Research

The Department of Work, Organizational, and Economic Psychology at KL is active in three research fields. The primary goal of these three fields is to design work and organizations in a way that promotes motivation and effectiveness.  

Work and Health. 

Our research focuses on positive aspects of "health". The focus is on the conditions that lead to effective self-regulation, optimal motivation, job satisfaction, learning and performance. 

Personality in the Work Context. 

We examine risk and resilience factors of personality. We are interested in connections with well-being, stress experience, learning, and coping with change.

Self-concept and identity in organizations. 

Our research in this area is of relevance to the design of collaboration in teams and the management of diversity in organizations. 

Questions we address include: 

• Motivation in the work context.

Are there age differences in adult performance goals?

What role do workplace contextual factors play in maintaining adaptive performance goals?

How do performance goals influence self-evaluation processes?

• Identity in Organizations

Through what psychological mechanisms does an unequal gender ratio influence the performance and well-being of individual group members?

How does a sense of inclusion emerge? The importance of personal identity for belonging and authenticity.

• Personality in the work context

What is the importance of ability self-concept for job satisfaction and the emergence of self-regulatory exhaustion?

What makes "psychological entitlement" a vulnerability factor in the work context?

Why do people judge fairness differently?

• Economic conditions and life satisfaction

Are there systematic differences in the occurrence of high life satisfaction? 

What role do personality and socio-economic circumstances play?

How do people maintain high life satisfaction even under unfavourable economic circumstances?