Professor Ian Cunningham

Work, Employment and Organisation

Personal statement

Ian Cunningham is Professor of Employment Relations in the Department of HRM. He is an Academic Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and between 2010 - 2013 he was Treasurer of the British Universities Industrial Relations Association (BUIRA). Professor Cunningham's research interests include voluntary sector employment relations, sickness absence and disability management, employee involvement and participation and public sector employment relations during austerity. Professor Cunningham has published in a wide range of HR and public administration journals and has strong research links with scholars from Canada and Austrlia. He is currently supervising four Phd students.

Publications

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Publications

Global union federations and the LTC workforce during turbulent times: Cunningham Ian, Charlesworth Sara, Daly Tamara; Care work in Turbulent Times (2027) (2027)
Partnership : Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Employee Voice: Johnstone J, Cunningham Ian; Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Employee Voice (2026) (2026)
"As long as you stick to the boundaries and stick to your level of experience" : Employee voice and autonomy among voluntary sector social care workers in lean teams: Baluch Alina, Cunningham Ian, James Philip; International Labour Process Conference (2026)
Addressing contextual pressures and challenges in social care : the prospects of multi-actor engagement with strategic HRM: Baluch Alina, Scholarios Dora, Cunningham Ian, James Philip, Jendro Eva, Johnstone Stewart; Human Resource Management Vol 64, pp. 1747-1765 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.70000
Line Managers and the Management of (Sickness) Absence in Social Care: Hadjisolomou Anastasios, Remnant Jennifer, Mitsakis Fotios, Haroon Tejumola Qawiyah, Cunningham Ian; (2025); https://doi.org/10.17868/strath.00094607
Evaluating Employee Voice in Social Care: Time 3 Qualitative Findings : Report for Scottish Government and Inspiring Scotland: Nikolova Marina, Briken Kendra, Cunningham Ian, Scholarios Dora, McCarthy Tony; (2025)

More publications

Teaching

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Teaching

Professor Ian Cunningham currently teaches on undergraduate and postgraduate in employee relations.

Along with Dr Colin Lindsay Ian has developed an Honours level module in HRM and Employee Relations in Public Services.

Research

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Research Interests

Professor Ian Cunningham's research interests include employee relations in voluntary organisations, absence and disability management, employee involvement in voluntary organisations and employment relations in the public services during austerity. In recent years in has published a book with Routledge (2008) entitled 'Employment Relations in the Voluntary Sector'. In addition, with Professor Phil James he published an edited volume entitled 'Voluntary Organisations and Public Service Delivery', Routledge. This includes contributions from scholars from the UK, Canada, Australia and the United States. Ian has been involved in 7 funded research projects in recent years, including two with a international comparative aspect. Currently he is working with Professor Donna Baines of McMaster University on a project examining precarious work among the non-profit workforce. Ian is currently beginning work looking at employment conditions in voluntary and private care providers in Scotland. His other research interests include employee absence and disability, involvement and participation and public service employment during austerity. Professor Cunningham currently has four Phd students.