Mark Gatenby

I am Associate Professor in Organizations at Southampton Business School, University of Southampton, where I teach in a number of areas including philosophy of social science, public administration, and human resource management. Recently as Director of Undergraduate Studies I redesigned the undergraduate portfolio at Southampton around a more interdisciplinary curriculum, including the perspectives of philosophy, history, innovation and data analytics.

My research spans a range of topics looking at the nature of social reality through the structuring of economic and political institutions. My empirical work has largely been conducted within the UK public sector, including the NHS, Civil Service and local government. I have explored the reality of 'new public management' reform and policy-making, adopting a multiple framing of theory from social psychology, institutional economics, sociology and management.

Recently I have been examining the history of business schools, their trajectory within the higher education system, and the nature of business and management as an academic subject in relation to the social sciences and humanities.

My work has consistently spanned the boundaries of social science and philosophy. I am interested in the methodological implications of a social ontology based on Critical Realism, which attempts to explain how social science can be both an empirical field built on objective reality, and a humanistic enterprise which can contribute to ethical and political debate.

I have worked and studied in various universities across the UK, including in Cardiff, Surrey and London. I received my PhD in public administration from Cardiff University.