Michael Pratt is the O’Connor Family Professor in the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. Formerly at the University of Illinois, he has lectured at the University of Warsaw, and has been invited to speak in various locations across the world, including universities in North America, Asia, Australia and Europe. He currently serves as an associate editor at the Administrative Science Quarterly and has been recognized as an Academy of Management Fellow. His research is problem-centered and process-oriented, and centers on how individuals connect with the work that they do, as well as to the organizations, professions, occupations and other collectives in which they find themselves. Pratt has studied a wide variety of occupations and professions, including physicians and nurses, firefighters, police officers, multilevel marketing distributors, librarians as well as business leaders in Fortune 500 companies.

His research has appeared in several leading academic journals and edited volumes, and he has co-edited two books. He was a recipient of the 2007 Best Paper Award for the Academy of Management Review (with Erik Dane). His research has also been showcased in TIME magazine, Discover magazine, the New Yorker, Forbes and MIT Sloan Review, as well as in the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, and the New York Times.  Pratt has also made an appearance on Here and Now on NPR, and his research on meaningful work was recently showcased in the new book, The Job.