Dr Mengyi Xu

Dr Mengyi Xu

Department of Management
Assistant Professor in Human Resource Management
Director of Full-time MBA

Contact details

Email
m.xu.4@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
Address
Birmingham Business School
University House
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Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Mengyi Xu is Assistant Professor of Human Resource Management and Director of the Full-time MBA at Birmingham Business School. Prior to joining Birmingham, she held academic positions at Cranfield University and Anglia Ruskin University.

She is an Early Career Fellow of the Work-Family Researcher Network. Her research focuses on work-life balance and inclusion, boundary management, and the future of work—particularly hybrid working and the four-day work week. She is especially interested in how work-life inclusion supports sustainable careers for diverse groups, including single individuals, portfolio career workers, racially minoritised employees, and those in emerging economies.

Mengyi is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an academic member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). She has extensive experience in teaching and supervision across undergraduate, postgraduate, MBA, and executive education programmes.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Human Resource Management & Industrial Relations
  • MA in Human Resource Management
  • PGcert in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
  • BSc in Public Administration 

Biography

Dr Mengyi Xu joined Birmingham Business School as Assistant Professor of Human Resource Management in January 2024. She previously served as Assistant Professor in HRM & Employment Relations and Programme Director of MSc Management & HRM at Cranfield University, and Lecturer in HRM & Organisational Behaviour at Anglia Ruskin University. Before entering academia, she worked as an HR professional, bilingual teacher, and events presenter.

Mengyi's research centres on work-life balance and inclusion, boundary management, and the future of work, particularly hybrid working and the four-day work week. Her research and consultancy projects have been supported by the British Academy of Management, Forces in Mind Trust, and the Wellcome Trust ASPIRE project.

She brings a diverse teaching and supervision portfolio spanning HRM, Employment Relations, and Organisational Behaviour across undergraduate, postgraduate, MBA, and executive education levels. Her teaching is informed by her research, consultancy work, and international experience across Western and Eastern contexts. She is passionate about helping students connect theory to real-world practice and supporting their professional development. She has previously been nominated for or awarded the “Teaching Excellence Award” and “Outstanding Personal Tutorship.”

Teaching

Mengyi teaches a range of subjects related to HRM, work, and organisations, including:

  • Full-time MBA | Change Management

  • BSc Business Management (Singapore) | International Human Resource Management

Postgraduate supervision

Mengyi supervises doctoral projects in HRM and the future of work. She welcomes PhD students interested in the following areas, using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods. Prospective students are encouraged to email a CV and research proposal to discuss potential supervision:

  • Work-life interface and boundary management

  • Flexible, hybrid, and remote working; four-day work week

  • Experiences of East Asian and Southeast Asian employees in Western workplaces

  • The future of work in China

Research

Mengyi's research focuses on work-life inclusion and the future of work.

Her work on inclusion investigates the experiences of under-researched groups, including single employees, racially minoritised workers, and gig economy participants, particularly within emerging economies such as China. Her future of work research examines social, technological, and psychological dimensions of new working models—especially hybrid work and the four-day work week—and their implications for individuals, organisations, and society.

She employs a mixed-methods approach, including qualitative techniques (e.g. interviews, diaries, autoethnography) and quantitative methods (e.g. surveys, web scraping).

Recent projects include:

 

  • Tackling Hidden Workplace and Career Barriers for East and Southeast Asians In the West

  • The Four-Day Work Week: Perceptions, Experiences, and Work Outcomes

  • Work-Life Boundary Management in the Context of Hybrid Working

Other activities

Mengyi currently holds the following roles and affiliations:

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

  • Early Career Fellow, Work-Family Researcher Network

  • Academic Member, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)

  • External Examiner, MSc HRM, University of Surrey

  • Council Member, British Academy of Management (BAM); Events Officer & Committee Member, HRM Special Interest Group

  • Working Member, Association of British Chinese Professors

  • Member, Academy of Management

  • Member, UK Research & Innovation Early Career Researcher Forum

  • Member, Aurora Female Leadership Network

  • Reviewer for ESRC New Investigator Grant, HRM Journal, Journal of Business Ethics, Work, Employment and Society, New Technology, Work and Employment, International Journal of HRM, Employee Relations, Asia Pacific of Business Review, HRM textbooks for SAGE Publication and Kogan Page Publishing 

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Xu, M, Cao, X & Lu, H 2023, '', Asia Pacific Business Review.

Hong, Y, Xu, M & Furnell, S 2023, '', Behaviour and Information Technology.

Cai, Y, Rowley, C & Xu, M 2023, '', Asia Pacific Business Review, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 1170-1191.

Qian, B, Huang, M, Xu, M & Hong, Y 2022, '', International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 19, no. 3, 1795.

Hong, Y & Xu, M 2021, '', Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, vol. 33, no. 6, pp. 1-17.

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Gao, G, Sai, L & Xu, M 2024, in K Wilkinson & H Woolnough (eds), Work-life Inclusion: Broadening Perspectives Across the Life Course. 1 edn, Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. 53-66.

Xu, M & Kelliher, C 2024, . in B McDonough & J Parry (eds), Sociology, Work and Organisations: A Global Context. 1st edn, Routledge, pp. 147-161.

Commissioned report

Fisher, N, Robinson, D, Parry, E & Xu, M 2023, . Forces in Mind Trust. <>

Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary

Xu, M 2023, . in S Johnstone, JK Rodriguez & A Wilkinson (eds), Encyclopedia of Human Resource Management, Second edition. 2 edn, Elgar Encyclopedias in Business and Management, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., pp. 186-187.

Xu, M 2023, . in Encyclopedia of Human Resource Management, Second edition. 2 edn, Elgar Encyclopedias in Business and Management, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., pp. 296-297.

Paper

Xu, M & Wang, W 2023, '', Paper presented at The 10th Bienniel IACMR Conference, Hong Kong, 14/06/23 - 18/06/23.

Xu, M & Wang, L 2023, '', Paper presented at British Academy of Management Conference 2023, Falmer, Brighton, United Kingdom, 4/09/23 - 6/09/23.

Xu, M 2021, '', Paper presented at British Academy of Management annual conference 2021, 31/08/21 - 3/09/21.

Xu, M 2021, '', Paper presented at The 39th International Labour Process Conference 2021, London, United Kingdom, 12/04/21 - 14/04/21.

Poster

Xu, M 2022, '', Work-family Researcher Network conference 2022, New York City, United States, 20/06/22 - 24/06/22. <>