Work and working life research group

Man och kvinna vid maskin

Work and working life are large parts in everyday life for most people. Our research focuses on various conditions that contribute to sustainable workplaces and a sustainable working life. The research advances different topics related to working conditions, learning, competence and skills development, innovation, leadership, gender, gender equality and health. The labour market and labour market policies are also focused. 

Learning and competence development in working life can be achieved in various ways. To find out how it is achieved, we focus on what is learned, in the form of knowledge, competencies or skills, and on how this is done. How can workplace learning be organized and how can it be lead, and what are the relationships between formal and informal learning and between individual and organizational learning? Other foci are managerial work, leadership and health. We also study the significance of gender and gender equality in designing good working conditions for everyone.

Our research also includes studies on change- and development processes and innovations in organizations. We tackle issues connected to development strategies and different work forms in organizations such as networks and partnerships, which are developed to bring about innovation and institutional change. The change- and development processes are studied in an interactive research approach, in which we take part in a joint learning with people in the studied workplaces and organizations.

The relationship between work environment and health, and welfare is also on our research agenda. We study the work environment’s impact on peoples’ health, the influence of norms, and power in the relations between institutions, organizations or professional actors on one-side and clients, patients or caretakers on the other. In addition, we study people on long-term sick leave and their interaction and communication with different facilitators and rehabilitators.   

Our research into the labour market and labour market policies includes, for example, norms, social exclusion, and labour market measures. It also includes vocational education and training and students’ learning and transition between school and work.  

Contact

a man in a suit walks in the forest.

GROWL: Greening of Working Life

To reach Sweden’s political climate goals, working life needs to undergo a transformation. This research program focuses on people, organizations, and policies in the green transformation in industry and forestry.

svetsare och svetslågor

Apprenticeship – learning occupational identity in industrial work

How is identity developed? In this project we focus on conditions for learning and identity development within the Industrial Technology program.

Nurse student trains care on doll lying in bed.

Attracting and retaining healthcare professionals the magnet hospital model

The magnet-hospital model can be described as a management idea to remedy staff shortages where the idea is that a hospital, like a “magnet”, can attract, recruit and then retain staff even in the event of a labor shortage.

Publications

2024

Marcus Persson, Andreas Wallo (2024) Digital automation and working life of HR practitioners: a gender analysis of the implications for workforce and work practices Gender, Technology and Development (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Hanna Fernemark, Maria Hardstedt, Janna Skagerström, Ida Seing, Elin Karlsson, Per Nilsen, Kristina Gorel Ingegerd Schildmeijer (2024) Primary healthcare in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative interview study in Sweden BMJ Open, Vol. 14 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Diana Holmqvist, Kathryn Telling (2024) Pragmatic sociology and the economics of convention: Introducing a 'novel' approach to English-speaking education research European Educational Research Journal, Vol. 23, p. 601-608 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Christian Ståhl (2024) Dark resonance: On the possibility of resonance with death Acta Sociologica (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Marcus Persson (2024) Robotdjur och människor: Om serendipitet, Illusionen av robotars autonomi och behovet av vårdpersonalens kompetens Socialmedicinsk Tidskrift, Vol. 101, p. 166-176 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Maria Gustavsson, Oliviu Matei, Laura Andreica, Agneta Halvarsson Lundkvist, Daniel Persson Thunqvist (2024) Design of a Collaborative Network for Mapping Digital Skills for Industry 5.0 Navigating Unpredictability: Collaborative Networks in Non-linear Worlds (Conference paper) Continue to DOI
Peter Nilsson, Maria Gustavsson (2024) Implementation of a magnet hospital model: attracting and retaining healthcare staff in a Swedish hospital Journal of Health Organization & Management, Vol. 38, p. 329-343 (Article, review/survey) Continue to DOI
Elena Ahmadi, Daniel Lundqvist, Gunnar Bergstrom, Gloria Macassa (2024) Managers in the context of small business growth: a qualitative study of working conditions and wellbeing BMC Public Health, Vol. 24, Article 2075 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Tina Lidström (2024) Teachers' values in a space of change: The idea of teacher assistants as re-negotiation of teacher professionalism Education Inquiry (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Andreas Ruschkowski, Johanna Köpsén, Andreas Fejes (2024) The formulation of the policy of education based on a scientific foundation and proven experience at folk high schools in Sweden
Johanna Köpsén (2024) Book Review: A Research agenda for Skills and Inequality in SOCIOLOGISK FORSKNING, vol 61, issue 2, pp 237-238 Sociologisk forskning, Vol. 61, p. 237-238 (Article, book review) Continue to DOI
Viktor Vesterberg (2024) Knowledge, power, learning and diversity in recruitment processes Researching Work & Learning International Conference June 172024at Linköping University, Sweden (Conference paper)
Kristina Säfsten, Maria Gustavsson (2024) Research methodology 2.0: For engineers and other problem-solvers
Tina Lidström (2024) Teacher assistants' values in a discursive space: emerging change and re-negotiation of teacher professionalism in Sweden Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Marcus Persson, Clara Iversen, David Redmalm (2024) Making robots matter in dementia care: Conceptualising the triadic interaction between caregiver, resident and robot animal Sociology of Health and Illness (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Marcus Persson, Christian Ståhl (2024) Sociologiska samtal behövs! Sociologisk forskning, Vol. 61, p. 3-5 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Christian Ståhl (2024) Institutionalizing suspicion: Tracing the decline of the Swedish sickness insurance system in the 2000's International Journal of Sociology (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Andreas Wallo, Jason Martin, Mattias Elg, Ulrika Harlin, Ida Gremyr, Nina Bozic, Katrin Skagert, Anna Williamsson (2024) Charting the path to a sustainable, competitive and green industry in an era of rapid change: proposing a research agenda Cogent Business & Management, Vol. 11 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Jason Martin, Per-Erik Ellström, Andreas Wallo, Mattias Elg (2024) Bridging the policy-practice gap: a dual challenge of organizational learning Learning Organization (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Cathrine Reineholm, Daniel Lundqvist, Andreas Wallo (2024) Change competence: An integrative literature review Work: A journal of Prevention, Assessment and rehabilitation, p. 1-16 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI