Research interests

Digitalisation and work

Digitalisation affects all levels and structures of society. Work life science's research regarding digitalisation is based on an interdisciplinary perspective and relates to how work and the work environment are affected when digital solutions are implemented. The emphasis is on employees' experiences and conditions at work, while at the same time focusing on a manage­ment, HRM and health and safety representative perspective.

Examples of explored areas of working life are changed working conditions with digital solution; interpersonal relationships at work, robot colleagues, precarious employment (Gig jobs), challenged boundaries between work and private life and the raison d'etre of office space.

Organizing and managing work, and HRM

In work-life science we look at the three levels of organizing; leader, team and individual. We look at what leadership is: what leaders do, and the actual and symbolic role they play. How leaders develop and the nature of managerial work, and role of team and co-working. Lastly, we look at the function and meaning of being a co-worker. The co-workers’ engagement in the organization, as followers but also the demands on active self-leadership. It is important for people to experience meaning at work, and this can happen in many different ways. The experience of meaning in work and/or good work may differ depending on whether you are employed or have your own business; how well the work conforms to personal interest; if the work is considered to be (social) useful, etc.

We also study how the triad leaders-teams- co-workers together organize and together performs work, with a special focus on communication and meetings.

Human resources management in an organization is tasked with managing and administering an organization's workforce to achieve the organization's goals. In our research, we are interested in understanding how HRM can contribute to sustainable work by, for example, supporting managers and employees around boundaryless work (teleworking), digitalization, disability, and inclusion.

Social structures and relations at work

In our research, we are interested in how different social positions in society affect working life. We focus on the importance of gender, ethnicity, class, age, and disability. From an intersectional perspective, we can investigate how these positions interact with each other and create different conditions for the individual.

We have an interest in how loyalties and loyalty conflicts informs and influences relations in everyday life in general and work place relations in particular, bringing new lights on well-known phenomena such as social relations at work place level. Our exploration of loyalties spans over the formal obligations as well as the informal expectations that shapes our experiences from work and life. The research contains for example how loyalty relations and conflicting loyalties affects understandings and experiences from work. Loyalty conflicts, a latent aspect of life, sometimes manifests in more dramatic forms such as the dilemmas regarding whistle blowing, matters of conscience and role ambiguities.  

The regulation of work and employment

This research cluster focuses on the institutional and social structures that construe the regulation of work and employment, from macro level legislative and statutory influences to collective organization and workplace relations. Research in this area has included, inter alia, the changing role of the state in contemporary industrial relations, trade union representation of workers’ interests, and the mediation of workplace relations through informal worker collectives. Recent studies have included the role of the state and other regulatory actors in the experience of labour migration; trade unions and the mediation of workers’ attitudes towards environmental policy; and occupational identities and sites of belonging in the navigation of workplace transitions.