How Relationships with Leaders Impact Loneliness at Work: A Comparative Study Between Remote and In-Person Settings

Project description

Do you want to pioneer using cutting edge technology to investigate how work-related interactions are impacting employees’ loneliness? This fully funded PhD offers access a vibrant research community within the Institute of Work Psychology and an opportunity to collaborate with experts from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

The overarching aim of this project is to explore, from a sociobiological perspective, how manager-employee relationships influence an employee’s levels of loneliness. Feelings of loneliness at work arise when employees’ experiences of interacting with and relating to others fall short of their expectations. Workplace loneliness has negative implications for employees and organisations. 

In this PhD, the successful candidate will design and lead on a programme of research to study the verbal and nonverbal, conscious and unconscious, behavioural expressions of managers and their employees in real-time face-to-face and virtual interactions. They will use a range of data (including video, audio, eye-tracking) to identify the behavioural patterns that may alleviate or exacerbate feelings of loneliness resulting from manager-employee interactions. Access to lab space with cutting-edge eye-tracking and recording technology will be provided, as well as AI-supported software for data collection and processing. The PhD will therefore use primarily quantitative data with potential for deploying machine learning techniques in the analysis phase (e.g. using R analytics).  The successful candidate will have a scholarly interest in behaviour, leadership, relationships and/or wellbeing, and an aptitude for mastering advanced quantitative methodologies.

International collaborator(s)

The project offers an opportunity to collaborate with researchers at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, including an extended research stay, supervised by the world-leading expert on workplace loneliness, Dr Sarah Wright. The student will also be provided with access to research facilities, seminars, and data collection during their visit. 

In addition, the student will be a core member of the research team based in the Institute of Work Psychology based at Sheffield University Management School, involving Dr Anna Topakas, who is an expert in organisational leadership and behaviours, Dr Nicola Thomas, an expert in emotions, eye-tracking and the use of machine learning for research, and Dr Sarah Wright (University of Canterbury, NZ ).The candidate will contribute to theoretical and empirical projects as part of this team, with opportunities to co-author scholarly works and receive mentoring in developing their academic skills and knowledge.