Research
Infrastructure Projects
The Center for Human Resource Management (CEHRM) is an active partner in Swiss, European, and global research platforms and networks as detailed below.
Scope: A regular investigation of the human relations, working conditions, workplace behavior and work attitudes among employees in Switzerland, with new extension investigations in 3 of our European neighbors. Role: Co-Editor.
Project ist funded by Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF).
Scope: The Cranfield Network on International Human Resource Management (CRANET) is a regularly conducted comparative survey of organizational policies and practices in Human Resource Management in more than 40 countries around the world. Role: Representative for Switzerland.
Scope: The Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) research program is a multi-phase and multi-method project investigating the inter-relationships between societal culture, organizational culture, and organizational leadership in 61 countries around the world. Role: Co-Investigator for Switzerland.
Scope: The Strategic Human Resource Management workshop of the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management is a subgroup of the EIASM HRM groups focused on issues of HRM and strategy with members from 73 Universities and Business Schools from Europe. Role: Permanent Chairmanship.
Third party funded research projects
Our team has successfully obtained competitive third party funds to support several of our applied research projects. This supplementary monetary support has allowed us to comprehensively investigate empirical problems as well as create new doctoral student and post-doc researcher positions.
This project focuses on the bedrock of Talent Management: Talent identification.
Organizations often find it difficult to identify talented employees. The SNSF funded project evaluates what kind of biases are relevant in talent identification, how they influence decision making in talent identification and how to deal with biases that are discriminating.
Many workers today are pursuing independent careers in the gig economy. What drives financial and personal success of gig workers? The aim of the SNSF funded project is to study this question and to develop and test interventions to promote career success of gig workers.
Inspired by cases of business failures resulting from the arrogance of the top management and fear of middle managers to tell the truth, this interdisciplinary project explores how HR professionals could, in cooperation with professional comedians, take up a role of modern court jesters in allowing top management to realize the distortions of reality.
Our project will derive recommendations for an efficient implementation of pay transparency. In addition, the project provides an important research contribution by distinguishing between three different aspects of pay transparency and empirically validating these pay transparency aspects.
The aim of this framework is to challenge and inspire existing talent management in Swiss companies operating in China by:
- Giving an overview on the complexity of talent management;
- Exploring the cultural influence of China on talent management;
- Presenting guidelines on what to consider when doing talent management in China.
This project examines the effect of HRM measures that are institutionalized in agencies on temporary agency workers’ well-being and career outcomes and seeks to identify factors that positively influence labor market perceptions of temporary agency work.
Until today, the Chair has completed 22 research projects funded by public and private third parties covering a wide range of topics.
List of completed third party funded research projcets
Other Research Projects
There are many reasons why people choose flexible forms of work. The high level of flexibility offers many possibilities, but also requires personal responsibility. This is shown in a study on motives, opportunities and challenges of flexworkers.
What factors enable leaders at humanitarian organizations to maintain high levels of engagement or prevent exhaustion in the face of highly demanding work conditions?
Employees in healthcare face high emotional demands and high time pressure. This study examines the role of leadership communication as potential buffer for work related strain.
This study aims at providing an overview of current compensation policies for the board of directors, the executive board and higher management (C-1) in large listed and non-listed organizations in Switzerland.
In collaboration with researchers in Australia, the United Kingdom and United States, the Center for Human Resource Management (CEHRM) empirically investigates the differences in compensation and pay transparency practices among different countries around the world. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of current compensation and pay transparency practices and explore the conditions under which organizations are more likely to offer pay transparency and whether pay transparency is related to organizational results.
Little is known about the effects of pay raises. By applying a longitudinal research design and matching employees’ survey answers with objective pay information we are able to investigate the effects of pay raises on employees’ attitudes and behaviors.
Researchers from more than 40 countries collaborate to investigate the impact of merit pay across different countries and territories. Employee level data is collected before and after a merit pay raise and matched with objective merit raise data. This study will be able to answer fundamental questions regarding merit based pay and provide valuable insights for participating organizations.
How do leaders respond to daily leadership challenges? What motivates them to give their best and what hinders them? This research project addresses these questions by collecting data from leaders in Switzerland five weeks in a row.
Student Research Projects
Arpagaus, G. (2020). Wenn die Kollegen die Firma verlassen – theoretische Ansätze zur Analyse von positiven und negativen Effekten für verbleibende Mitarbeitende. Bachelorarbeit.
Alessandri, L. (2019). Migration in die Schweiz - Eine Analyse zur Integration von ausländischen Beschäftigten in die Schweizer Unternehmen. Bachelorarbeit.
Kälin, F. (2019). Online recruitment and selection: The role of content of the LinkedIn profile in perception of candidates. Bachelorarbeit.
Lustenberger, J. (2019). Einfluss der Lohntransparenz auf das Vertrauen in das Unternehmen. Bachelorarbeit.
Sivanantharasa, T. (2019). Soziale Unterstützung und Stressbewältigung. Bachelorarbeit.
Kälin, F. (2021). Wie die Holakratie der Generation Y gerecht wird. Masterarbeit.
Havlickova, M., Bürgler, M. (2020). Negative feedback in performance evaluation. Seminarthesis HR Lab.
Sekan, L. M., Fankhauser, L., Kälin, F. (2020). Talentmanagement bei Dätwyler. Seminararbeit HR Lab.