Dr Yi Zhu (Zoe)

School of East Asian Studies

Senior Lecturer in East Asian Studies

Portrait of Doctor Yi Zhu
Profile picture of Portrait of Doctor Yi Zhu
yi.zhu@sheffield.ac.uk
Jessop West

Full contact details

Dr Yi Zhu (Zoe)
School of East Asian Studies
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
Sheffield
S3 7RA
Profile

I am a trilingual business anthropologist whose research focuses on the interplay of emotion, power, and discourse in cross-cultural organizations, particularly within East Asian multinational companies.

Qualifications

MA (University of Tokyo), PhD (University of Hong Kong)

Research interests

Research:

  • Power and politics: My research focuses on the interplay of power and politics by examining how ideology shapes corporate policies and employee behaviors within cross-cultural organizations.
  • Policy implementation and sensemaking: I explore policy implementation and sensemaking by analyzing the transnational implementation of corporate policy and the role of employees' sensemaking in shaping organizational culture.
  • Emotion and identity work strategies: My collaborators and I examine the role of emotions in constructing business ethnographers' identity work strategies during fieldwork.
  • My research has been published in management journals, exploring topics such as the politics of smiling, ideology and policy implementation, and identity work strategies.

Current Project:

  • Global leadership development: Currently, I am involved in an international collaborative project funded by the Mitsubishi Mirai Ikusei Foundation. This project explores the socio-cultural factors that influence university students' journeys towards developing global leadership competencies. Key outputs will be the creation of a rubric to assess these competencies, identify main obstacles in achieving SDGs in the university curriculum and explore the factors influencing university students' critical thinking skills.
Research group

Critical Ethnography in East Asia

Teaching interests

Prior to joining the SEAS at the University of Sheffield, I taught courses in business anthropology, culture and management, and international human resource management at universities in Japan and Lancaster University.

Teaching activities

I am currently co-teaching the EAS61004 Perspectives on East Asian Business and Economy.

Publications

Book

Book Chapters

  • Zhu, Y. (2021). Identity politics, cosmopolitanism and business: doing fieldwork in a multinational company. In N. S. Appleton and Caroline B. [eds], Methods, Moments, and Ethnographic Spaces in Asia. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 219-248.
  • Zhu, Y. (2021). Jizoku kanou na kigyou bunka to ha: kaigai nikkei kigyou wo jireini (持続可能な企業文化とは：海外日系企業を事例に) [What is sustainable corporate culture: An example of an overseas Japanese company]. In H, Sekine [eds], Jizokukanouna kaihatsu niokeru “bunka” no ibasho (持続可能な開発における＜文化＞の居場所) [The place for “culture” in the sustainable development], Yokohama: Shumpusha Publishing (春風社).

Journal Articles