as Relating: On the Relationship Aspects of Different Types of Access. In M. Feldman, J. Bell, & M. Berger (Eds.) Gaining Access: A Practical and Theoretical Guild for Qualitative Researchers (pp. 150- 154). New York, NY: Altamira Press.
Emotions, Intuition & Nonconscious Processes
Organizational life is rife with emotions, which influse how we make decisions (e.g., intuitions), and often work nonconsciously. Much of my work on emotions, like identity, deals with multiple emotions. I am particularly interested in ambivalence - which is both cognitive and emotional - and how it can be both generative and destructive for individuals and organizations. My most recent work deals with moral emotions.
Recent and Representative Publications
Pratt, M.G., Hedden, L.N., Kahn, H. (forthcoming) “MOB” Mentality? On the Formation and Consequences of Moralized Opinion-Based Intergroup Conflict in Organizations. Academy of Management Review.
Rothman, N. & Pratt, M.G. 2022. Transforming Information Uncertainty into Employee Well-Being and Resilience: The Importance of Cultivating Emotional Ambivalence. In M. A. Griffin and Gudela Grote (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Uncertainty Management in Work Organizations. Oxford Academic.
Crosina, L. & Pratt, M.G. 2019. Toward a Model of Organizational Mourning: The Case of Former Lehman Brothers Bankers. Academy of Management Journal, 62(1): 66-98.
Rothman, N., Pratt, M.G., Rees, L. & Vogus, T. 2017. Understanding the dual nature of ambivalence: Why and when ambivalence leads to good and bad outcomes. Academy of Management Annals, 11: 33-72.
Pratt, M.G. & Crosina, E. 2016. The Nonconscious at Work. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 3: 321-347.
Ashforth, B., Rogers, K. & Pratt, M.G., Pradies, C. 2014. Ambivalence in Organizations: A Multilevel Approach. Organization Science, 25(5): 1453-1478.
Vadera, A.K. & Pratt, M.G. 2013. Love, Hate, Ambivalence, or Indifference?: A Conceptual Examination of Workplace Crime and Organizational Identification. Organization Science, 24(1): 172-188.
Pratt, M.G. 2013. Intuitive Decision Making. In E. Kiesler (Ed), Encyclopedia of Management Theory, Volume 1 (pp. 401-404), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Dane, E., Rockmann, K. & Pratt, M.G. 2012. When Should I Trust My Gut?: Linking Domain Expertise to Intuitive Decision-Making Effectiveness. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 119: 187-194
Pratt, M.G. & Pradies, C. 2011. Just a Good Place to Visit?: Exploring Positive Responses to Ambivalence. K. Cameron & G. Spreitzer (Eds.), Handbook of Positive Organizational Scholarship (pp. 924-937). Oxford University Press
Dane, E. & Pratt, M.G. 2009. Conceptualizing and Measuring Intuition: A Review of Recent Trends. In Hodgkinson, G.P. and J.K. Ford (Eds.), International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 24 (pp. 1-40). Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Pratt, M.G. 2008. Is Identity in and of Organizations Just a Passing Fad? In D. Barry & H. Hansen (Eds.) The Sage Handbook of New and Emerging in Management & Organization Studies (pp. 66-67). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Wang, L. & Pratt, M.G. 2008. An Identity-Based View of Ambivalence and its Management in Organizations. In Ashkanasy, N. and Cooper, C. (Eds.) Research Companions to Emotion in Organizations (pp. 589-604). Edward Elgar, Publishers: Northampton, MA.
Dane, E. & Pratt, M.G. 2007. Exploring Intuition and its Role in Managerial Decision Making. Academy of Management Review, 32(1): 33-54.
Pratt, M.G. & Rosa, J. A. 2003. Transforming Work-Family Conflict into Commitment in Network Marketing Organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 46(4): 395-418.
Pratt, M.G. 2000. The Good, the Bad, and the Ambivalent: Managing Identification among Amway Distributors. Administrative Science Quarterly, 45(3): 456-493.
Pratt, M.G. & Dutton, J.E. 2000. Owning Up or Opting Out: The Role of Identities and Emotions in Issue Ownership. N. Ashkanasy, C. Hartel, and W. Zerbe, (Eds.), Emotions in the Workplace: Research, Theory, and Practice (pp. 103 – 129). London: Quorum Books.
Pratt, M.G. and Doucet, L. 2000. Ambivalent Feelings in Organizational Relationships. In S. Fineman (Ed.), Emotions in Organizations, Volume II (pp. 204 – 226). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Symbols & Artifacts
My earliest work was largely in the area of symbols and artifacts. This work sparked my later interest in multiple identities and allowed me my first foray into qualitative research. The field now recognizes that organizational life is inherently material - not just cognitive and emotional.
Recent and Representative Publications
Elsbach, K. & Pratt M.G. 2008. The physical environment in organizations. In J. P. Walsh and A. P. Brief’s (Eds.), The Academy of Management Annals, Volume 1 (pp. 181-224). New York, NY: Laurence Erlbaum Associates.
Rafaeli, A. & Pratt, M.G. (Eds.) 2006. Artifacts and Organizations: Beyond Mere Symbolism. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Rafaeli, A. & Pratt, M.G. 2006. Artifacts and Organizations: More than the Tip of the Cultural Iceberg (pp. 1-5)
- Pratt, M.G. & Rafaeli, A. (2006). Artifacts and organizations: Understanding our "Object-ive" Reality (pp. 279-288)
Pratt, M.G. & Rafaeli, A. 2001. Symbols as a Language of Organizational Relationships. B. Staw & R. Sutton (Eds.) Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 23 (pp. 93 – 132). Stanford, CA: JAI Press, Inc.
Pratt, M.G. & Rafaeli, A. 1997. Organizational Dress as a Symbol of Multilayered Social Identities. Academy of Management Journal, 40(4): 862 - 898.
Rafaeli, A. and Pratt, M.G. 1993. Tailored Meanings: A Look at Organizational Dress. Academy of Management Review, 18(1): 32-55.
Creativity
I have been interested in the creative process through much of my career. It has intersected with my work on intuition, meaningful work, and qualitative methods.
Recent and Representative Publications
Rouse, E., & Pratt, M. G., 2021. Using qualitative methods to generate divergence in creativity theory. In J. Zhou and E.D. Rouse (Eds.) Handbook of Research on Creativity and Innovation (pp. 309-329). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Fetzer, G. & Pratt, M.G. 2020. Meaningful work and creativity: Mapping out a way forward (pp. 131-142). R. Reiter-Palmon, C.M. Fisher & J. S. Mueller (Eds), Creativity at Work: A Festschrift in Honor of Teresa Amabile. Springer Nature.
Amabile, T.M. & Pratt, M.G. 2016. The dynamic componential model of creativity and innovation in organizations: Making progress, making meaning. In B. Staw & A. Brief (Eds.) Research in Organizational Behavior, 36: 157-183
Dane, E., Baer, M., Pratt, M.G., & Oldham, G. 2011. Rational Versus Intuitive Problem Solving: How Thinking “Off the Beaten Path” Can Stimulate Creativity. The Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 5(1): 3-12.
Madjar, N., Oldham, G. & Pratt, M.G. 2002. There’s No Place Like Home?: The Contributions of Work and Non-Work Support to Employees’ Creative Performance. Academy of Management Journal, 45(4): 757-767.
Trust
Trust is a newer research stream for me, and tends to focus on how collectives -such as organizations and occupations-shape interpersonal trust and trust repair. My work also views trust as an inherently ambivalent state as people take on risk and become vulnerable for a positive, future "hoped for" outcome.
Recent and Representative Publications
Pratt, M. & Sala, G. (forthcoming). Ambivalence in Interpersonal Trust(ing). In Schafheitle, S., Van der Werff, L. & J. Hamm (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Trust. Cheltenham (UK): Edward Elgar Publishing.
Hedden, L. & Pratt, M.G. 2026. Reputation on the Line: How the Third-Party Dilemma Shapes Trust in High-Risk Work. Administrative Science Quarterly, 7(1): 128-165 .
Sala, G. & Pratt, M.G. 2023. How Organizations Influence Interpersonal Trust Repair: The Case of a French Antiterrorist Unit. Academy of Management Journal, 66(4): 1263-1293
Pratt, M.G., Lepisto, D. & Dane, E. 2019. Exploring the Hidden Side of Trust: Supporting and Sustaining Leaps of Faith among Firefighters. Administrative Science Quarterly, 64(2): 398-434.
Pratt, M.G. & Dirks, K. 2007. Rebuilding Trust and Restoring Positive Relationships: A Commitment-Based View of Trust. In J. Dutton & B. Baggins, (Eds.) Exploring Positive Relationships at Work: Building a Theoretical and Research Foundation (pp. 117-158). Mahway, NJ: Erlbaum.