What we do – Check out our research projects
Some results from our projects have already been published and you find the respective work under „Our publications.“
Perceptions of identity-related role gains and drains
Work and nonwork roles are often depicted as competing for the same set of resources (e.g., energy, time). However, studies also find that each role we have can help us gain resources, such as new perspectives or skills. In this research stream, we study the mechanisms underlying the experience of resources drains and gains with a particular focus on the importance of integrating (i.e., blending) versus segmenting identities and roles (i.e., keeping these separate), such as when teleworking. We further focus on the conditions when others, such as supervisors, are more or less likely to perceive such gains and drains in others.
Mitigating gender and parenthood stereotypes
Gender and parenthood, particularly motherhood, stereotypes at work are prevailing, portraying women as warm and caring and men as competent and competitive. These perceptions result in stalled promotion prospects and poorer performance evaluations for women and mothers. We study how we can change these perceptions.
Friendship at work
Friendship at work is a particular form of integrating work and nonwork. In our research, we currently study the ups and downs of mixing friend and professional roles, for instance, in entrepreneurial teams. We are, for instance, interested in better understanding how employees communicate when seeking help from their workplace friends and when they are more (and less) successful in doing so.
The social cure and social curse
Being part of multiple groups comes with various positive health and well-being consequences, which is why groups are also described as a „social cure.“ However, groups can also deteriorate health and well-being under certain circumstances, which has been coined as a „social curse.“ We are interested in understanding the conditions that result in groups helping or harming health and well-being. Here, we focus, for instance, on the importance of group norms and expectations.