Pooja Khatija
  •  pooja.khatija@spjimr.org

Pooja Khatija

Assistant Professor, Organisation and Leadership Studies

Pooja Khatija holds a Ph.D. in Organisational Behaviour from the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. Her research focuses on leadership development, barriers to leadership attainment, leadership coaching, and workplace experiences shaped by social identity. Her work draws on both quantitative and qualitative methods and has been recognised with the Weatherhead School of Management Sherm Grinnell Scholarship and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Excellence Award.

Prior to her doctoral studies, Pooja worked with graduate students in management and engineering as a career and placement coach. With 15 years of training and coaching experience, she is interested in how individuals navigate professional growth, identity, and leadership pathways in organisational contexts. She is a Board-Certified Coach from CCE, US and holds a Post Graduate Degree in Management and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biotechnology.

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Education

Case Western Reserve University

Ph.D. 2026

Focus: Organisational Behaviour

Prin. L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research

MBA/Masters, 2013

Major/Specialisation: Business Design / HR Vertical

University of Mumbai

BE/Bachelors – BSc, 2009

Major/ Specialisation: Biotechnology

  • Research interests

    Leadership and Leadership Attainment

    Social Identity Related Barriers to Leadership Attainment

    Identity Tensions

    Leadership Coaching

    Biases in Recruitment and Selection

  • Selected publications

    Khatija, P., Feddeck, M. V., & Johnson, E. M. (2024). Cultural humility and social identity in coaching. Philosophy of Coaching: An International Journal, 9(2), 16–24. https://doi.org/10.22316/poc/09.2.03

    Schwartz, H. M., Khatija, P., & Bilimoria, D (2021). Holistic Leader/ship Development: An Integrative Process Model of Leader and Leadership Development. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Business and Management. 10.1093/acrefore/9780190224851.013.288

    Link to Google Scholar

  • Books/Book chapters

    van Esch, C., Khatija, P., Bilimoria, D., & Assylkhan, K. (2024). Utilizing organizational and management science theories to understand women and leadership. In S.R. Madsen (Eds.) Handbook of Research on Gender and Leadership (2nd ed.). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035306893.00018

  • Conferences

    Wei, H. Khatija, P. & Bao, L. (July 2026). Organizational Coaching Needs of Asian American Leaders: A Socio-cultural and Multi-level Perspective. Paper accepted at the annual meeting of Academy of Management, Philadelphia.

    Wei, H. Khatija, P. & Bao, L. (July 2026). Asian American Leadership, Coaching, and Career Development. PDW accepted at the annual meeting of Academy of Management, Philadelphia.

    Johnson, E. (Organizer); Khatija, P. (Organizer), & Liu, H. (Organizer) (August 2025). Building Solidarity Among Women of Color: Strengthening a Linked Fate and Mending Wounds of Betrayal, PDW at the annual meeting of Academy of Management, Copenhagen.

    Khatija, P. (Organizer), & Zantye, P. (Organizer) (August 2024). South Asian Women’s Experiences and Challenges in North America: Future Directions for Scholarship, Symposium at the annual meeting of Academy of Management, Chicago.

    Choudhury, A. & Khatija, P. (May 2024). Minority Access to Social Networks: A Micro-foundations Perspective, 17th Equality Diversity Inclusion Conference, Seville, Spain.

    Choudhury, A. & Khatija, P. (April 2024). Equity in Social Networks. Presenting in a symposium organized by Koko, F.E. (Co-Chair) & Maupin, C.K. (Co-Chair). Topic: Network-Based Approaches for Understanding Diversity in Organizations, Symposium at the annual meeting of Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Chicago.

    Khatija, P. & Bilimoria, D. (August 2023). Who and what are Asians: Looking at stereotypes associated with south and east Asians and intersectionality of gender. Presenting in a symposium organized by Ramani, R.S. (Chair). Topic: Recognizing, Measuring, and Addressing Racial Biases in Organizations, Symposium at the annual meeting of Academy of Management, Boston.

    May, K., Volkova-Feddeck, M., & Khatija, P., (June 2023). Truth or myth: Size doesn’t matter? Experiential learning exercise presented at annual meeting of the Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society, Jacksonville.

    Volkova-Feddeck, M., Khatija, P., & May, K. (May 2023). Battling anti-fat bias in an unequal world. Experiential learning exercise presented at annual meeting of the Eastern Academy of Management, Philadelphia.

    Khatija, P. (August 2022). South Asian and east Asian CEO descriptions in the popular media: A look at the intersectionality of race and gender. Presented in a symposium organized by Toh, S.M., (Chair). Radhakrishnan, P., and Mahajan, D. (Discussant). Topic Re-thinking White Standards of Leadership to Develop Women, Black, South- and East-Asian Leaders. Symposium at the annual meeting of Academy of Management, Seattle.

    Johnson, E. (Organizer); Khatija, P. (Organizer), & Liu, H. (Organizer) (August 2021). Intersectional Trauma of Women of Color in Academe: Cultivating Trauma-informed Organizations. Selected as a showcase symposium at annual meeting of the Academy of Management, Virtual.

    Montague-Mfuni, M., Preston, F., Johson, P.J., & Khatija, P. (June 2021). Teaching International Negotiations. Experiential learning exercise presented at annual meeting of the Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society, Virtual.

    Johnson, E. (Organizer); Khatija, P. (Organizer), & Liu, H. (Organizer) (August 2020). Resilience of Women of Color in Academe: Mitigating the Double Bind. Selected as a showcase symposium at annual meeting of the Academy of Management, Virtual

  • Courses

    Leading people

    Leadership in diversity and inclusion

    Working in teams

    Applied multivariate data analysis

  • Awards and honours

    2026 Dean’s Instructional Excellence Award, Case Western Reserve University

    2022 Dean’s Instructional Excellence Award, Case Western Reserve University

  • Teaching interest

    Leadership

    Organisational behaviour

    Diversity and inclusion

    Groups and teams

  • Professional positions

    Vice President (Training), Roy Eddington Charles & Associates (May 2013 to July 2018)

    Manager (Training ), Roy Eddington Charles & Associates (June 2009 to June 2011)

  • Reviewer experience

    Ad hoc reviewer, Psychology of Women Quarterly (2024 – present)

    Ad hoc reviewer, Academy of Management Learning and Education (2024 – present)

    Ad hoc reviewer, Frontiers in Psychology (2021 – present)

    Ad hoc reviewer, Academy of Management Annual Meeting (2022 – present)

  • Professional memberships

    Academy of Management (AOM)

    Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology (SIOP)

    CARMA Women in Research Methods (WRM)

    Southern Academy of Management (SMA)

    Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society (MOBTS)

  • Licensures and certifications

    2023-28 Board Certified Coach- Centre for Credentialing & Education

  • Contracts, grants and sponsored research

    2026 Suresh Srivastava Srivastva Scholarship, OB, Weatherhead School of Management at CWRU

    2025 Sherm Grinnell Scholarship, Weatherhead School of Management at CWRU

    2024 Ruth Barber Moon Award, Case Western Reserve University

    2024 Sherm Grinnell Scholarship, Weatherhead School of Management at CWRU

    2023 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Excellence (DEIE) Award, Graduate Student Council, Case Western Reserve University.

    2023 Sherm Grinnell Scholarship, Weatherhead School of Management at CWRU.

    2020 Academy of Management Research Methods Division-CARMA (Consortium for the Advancement of Research Methods and Analysis) Doctoral Student and Junior Faculty Consortium, 2020

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