Performance and Motivation at Work

Katharina Näswall serves as Professor in the Industrial & Organizational Psychology Program at the University of Canterbury, where she has established herself as a preeminent researcher in employee wellbeing and organizational psychology since moving from Sweden to New Zealand in 2010. Her research has garnered over 7,000 citations, with groundbreaking contributions to understanding job insecurity, employee resilience, and psychologically healthy workplaces. As a highly influential scholar, she has authored seminal works including comprehensive meta-analyses on job insecurity and its consequences, while developing new measures for employee resilience. Her expertise spans employee wellbeing, psychological measurement, boundaryless working life, and psychosocial safety, with particular focus on applying psychological principles to real-world organizational challenges. Through collaborations with organizations outside academia, she actively works to translate research findings into practical workplace improvements, providing consultancy on staff engagement and wellbeing initiatives. Her impact extends beyond research through her commitment to organizational development and the practical application of psychological knowledge. When not advancing the field of organizational psychology, she maintains her own wellbeing through gardening and walking in Christchurch's Port Hills.