Research projects

Most research on human energy in organisations has built on self-regulation and ego-depletion theories to argue that low levels of human energy are related to reduced self-regulation which in turn negatively affects interpersonal relationships. We are developing and testing an alternative theoretical model according to which the level of energetic asynchrony of individuals determines whether high and low levels of energy lead to positive or negative interpersonal outcomes. We posit that it is not the absolute level of energy an individual has, but rather how much they have relative to others, and in what combination. We test our theoretical model using senior nurses and midwives and their direct reports at Liverpool Hospital and we employ experience sampling methodology. The aim of the study is to provide practical insights into better self-management of collective human energy resources.

Industry partner: South Western Sydney Local Health District Liverpool Hospital
Timeline: 2017 - 2018
Funding: $45,000

This project will investigate how silence emerges in teams, what sustains it, and how it affects error and safety outcomes. Employees often choose to remain silent about important issues at work, which can have devastating consequences. Although silence is a complex individual phenomenon, there is little knowledge of silence as a collective phenomenon, or how it spreads and becomes the norm in teams and organisations. This project will investigate silence using multilevel, longitudinal designs and by testing novel interventions. Our aim is to affect how teams work and communicate effectively to reduce dangerous forms of silence and improve safety.

Industry partners: Prince of Wales Hospital, Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District 
Timeline: 2016 - 2019
Funding: $230,000

The core of this project is a randomised control trial with nurses, for whom compassion and wellbeing are vital to the provision of quality care, but who often work in settings that produce high stress, emotional overload, overwork, and "compassion fatigue". We compare two compassion-based interventions and a control condition using a research design that incorporates qualitative and quantitative outcome measures in participants as well as staff and patients with whom they interact. The study employs a number of objective measures such as psycho-physiological markers of stress and resilience, social network analysis, and ethnographic observations. We aim to contribute to best-practice design of interventions to enhance compassion and wellbeing.

Timeline: July 2016 – July 2018
Funding: $315,000 

Extending leadership research by developing and testing a theory of leader-member energetic asynchrony that describes how differences in chronotypes and daily cycles of cognitive performance affect leader-member relationships. In a combination of laboratory and field studies in the healthcare sector we will examine the effects of energetic asynchrony on different types of leader-member constellations with different asynchrony profiles. The project aims to integrate biological theories of chronotypes with research on leader-member attributions and self-regulation to demonstrate the important effects of leader-member energetic asynchrony on the nature and quality of their relationship.

Funding: $21,000
Timeline: 2016 - 2017

Petrie K, Joyce S, Tan L, Henderson M, Johnson A, Nguyen H, Modini M, Groth M, Glozier N and Harvey SB 2018 'A framework to create more mentally healthy workplaces: A viewpoint', Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, vol.52:1, pp. 15-23

Johnson A, Nguyen H, Groth M and White L 2018 'Reaping the Rewards of Functional Diversity in Healthcare Teams: Why Team Processes Improve Performance', Group and Organization Management, vol.43:3, pp. 440-474

Nguyen H, Johnson A, Collins C and Parker S 2017 'Confidence matters: Self-efficacy Moderates the Credit that Supervisors Give to Adaptive and Proactive Role Behaviours', British Journal of Management, vol.28:2, pp. 315-30

Volk S, Pearsall MJ, Christian MS and Becker WJ 2017 'Chronotype diversity in teams: Toward a theory of team energetic asynchrony', Academy of Management Review, vol.42:4, pp. 683-702

Nguyen H, Groth M and Johnson A 2016 'When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Keep Working: Impact of Emotional Labor on Absenteeism', Journal of Management, vol.42:3, pp. 615-43

Johnson A, Nguyen H, Groth M, Wang K and Ng JL 2016 'Time to change: a review of organisational culture change in health care organisations', Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, vol.3:3, pp. 265-88

Becker WJ, Volk S and Ward MK 2015 'Leveraging neuroscience for smarter approaches to workplace intelligence', Human Resource Management Review, vol.25:1, pp. 56-67

Nguyen H and Williamson A 2015 'When Practice Does Not Make Perfect: Effects of Strategic Cognitive Processes on Errors During Skill Development', Applied Cognitive Psychology, vol.29:2, pp. 299-308

Blewitt L, Wang K, Nguyen H, Johnson A, Pidial K and Yu N 2015 'Mindfulness: Creating the Space for Compassionate Care', Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, vol.8:4, pp. 706-10

Volk S and Becker WJ 2014 'How Insights From Neuroeconomics Can Inform Organizational Research: The Case of Prosocial Organizational Behavior', Schmalenbach Business Review, vol.5:14, pp. 65-86

Volk S, Köhler T and Pudelko M 2014 'Brain drain: The cognitive neuroscience of foreign language processing in multinational corporations', Journal of International Business Studies, vol.45:7, pp. 862-85

Nguyen H, Groth M, Walsh G and Hennig-Thurau T 2014 'The Impact of Service Scripts on Customer Citizenship Behavior and the Moderating Role of Employee Customer Orientation', Psychology and Marketing, vol.31:12, pp. 1096-109

Parker SK, Johnson A, Collins C and Nguyen H 2013 'Making the Most of Structural Support: Moderating Influence of Employees’ Clarity and Negative Affect', Academy of Management Journal, vol.56:3, pp. 867-92

Johnson A, Nguyen H, Groth M, Bove A, Crisp J and White L 2013 'Effect of Violence in Organizations on Organizational Effectiveness: The role of Engagement', 73rd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Orlando, United States, 13th August 2013

Volk S 2013 'Diversity courses in management education: A game experimental approach to the assessment of course needs', International Journal of Management Education, vol.11:3, pp. 163-173

Volk S and Köhler T 2012 'Brains and games: Applying neuroeconomics to organizational research', Organizational Research Methods, vol.15:4, pp. 522-552

Volk S, Thoeni C and Ruigrok W 2012 'Temporal stability and psychological foundations of cooperation preferences', Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, vol.81:2, pp. 664–676

Johnson A and Jackson PR 2012 'Golden parachutes: Changing the experience of unemployment for managers', Journal of Vocational Behavior, vol.80:2, pp. 474-85

Johnson A, Nguyen H, Groth M and Parker SK 2011 'Learning and development: Promoting nurses’ performance and work attitudes', Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol.67:3, pp. 609-20

Volk S, Thöni C and Ruigrok W 2011 'Personality, personal values and cooperation preferences in public goods games: A longitudinal study', Personality and Individual Differences, vol.50:6, pp. 810–815

Volk S and Pudelko M 2010 'Challenges and opportunities for Islamic retail banking in the European context: Lessons to be learnt from a British–German comparison', Journal of Financial Services Marketing, vol.15:3, pp. 191–202

Volk S 2016 'Daily fluctuations in constructive and destructive leadership: A dynamic-physiological perspective', 30th Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management ANZAM Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 9th December 2016

Volk S, Christian MS and Becker WJ 2016 'Chronotype diversity, working times, and team performance', 32nd European Group of Organizational Studies EGOS Colloquium, Naples, Italy, 9th July 2016

Volk S, Christian MS, Becker WJ and Pearsall MJ 2016 'A theory of chronotype diversity and team performance', Proceedings of the 76th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Anaheim, United States, 9th August 2016

Johnson A, Nguyen H, Parker SK, Groth M, Coote S, Perry L and Way B 2016 '“That was a good shift”: Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Junior Doctors’ experience on overtime', 76th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Anaheim, United States, 9th August 2016

Wang K, Goodwin RE, Johnson A, Nguyen H and Groth M 2016 'Demanding resources: Investigating non-linear and interactive effects of skill utilization and job demands on unpaid sick leave', European Academy of Management Conference, Paris, France, 4th June 2016

Welp A, Johnson A, Nguyen H, Murray S, Yu N and Perry L 2016 'Enhancing teamwork and quality of care through personal professional development activities – the mediating role of reflective thinking', 12th European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology (EAOHP), Athens, Greece, 13th April 2016

Nguyen H, Groth M and Johnson A 2016 'Effects of Shared Positive and Negative Display Rules on Employee Turnover', 2nd HR Division of the Academy of Management International Conference, Sydney, Australia, 22nd February 2016

Volk S, Christian M and Becker B 2015 'Peak performance and chronotype diversity: A conceptual investigation', 29th Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management ANZAM Conference, Queenstown, New Zealand, 4th December 2015

Johnson A, Nguyen H, Groth M, Crisp J and White L 2015 'Reaping the Rewards of Cross-functional Teams: Why Processes make a difference to Team Performance', 75th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Vancouver, Canada, 11th August 2015

Johnson A, Nguyen H and Groth M 2015 'Effects of Display Rules and Motivation in Predicting Employee Absenteeism and Organizational Citizenship Behavior', 11th Industrial and Organisational Psychology Conference of the Australian Psychological Society APS, Melbourne, Australia, 4th July 2015

Nguyen H, Johnson A, Parker SK, Cangiano F and Collins C 2015 'Experimental Study of Social Support and Negative Affect on Performance and Resources', 11th Industrial and Organisational Psychology Conference of the Australian Psychological Society APS, Melbourne, Australia, 4th July 2015

Chan D, Powell A, Johnson A, Nguyen H, Jaaniste T, Champion D and Wood J 2015 'Post-discharge pain outcomes, child-related risk factors, and parent-related risk factors following paediatric short-stay appendicectomy and tonsillectomy: a prospective observational study', 40th Annual Scientific Meeting for the New Zealand Pain Society, Auckland, New Zealand, 29th March 2015

Brown T, Dalton S, Yu N and Johnson A 2014 'Coaching Programme Introduced for Final Year Trainees at Sydney Children’s Hospital Network Enhances Consultants’ Coaching Knowledge, Skills and Confidence', Royal Australasian College of Physicians Congress - "Future Directions in Health", Auckland, New Zealand, 21st May 2014

Becker W and Volk S 2014 'Reshaping management with neuroscience research: Leveraging neuroscience for smarter approaches to workplace intelligence', 28th Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management ANZAM Conference, Sydney, Australia, 5th December 2014

Volk S and Becker W 2014 'Reshaping management with neuroscience research: Introducing the concept of prepotent response tendencies into organizational research', 28th Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management ANZAM Conference, Sydney, Australia, 5th December 2014

Volk S and Becker WJ 2014 'Implications of neuroscience research on emotion-based prepotent response tendencies for prosocial organizational behavior', 30th European Group of Organizational Studies EGOS Colloquium - "Reimagining, Rethinking, Reshaping: Organizational Scholarship in Unsettled Times", Rotterdam, Netherlands, 5th July 2014

Williamson A and Nguyen H 2014 'Understanding why people make errors in skilled behavior', 11th International Symposium of the Australian Aviation Psychology Association, Melbourne, Australia, 13th November 2014

Nguyen H, Groth M and Frenkel SJ 2014 'A multilevel investigation of emotion regulation and self-determination', Symposium presentation at the 29th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Honolulu, United States, 17th May 2014

Johnson A, Yu N, Nguyen H and Groth M 2014 'Changing Emotional Labor Strategies to Enhance Proactivity and Innovation', 29th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Honolulu, United States, 17th May 2014

Wang K, Goodwin RE, Johnson A, Nguyen H and Groth M 2014 'Demanding resources: The curvilinear and interactive effects of skill utilization', 29th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Honolulu, United States, 17th May 2014

Nguyen H, Groth M and Johnson A 2012 'An investigation of the effects of individual- and unit-level display rules on work outcomes', 72nd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Boston, United States, 7th August 2012

Johnson A, Parker SK and Nguyen H 2012 'Helping others or helping yourself: The differential effects of motives on role outcomes enhanced by team affective climate', 72nd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Boston, United States, 7th August 2012

Nguyen H and Groth M 2012 'Lights! Camera! Action!: The effects of service scripts on customer citizenship behavior', Symposium presentation at the 27th annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, San Diego, United States, 26th April 2012

Parker SK, Johnson A, Bindl U, Nguyen H and Groth M 2011 'Silence speaks volumes: The differential effects of silence motives on work outcomes over time', 71st Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, San Antonio, United States, 16th August 2011

Nguyen H, Johnson A and Groth M 2011 'In Sickness and in Health: The Moderating Role of Personal Control on the Strain of Emotion Regulation', 26th Annual Meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Chicago, United States, 16th April 2011

Johnson A, Nguyen H, Groth M, Crisp J and White L 2011 'Leadership Matters: Getting the Process Right in Health Care Teams', 26th Annual Meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Chicago, United States, 16th April 2011

Nguyen H and Williamson AM 2010 'The role of distraction as a major source of pilot checklist errors', 9th International Symposium of the Australian Aviation Psychology Association, Sydney, Australia, 22nd April 2010

Ng JL, Johnson A, Nguyen H and Groth M 2014 'Workplace Culture Improvements: A Review of the Literature', Workforce Planning and Development Branch of the NSW Ministry of Health

Harvey SB, Joyce S, Tan L, Johnson A, Nguyen H, Modino M and Groth M 2014 'Developing a mentally healthy workplace: A review of the literature', National Mental Health Commission and the Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance