Research areas

Gender pay gap; Institutional change; Social impact

Biography

Dr Sally Curtis is a Lecturer in the Research School of Management at The Australian National University. She is also a Research Affiliate with the Global Institute for Women's Leadership, ANU McCusker Fellow, and Advisor at the Social Outcomes Lab. Sally’s research examines the change mechanisms involved with tackling social challenges and working towards a more equitable and inclusive society. Her research focuses on how organisations, institutions, and intermediaries drive social change in pursuit of a more equitable and inclusive society. She studies change at multiple levels — from individuals to organisations, fields, and policy systems — with current research focused on gender pay gap disclosure, scaling social impact in social enterprises, and institutional change in transdisciplinary education. Sally brings an interdisciplinary lens to complex social problems and enjoys working at the nexus between research and management practice, where she creates and translates scientific evidence with, and for, leaders who wish to have a social impact. Her work has been published in leading scholarly journals.

View ORCID profile
 

Grants

Grants

Curtis, S. (2026). “Organisational responses to employer gender pay gap disclosure. ANU Research School of Management

Curtis, S. (2022). Scaling social impact: A literature review. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

Curtis, S., Ahmed, N. and Glennie, M. (2019-2020). Evaluating the impact of the ABC’s Trailblazer program on social change leaders. Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

Capezio, A., Curtis, S. and Barends, E. (2019-2020). Improving workplace culture in the ACT Health System. Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Health Directorate.

Awards 

2025 Journal of Industrial Relations Frans Hayes Award Special Commendation for the article “Bridging disclosure and action: The role of intermediaries in gender pay gap regulation” in recognition of a major contribution to research on equity in industrial relations.

ANU College of Business and Economics Teaching Commendation for Outstanding Teaching, 2020

People’s Choice Award, ANU College of Business and Economics Three Minute Thesis Competition, 2013.
 

Publications

Peer-reviewed academic outlets

Curtis, S., William, J., von Reibnitz, A., Glennie, M. & Pekarek, A., (2025). Bridging disclosure and action: The role of intermediaries in gender pay gap regulation. Journal of Industrial Relations.

Logue, D., Curtis, S., Edwards, M., and McAllister (2025). Scaling social impact. In V. Collewaert and J. Jansen (Eds) Handbook of Research on Scaling High-Growth Firms, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Hirst, G., Curtis, S., Nielson, I., Smyth, R., Newman, A. and Xiao, N. (2023). Refugee recruitment and workplace integration: An opportunity for human resource management scholarship and impact. Human Resource Management Journal.

Curtis, S. and Bradly, A. (2021), Inclusive Business: A Private Sector Approach to Poverty Alleviation in Developing Economies. In T. Maak, N. Pless, M. Orlitzky, and S. Sandhu (Eds.) Routledge Companion to Corporate Social Responsibility, London: Routledge.

Research reports and outreach

Glennie, M., von Reibnitz,A., William, J., Curtis, S. and Bordia, S. (2021). Review of the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012. Submission to Australian Government Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Glennie, M., von Reibnitz,A., William, J., Curtis, S. and Bordia, S. (2021). Australia has ranked last in an international pay gap study - here are three ways to do better. The Conversation, October 1, 2021. Available here.

Glennie, M., von Reibnitz,A., William, J., Curtis, S. and Bordia, S. (2021). Gender pay gap reporting in Australia - time for an upgrade. The Australian National University, Canberra: Australia.

Bordia, S., Curtis, S. Glennie, M., von Reibnitz, A., and William, J. (2021). ESG reporting: The case of gender pay gap reporting. Business for Social Impact Knowledge Exchange, Melbourne, Australia (authors listed in alphabetical order, all equal first authors).

Capezio, A., Curtis, S. and Barends, E. (2020). Investing in our people: A system-wide, evidence-based approach to workplace change. ACT Health Directorate, Canberra: Australia.

Curtis, S., Ahmed, N. and Glennie, M. (2020). ABC Heywire Trailblazers impact evaluation. Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Melbourne: Australia.

Peer-reviewed conferences

Hartman, A., Curtis, S. & Dacin, M., 2025, Self-Oriented Social Symbolic Work: The Identity Regulation of Egg Donors in Morally Complex Markets. 18 Jun 2025, 8th Interdisciplinary Market Studies Workshop: Nordic Noir – Exploring the Dark Sides of Markets.

Curtis, S. 2018. The paradox of inclusive business: Capability contraction and expansion, 34th European Group of Organisational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium, Tallinn, Estonia.

Curtis, S and Bradly, A., 2016. Inclusive business: Towards a conceptual framework and research agenda, Annual European Academy of Management (EURAM) Conference, Paris, France. 

Research engagement

Academic

Ad-hoc reviewer, Journal of Business Ethics

Member, U.S. Academy of Management (AoM)

Member, European Group for Organisational Studies (EGOS)

Professional

2020. Organising Committee Member, Social Innovation Conference (SICON), Canberra. A partnership with the ANU Research School of Management, The Social Outcomes Lab and ACT Government aimed at building a vibrant social innovation network in the ACT.

University Service

2023 to 2024. Honours Convenor, ANU Research School of Management.

2021 to 2023. Chair, Research School of Management Gender Equity Committee.

2019 to 2024. Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access Committee, ANU College of Business and Economics.

2020 to 2023. ANU Gender Equity Working Group.

2019 to 2020. Executive Committee Member, ANU Research School of Management.

2017 to 2020. Member, Higher Degree Research Committee, ANU Research School of Management.
 

Teaching

Sally has supervised honours and advanced Masters students to completion and is currently supervising Masters and PhD students. She teaches research methods modules to higher degree research students.

Course Convenor

MGMT8063 Leading Social Impact

MGMT3102 Business and its Social Stakeholders

Other education activities:

College of Business and Economics Internship Program Supervisor

Mentor, Innovation ACT