REWP Staff Profile

Mairi is Professor of International Business in the School of Management at the University of Bath. Her research explores the world of philanthropists and international business elites, examining elite power and social inequalities from a Bourdieusian perspective. She investigates these topics from a historical perspective as well as in the present, for example in examining the role of Andrew Carnegie as an institutional entrepreneur who reconfigured the meaning of wealth as something that could be enjoyed provided it was given away during the lifetime of the holder. Her research has developed fresh theoretical understanding of the involvement of wealthy entrepreneurs in socially transformative projects by offering a foundational theory of philanthropic identity narratives. These narratives are structured according to the metaphorical framework of the journey, through which actors make sense of personal transformation. She is currently exploring the role played by philanthropy professionals in guiding philanthropists in their charitable endeavours.