Research focus and practical applications in the economic psychology team:

•     Personnel selection
•     Personnel development
•     personnel management
•     Risk assessment
•     Positive psychology & self-management
•     Customer survey
•     Employee survey
•     360° Feedback
•     Decisions
•     Dysfunctional Cognitions

Employee and customer surveys, 360° feedback and self-management
Contact person: Ottmar Braun

The topic of employee surveys deals, for example, with the causes and effects of employee satisfaction. Special attention is paid to the follow-up processes of employee surveys and their effectiveness in change processes. Customer surveys, on the other hand, are surveys of customers; the aim here is to open up opportunities for improving offerings. 360° feedback aims to improve the leadership behavior of employees through comprehensive feedback from employees, colleagues, supervisors and customers compared to self-assessment. Furthermore, we deal with self-management in working life: Due to increased leadership spans, self-organized work behaviors of employees are becoming increasingly important in organizations. The present research examines which self-management competencies positively influence an optimistic basic attitude and thus have a beneficial effect on performance and mental health.

Stereotypes and group-based discrimination in working life
Contact person: Claudia Niedlich

The topics focus on perception processes. How and why are some people and their abilities perceived differently in working life? Already in the application process, different impressions towards women and men, lesbians/gays and heterosexuals and "Germans" and "non-Germans" (e.g. recognizable by their names) can be observed. It is important to investigate how these different perceptions come about and how, for example, decisions in application procedures are influenced by them. The focus is on how this can be changed in the future and what is conducive to achieving equal opportunities.

The term intersectionality broadens the perspective and describes the fact that a person does not only have one group affiliation and can be discriminated against on the basis of this (e.g. on the basis of sexual orientation).  People have different group identities and can experience different forms of discrimination. For example, white women and black women may experience different forms of discrimination during an application process for a leadership position. Intersectional research approaches examine these differences and shed light on underlying processes.

Perceptions of gender equality policies, especially on the topic of women's quotas, is another topic. This also aims to identify the processes of perception. How is the women's quota perceived by different people and what consequences can be associated with it?

•     Group-related discrimination in working life
•     Personnel selection
•     Intersectionality
•     Perception of equality measures