About

Rajashi Ghosh is an Associate Professor of Adult Learning & Leadership in the Department of Organization & Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her scholarly interests include developmental relationships, leader development, and workplace learning. She teaches, publishes, and conducts research to promote continuous learning and development of adults in workplaces. Ghosh has a background in adult learning and development, with prior work experience in Human Resources in a mid-size organization in India, which inspired her to complete her doctorate in Human Resource Development from the University of Louisville, Kentucky. She joined the HRD program at Drexel University’s School of Education as a tenure-track faculty member in September 2009, achieving tenure in September 2015. Since then, she has served in significant leadership roles, including Program Director for the Ph.D. in Education and Department Chair for the Policy, Organization, and Leadership department at Drexel University. Her research explores how developmental initiatives such as mentoring, coaching, and leadership development can facilitate workplace learning by building inclusive relational spaces and countering workplace incivility. Her work is interdisciplinary, recognized through various awards, and she has held editorial roles in prominent journals. Ghosh’s contributions extend to her involvement in professional organizations, where she has served as Editor-in-chief for Human Resource Development International and will serve as Co-Editor-in-Chief for Human Resource Development Quarterly from 2025.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Psychology
• Engineering
• Management
• Medicine
• Computer Science
• Economics
• Virology
• Public relations
• Business
• Internal medicine
• History
• Operations management
• Knowledge management
• Mechanical engineering
• Pedagogy
• Law
• Process management

Selected publications

• Coaching leaders for transformative learning: a hybrid intelligence framework for integrating human and AI coaches

  Journal of Work-Applied Management · 2026-05-13

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Purpose Organizations are increasingly relying on the power of coaching not only to support and develop leaders but also to create sustainable, deep transformational change. As in many domains, artificial intelligence (AI) has entered the coaching arena. Human resource (HR) practitioners responsible for offering coaching to leaders now face a new challenge: how to integrate the cognitive power of AI with the relational depth of human coaches to support leaders with deep, transformative learning (TL). Design/methodology/approach This non-empirical, conceptual paper addresses that challenge by proposing a hybrid intelligence model where AI and human coaches work collaboratively to guide leaders through the ten stages of Mezirow's TL process. Findings Using a fictional narrative vignette of Jaya, a senior leader facing a leadership identity crisis, the paper illustrates how AI excels at structured diagnostics, pattern recognition and goal-tracking, yet struggles with emotional resonance and contextual sensitivity. In contrast, human coaches bring empathy, trust and the capacity to hold meaning-making conversations, essential for TL. Originality/value We propose the first hybrid intelligence integrated framework to guide when and how AI or human coaches should take the lead across each stage of transformation. We offer organizations, HR, coaches and AI developers a roadmap for deploying hybrid coaching models that balance efficiency with empathy and insight with connection to help leadership coaching remain effective, accessible and deeply human in an increasingly automated world.

  PublisherDOI

• Human Resource Development's Role in Supporting Employees Through Grief and Bereavement

  Human Resource Development Quarterly · 2026-02-19

  articleOpen access1st author

  Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Navigating academia as immigrant women: a duoethnographic inquiry into barriers, belonging, and becoming

  Journal for Multicultural Education · 2026-01-06 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  Purpose Women in academia face distinct challenges, particularly in terms of access, inclusion and representation. These challenges can be even more pronounced for immigrant women, who must navigate additional barriers related to cultural adaptation, language and systemic biases. Design/methodology/approach This duoethnographic study explores the lived experiences of two immigrant women in academia – an Irish doctoral student and an Indian American tenured faculty member – whose existing mentoring relationship enabled this collaborative inquiry. Duoethnography, a dialogic qualitative method, not only facilitated critical reflection on personal narratives but also served as a co-mentoring tool, fostering reciprocal learning and deeper engagement with identity, belonging and professional challenges. Findings The findings reveal how immigrant women in academia navigate complex intersections of identity, institutional belonging and stereotype threat. Societal and familial expectations shape their professional identities, often leading to pressures of overperformance and emotional labor. Power dynamics further complicate their experiences, with structural barriers such as inequitable policies, exclusion from informal networks and expectations of unpaid mentorship. The findings illustrate how duoethnography fosters collaborative meaning-making, reflexivity and mutual empowerment. Originality/value This study challenges traditional narratives on diversity in academia by illustrating a nuanced understanding of the barriers immigrant women face, which are often overlooked in broader gender equity discussions. By including the perspective of a White immigrant, this study expands the discourse on immigrant identity, highlighting how racial privilege intersects with cultural displacement in ways that are rarely addressed in immigration studies. Duoethnography captures raw, reflexive and deeply personal insights that quantitative studies or standard interviews fail to uncover, making visible the complexities of both racialized and non-racialized immigrant experiences in academia.

  PublisherDOI

• Ethical <scp>AI</scp> in Social Science Research: The Need for Responsible Design, Reporting, and Review for <scp>HRD</scp> and Beyond

  Human Resource Development Quarterly · 2025-09-01 · 3 citations

  article

  As part of our own exploration of the use of artificial intelligence (AI), we used ChatGPT in support of the development of this manuscript in three ways: (1) in the search for some references used and/or related digital object identifiers; (2) in the formatting of the reference page; and (3) in copyediting/reducing two manuscript sections of text. No AI systems were used for data analysis, conceptual development, or the generation of original content. The authors reviewed and verified all text and take full responsibility for the integrity, accuracy, and originality of the work. Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

  PublisherDOI

• Validating the Identity-Based Mentoring Scales for Undergraduate Engineering Students With Minoritized Identities

  2025-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Mentors extending support and challenge across shared and unshared identities with minoritized students in engineering: theorizing an identity-based model of mentoring

  Mentoring & Tutoring Partnership in Learning · 2025-10-11

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Comprehending multiple identities as minoritized students in engineering: How can diverse developmental networks grow meaning‐making capacity?

  Journal of Engineering Education · 2025-05-21 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Background Mentoring is an important developmental relationship that can positively impact student growth, specifically, students' capacity to make sense of their own selves through addressing any possible incongruence between their social identities and emerging professional identity as engineers. This need is even more pronounced for students who have one or more identities that are minoritized in the field of engineering. Purpose Although prior literature has reported mentoring to have contributed to students' professional identity development as engineers, we lack an understanding of how multiple developers in students' developmental networks can offer complementary support. To address this gap, we sought to understand how diverse developers in students' networks enabled them to filter stereotypes that make their minoritized social identities incongruent with their evolving engineering identity. Design/Methods We used an idiographic case study methodology and paired interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) with intersectionality to analyze data from 10 undergraduate minoritized engineering students. Results We offer three cases in this paper to illustrate minoritized students experiences at the intersections of their identities and how different developers offered three types of holding behaviors (e.g., empathic acknowledgment/confirmation, enabling perspective/contradiction, containment/continuity) that enabled the student mentees to grow their meaning‐making capacity (from formulaic to foundational) so that they could align their social identities with their emerging professional identity as engineers. Conclusion We conclude the paper with a discussion of both research and practice implications about utilizing diverse developmental networks for growing students' meaning‐making capacities needed for them to better comprehend their multiple identities.

  PublisherDOI

• Workplace learning in mentoring (WPLM): a scale development and validation study

  Journal of Workplace Learning · 2025-02-28

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Purpose There is a lack of application of the adult learning theories as a framework to explore how mentors can encourage mentees to practice different workplace learning approaches. The purpose of this study is to construct and present evidence for the validity and reliability of a scale termed workplace learning in mentoring (WPLM). Design/methodology/approach Study 1 generated items for the WPLM through multiple phases, including input from graduate students ( n = 132) and subject matter experts ( n = 15). Study 2 focused on validating the scale using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to establish a final factor structure. A series of validation analyses (predictive, convergent and discriminatory) were conducted using regression, correlations and structural equation modeling (Sample 1 = 379; Sample 2 = 212). Findings In Study 1, the authors generated items and examined content validity, resulting in a four-factor, 20-item scale. Study 2 refined the final WPLM scale to three factors with 15 items. Validation analyses indicated that the WPLM had strong predictive, convergent and discriminatory validity. Specifically, it significantly predicted mentoring satisfaction and quality, converged with traditional, relational and negative mentorship constructs, and was distinct from relationship and personal learning in mentoring. Research limitations/implications While this study advances the understanding of WPLM, future research should explore more diverse samples, as the participants were predominantly Caucasian from the global north. Further research should also examine the role of specific work contexts and how mentors create conditions for different learning approaches. Originality/value This study highlights the importance of mentors’ role in encouraging learning as an organizational outcome that enriches employees by enhancing their knowledge, skills and abilities.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Strategic <scp>HRD</scp> at the Crossroads: Navigating the Learning–Performance Paradox to Align Organizational Goals and Employee Growth

  Human Resource Development Quarterly · 2025-05-30 · 1 citations

  article1st author

  Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed.

  PublisherDOI

• Self‐Other Stances in Reverse Mentoring for Workplace Inclusion: Mutual Relating Across Differences in Hierarchies and Identities

  Human Resource Development Quarterly · 2025-03-06 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT Reverse mentoring (RM) is increasingly being utilized as a tool for learning in diverse workforces. Although previous studies highlight the importance of mutuality in RM relationships, there is a dearth of studies on mutual relating mechanisms in RM. This study explored how mentors who have minoritized identities and hold junior organizational positions and mentees who have privileged identities and hold senior organizational positions relate to each other mutually impact workplace inclusion. In‐depth semi‐structured interviews with RM dyads from a multinational company with headquarters in Australia were held. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was applied to explore how participants interpreted the ways in which they related to each other. Our findings indicate both mentees and mentors adopted a mutual self‐other stance of relating in RM relationships, which enabled them to be attuned to each other's needs and develop a communal connection in their RM relationships. Our study derives a theoretical model of mutual self‐other stances in RM underlying five mechanisms of mutual relating: (1) switching the learner‐expert dynamics; (2) welcoming personalization; (3) using proactivity; (4) leaning on spontaneity; and (5) embracing vulnerability. Implications for research and practice on how this knowledge can help mentors, mentees, organizational leaders, and human resource development professionals to study, design, and implement RM programs for inclusion are presented.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Sanghamitra Chaudhuri

  42 shared

• Brad Shuck

  39 shared

• Gary N. McLean

  39 shared

• Rod P. Githens

  38 shared

• Holly M. Hutchins

  38 shared

• Carole Elliott

  37 shared

• Aitana González Ortiz de Zárate

  Universidad Complutense de Madrid

  36 shared

• Angela Carter

  Memorial University of Newfoundland

  36 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Human Resource Development (HRD)

  University of Louisville

• M.S.

  Drexel University

• B.S.

  Drexel University

Awards & honors

• Dissertation of the Year Award from the Workplace Learning S…
• Best Paper Award in Management Education and Development div…
• Early Career Scholar Award at the Academy of Human Resource…
• Award for Outstanding Early Career Scholar Achievement from…
• Provost Fellowship at Drexel University (2018-19)