Researcher in Focus: Hugo Lam
Posted on: 23 August 2021 by Nick Jones in 2021 Posts
This month, we are pleased to introduce Dr Hugo Lam from the University of Liverpool Management School as our featured Researcher in Focus.
Dr Hugo Lam is Senior Lecturer in Operations Management and Leverhulme Research Fellow in the Management School. He moved to Liverpool and joined the Management School in 2015 after finishing his PhD studies in Hong Kong. His research mainly focuses on two areas: (1) social media technologies in operations management, and (2) social responsibility in global supply chain management.
Hugo developed his research interest in the first area when he was a PhD student (and an active social media user) in Hong Kong. His PhD research, which looked at how social media can make companies more efficient and innovative, had been published in the world-leading, FT50 Journal of Operations Management.
Hugo continues his research interest in this area after moving to Liverpool; for example, currently he is working on a research project about social media-induced product innovation funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Besides his own research, Hugo is helping to build a stronger research community in this emerging research area. For example, he co-edited a special issue for the ABS 4-rated International Journal of Operations & Production Management to encourage more research on the use of social media in operations management. He also organised a two-day research workshop on the same theme in Liverpool and chaired a relevant special track at the POMS International Conference to facilitate research discussions and collaborations.
Hugo started to engage in the second research area after moving to Liverpool, inspired by the enforcement of social responsibility-related regulations in the UK (e.g., the amendment to the Companies Act in 2013 and the pass of the Modern Slavery Act in 2015) and also the rich research tradition in Liverpool. Hugo is very grateful that his solo-authored research paper about Dutch companies’ sustainable supply chain practices was selected as the Outstanding Paper of the Year among all papers published in the ABS 4-rated International Journal of Operations & Production Management in 2018. Hugo attended the 2019 EurOMA Conference in Helsinki to receive the award.
This research has also received news coverage from several Dutch media outlets such as Supply Chain Magazine, Duurzaam Bedrijfsleven, and The Accountant and has been featured on the Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Development’s (VBDO) website. Currently Hugo is leading several externally-funded, social responsibility-focused research projects. For example, his British Academy-funded research project investigates the value of “doing good” during the COVID-19 pandemic, while another research project concerned with modern slavery issues in global supply chains has been funded by Leverhulme Trust via the Leverhulme Research Fellowships.
Hugo is interested in collaborating with colleagues across the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences considering the cross-disciplinary nature of research on social media and social responsibility that may involve, for example, law, public policy, communication, languages and cultures. In terms of empirical approach, Hugo’s research is mainly based on quantitative analysis of longitudinal secondary data at the firm and supply chain levels.
Interested colleagues can contact Hugo at hugolam@liverpool.ac.uk for research discussions and collaborations.
You can find out more about Hugo and his research on his staff page.
Keywords: Researcher in Focus.