Charlotte Karam

Full Professor

Ian Telfer Professorship in Inclusive HR Systems and Institutional Impact

Management

B.A. (Hon.) (American University of Beirut), M.A. (University of Windsor), Ph.D. (University of Windsor)

Location: DMS 8160
Telephone: 613-562-5800 x 4920

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Biography

Charlotte Karam is a full professor at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, where she holds the Ian Telfer Professorship in Inclusive HR Systems and Institutional Impact. A scholar-activist, her research bridges inclusive human resource systems, business ethics, public policy, and feminist praxis, examining how organizations and institutions reproduce or challenge structural inequalities and how scholarship can contribute to meaningful societal change.

Her current research advances a critical understanding of socially engaged scholarship, knowledge mobilization, and institutional impact. Through her renewed professorship and SSHRC-funded project, Rethinking Research Impact and Knowledge Mobilization in Management, she examines how management and business schools define, recognize, and evaluate impactful scholarship. She also explores whose knowledge is valued and how institutional practices shape the legitimacy and sustainability of research that engages with societal challenges. This work informs her commitment to strengthening research culture, graduate mentorship, and knowledge mobilization at Telfer and beyond.

Karam’s research builds on more than a decade of feminist participatory action research and collaborative institutional reform. As principal investigator on the SAWI (Support and Accelerate Women’s Inclusion) project, she led international, interdisciplinary collaborations across the Middle East and North Africa to develop evidence-based tools and advance women-inclusive HR policies and organizational practices. This work has received international recognition, including the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business’s Innovations That Inspire distinction, the University of Ottawa's Knowledge Mobilization Excellence Award, and inclusion on the Financial Times 2024 problem solvers for the planet list.

Professor Karam is co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Business Ethics, where she sees her role as fostering an inclusive and intellectually pluralistic scholarly community, advancing epistemic justice, and creating space for diverse perspectives, critical inquiry, and voices historically marginalized in mainstream business scholarship. Her research has appeared in leading journals including Organization Studies, Journal of Business Ethics, Business Ethics Quarterly, Business & Society, International Journal of Management Reviews, Journal of Vocational Behavior, and Gender, Work & Organization.

Before joining the University of Ottawa in 2021, Professor Karam spent over 13 years at the American University of Beirut Suliman S. Olayan School of Business, where she served as department chair, associate dean of programs, and founding director of the Center for Women in Business.

Research areas

Career patterns and opportunities for women and other marginalized groups Development-oriented CSR Gendered career ecosystems Inclusive human resource systems Multistakeholder mobilization for scholar-activism and institutional impact Responsible leadership and engagement of organizations

Teaching interests

Business Ethics Gender, Work and Organization Inclusive human resource systems Leadership Leadership and Management Development Organizational Behavior

Pillars

Happier Healthier

Publications during the last 7 years

Papers in Refereed Journals

Terpstra-Tong, J., Ralston, D.A., Trevino, L., Karam, C.M., Caprar, D., Dabic, M., Furrer, O., Jabeen, F., Froese, F., Tjemkes, B., Tucková, Z., Buzády, Z., Szabo, E., Herrera, M.B., Naidoo, V., Husic-Mehmedovic, M., Susniene, D., Pekerti, A., Ricard, A., Colovic, A., de la Garza, T., Al-Khouri, R., Molteni, M., Srinivasan, N., Burns, C., Fang, Y., Zhao, F., Potocan, V., Thanh, H.V., Alas, R. 2026. Microculture Cohorts and Organizational Culture Preferences: A Multilevel Configurational Analysis across 40 Societies. Cross Cultural and Strategic Management, (Accepted).
Karam, C.M., Makarem, Y. 2026. Sites of contestation: How framing tensions shape feminist organizing. Organization.
Afiouni, F., Boersma, M., Karam, C.M., Miska, C. 2026. Speaking Across Silences: Academic Freedom, Care, and Responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 205: 1-18.
Daouk-Öyry, L., Karam, C.M., Geha, C. 2026. The Institutional Work of Scholar Activism as Collective Healing in Creeping Crises. International Review of Psychiatry.
Islam, G., Greenwood, M., Karam, C.M. 2026. Thick Ethical Concepts: Between Philosophy and Social Science in Business Ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly, (Accepted).
Terpstra-Tong, J., Ralston, D.A., Furrer, O., Karam, C.M., Egri, C.P., Richards, M., Dabic, M., Reynaud, E., Fu, P.P., Palmer, I., Srinivasan, N., de la Garza Carranza, M.T., Butt, A., Gutierrez, J.R., Lee, C., Moon, Y.L., Pla-Barber, José, Molteni, M., Kuo, M.H., Casado, T., Sidani, Y., Mockaitis, A., Milton, L., Zatorska, L., Ho, B.C., Gelbuda, M., Alas, R., Danis, W. 2025. Attitudes of Millennials towards Corporate Responsibility: A Multilevel Analysis of 28 Societies. Cross Cultural and Strategic Management, 32(2): 291–316.
Ralston, D.A., Terpstra-Tong, J., Ramburuth, P., Karam, C.M., Furrer, O., Naoumova, I., Richards, M., Srinivasan, N., León-Darder, F., Reynaud, E., de la Garza Carranza, M.T., Casado, T., Dabic, M., Kangasniemi, M., Palmer, I., Szabo, E., Ruiz Gutiérrez, J., von Wangenheim, F., Fu, P.P., Pekerti, A., Molteni, M., Starkus, A., Mockaitis, A., Butt, A., Potocan, V., Dharmasiri, A.S., Kuo, C., Dalgic, T., Lenartowicz, T., Vu Thanh, H., Moon, Y.L., Hallinger, P., Girson, I., Egri, C.P., Milton, L., Rossi, A.M., Weber, M., Ansari, M.A., Alas, R., Danis, W., Elenkov, D., Brock, D.M. 2025. Is There a Global-business-subculture Effect on Gender Differences? A Multi-Society Analysis of Subordinate Influence Ethics Behaviors. Business Horizons, 68(3): 277-300.
Karam, C.M., DeJordy, R., Creed, D., Daouk-Öyry, L., Scott, S., Geha, C., Daou, A. 2025. Resourcing Agency for Sustained Collective Action Amidst Creeping Crises. Organization Studies, 46(7): 967-994.
Van Buren III, H.J., Karam, C.M., Newman, A., Higgins, C. 2024. Conceptualizing, Theorizing, and Measuring the Contributions of Business to Refugee Crises. Business and Society, 63(1): 3-17.
Van Buren III, H.J., Karam, C.M., Afiouni, F. 2024. Producing Actionable Knowledge about Marginalized Populations and Communities. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: an International Journal, 43(2): 300-312.
Karam, C.M., Greenwood, M., Kauzlarich, L., O'Leary Kelly, A., Wilcox, R. 2023. Intimate partner violence and business: Exploring the boundaries of ethical enquiry. Journal of Business Ethics, 187: 645–655.
Salamoun, R., Karam, C.M., Abdullah. C. 2022. A feminist-affordance lens: examining the power outcomes of the actualization of smartphone affordances. Information Technology and People.
Hitti, E., Hadid, D., Khoury, S.J., Tamim, H., Makki, M., Karam, C.M. 2022. Domestic Tethers: Gender Differences in Career Paths and Domestic Responsibilities of Top-Research Medical School Graduates. Frontiers in Education.
Böhm, S., Carrington, M., Cornelius, N., de Bruin, B., Greenwood, M., Hassan, L., Jain, T., Karam, C.M., Kourula, A., Romani, L., Riaz, S., Shaw, D. 2022. Ethics at the Centre of Global and Local Challenges: Thoughts on the Future of Business Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 180: 835–861.
Creed, W.E.D., Gray, B., Hollerer, M.A., Karam, C.M., Reay, T. 2022. Organizing for Social and Institutional Change in Response to Disruption, Division and Displacement: Introduction to the Special Issue. Organization Studies, 43(10): 1535-1557.
Terpstra-Tong, J., Ralston, D.A., Trevino, L., Karam, C.M., Furrer, O., Froese, F., Tjemkes, B., Darder, F.L., Richards, M., Dabic, M., Li, Y., Fu, P.P., Molteni, M., Palmer, I., Tucková, Z., Szabo, E., Poeschl, G., Hemmert, M., Butt, A., de la Garza, T., Susniene, D., Suzuki, S., Srinivasan, N., Gutierrez, J.R., Ricard, A., Buzády, Z., Paparella, L.S., Morales, O., Naidoo, V., Kangasniemi-Haapala, M., Dalgic, T., Alas, R., Potocan, V., Dharmasiri, A.S., Fang, Y., Burns, C., Crowley-Henry, M. 2022. The Impact of Gender Role Orientations on Subjective Career Success: A Multilevel Study of 36 Societies. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 138: 103773.
Karam, C.M., Afiouni, F. 2021. Career Constructions and a Feminist Standpoint on the Meaning of Context. Gender, Work and Organization, 28(2): 672-700.
Karam, C.M., Ghanem, M. 2021. Multilevel power dynamics shaping employer anti-sexual harassment efforts in Lebanon. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: an International Journal, 40(4): 375-391.
Geha, C., Karam, C.M. 2021. Whose Feminism? Gender-Inclusive Policymaking in the Arab Middle East and North Africa. SAIS Review of International Affairs, 41(1): 23-31.
Afiouni, F., Karam, C.M., Makarem, Y. 2020. Contextual Embeddedness and the Relational Influences on Women’s Careers. Human Resource Management (USA), 30(3): 343-364.
Richardson. J., Karam, C.M., Afiouni, F. 2020. The global refugee crisis and the career ecosystem. Career Development International, 25(1): 1-13.
Afiouni, F., Karam, C.M. 2019. The formative role of contextual hardships in women’s career calling. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 114(69): 87.

Chapters in Books

Karam, C.M., Ghanem, M. Understanding Diversity in the Lebanese Workplace: Legal Protections in the Context of Protracted Crises and Occupation. In Klarsfeld, A., et al. Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Under Researched Countries. London: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022.
Sharma, R.R., Chawla, S., Karam, C.M. Global Gender Gap Index: World Economic Forum Perspective. In Ng, E., et al. Handbook on Diversity and Inclusion Indices: A Research Compendium. London: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021, (In Press).

Invited Contributions and/or Technical Reports

(Case) Daouk-Öyry, L., Karam, C.M., Meouchi, A.. 2021. "Zain: A Story of Diversity and Inclusion from a Leading Middle East Telecom Group", Ivey Business School Publications, London, Ontario, Canada.

Funded Research during the last 7 years

Funded Research during the last 7 years
From-To	Source	Title	Purpose	Type	Role	Amount
2024-2026	Telfer School of Management and Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation (OVPRI)	Lead of the Telfer Knowledge Mobilization Pilot Initiative	O	I	PI	$20,000
2022-2025	U.S. Dept of State, Middle East Partnership Initiative Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Federal Assistance Award	Strengthening Women’s Contributions to the MENA Economy: Implementation of Inclusive HR Policies	R	G	PI	$4,545,158
2022-2022	University of Ottawa, Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation	Knowledge Mobilization Award	R	I	PI	$7,000
2021-2022	U.S. Dept of State, Middle East Partnership Initiative Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Federal Assistance Award	Strengthening Women’s Contributions to the MENA Economy: Gender-lens Investing	R	G	PI	$644,440
2021-2022	European Commission (EU) Women as Actors in Peace Processes	SAWT: Supporting Arab Women at the Table (Leadership Fellowship program Libya, Yemen, Palestine, Syria, Iraq), with Arab Reform Initiative	R	G	Co-I	$289,370
2021-2021	UN Development Programme (UNDP)	Employer consultations on Lebanon’s recent Anti-Sexual Harassment Law	R	O	PI	$38,667
2020-2021	UN Women Award	Mobilizing employers for the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law in Lebanon	R	O	PI	$54,068
2020-2021	University Research Board (URB), American University of Beirut	Critical feminist review of literature on entrepreneurship in developing countries	R	O	Co-I	$13,276
2019-2022	U.S. Dept of State, Middle East Partnership Initiative Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Federal Assistance Award	Strengthening Women’s Contributions to the MENA Economy: SAWI Project	R	G	PI	$3,867,000
2018-2021	U.S. Dept of State, Middle East Partnership Initiative Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Federal Assistance Award	Strengthening Women’s Contribution to the Economy in the MENA: KIP Index	R	G	PI	$1,933,687
2018-2020	Euro Erasmus+ CBHE Project	Female Academic Role Models - Institution U. Nacional De Educacion	R	G	Co-I	$133,149
2009-2019	University Research Board (URB), American University of Beirut	Internal Grants (Suliman S. Olayan School of Business, American University of Beirut)	R	O	PI	$110,200

LEGEND:

Role
PI = Principal Investigator | Co-I = Co-Investigator | Co-PI = Co-Principal Investigator