In the Fall of 2023, I joined the University of Virginia as an Assistant Professor at the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. I also co-founded a fiscally-sponsored non-profit research lab (the Solutions Lab) dedicated to making research and solutions for our communities’ problems more accessible to those who need it (e.g., community members and police).
I study how we form authentic connections at work. Organizations often devalue employees’ authenticity to ensure conformity and reduce conflict. My research shows this comes at the cost of inclusion, engagement, commitment, and performance—from police departments to schools.
I take an interdisciplinary approach to organizational studies, focusing primarily on occupations where employees sacrifice their well-being in service to others. My work has focused on police departments but has expanded to schools and other organizations. In my collaborations with law enforcement agencies across several states (e.g., Illinois, Texas, Virginia), I study how police view themselves and how this affects the way they connect with others in and out of the uniform. In my work with schools and other organizations, I study how teachers and other leaders can create supportive environments that encourage people to bring who they are into these contexts.
My research process begins with qualitative insight from immersion in organizations (e.g., interviews, field observations) to build novel theory. Then, I use experiments to test hypotheses that emerge from my qualitative work, including testing interventions in field experiments. Ultimately, my goal is to improve both scholarly and practical understanding of how organizations can support employees’ authenticity to shape more inclusive and effective organizations.
Contact: kyle.dobson@virginia.edu (academic work) | kyle@solutions-lab.org (non-profit work)
Kyle S. H. Dobson, Ph.D. 