Position

Assistant professor, Associate professor

Research profile/current work

My research concern work and organizational psychology in general - how individuals act, react and perceive their working life. Also, how the labour market changes and how these changes affect working life in general and the individual in particular is of interest. Specifically, I have focused on the concept of employability, where I have investigated both what determines employability and what the consequences of being employable are. My research also concerns working conditions in general but specifically working conditions for managers in public sector. I am also interested in methods and apply different statistical methods, such as cluster analysis for example, in my research projects. 

My main research is concerned with the concept of employability. As from January 2010 I am working as a Post-doc with funding from FAS (Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research). The project, named ”Employability perceptions - relationship with gender, age and health. Is the labour market divided into segments?”, focus on the concept of employability and if there are structural factors that are related to level of employability. I am currently also working in a project located in Gothenburg with project leader Professor Annika Härenstam called CHEFiOS. This project focuses on working conditions for managers in the public sector. The project, with funding from VINNOVA (The Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems) is an intervention project running over a three-year period. IN addition, I am also working in a project concerning movability among managers in public sector (RÖR-projektet) funded by AFA Försäkring (AFA Insurance).

I am affiliated with the Stockholm Stress Center, including supervision of one PhD-student (Lena Låstad) and I am also working in a project funded by the Stockholm Stress Center – OptiMAL. In addition, I am also working with researchers in the Stress Research Institute, working in the project Office type, health and productivity, funded buy AFA Försäkring, and by co-supervising Aram Seddigh (PhD-student).

Teaching  

I currently teach in five courses at the Department of Psychology. At the Masters level I teach and am responsible for the course in Enkätmetodik and Tillämpad Design. I am also teaching and partly responsible for the course Organisationspsykologi (avancerad nivå). In Organisationspsykologi (PII) I have a lecture in Power and Conflicts. In Metod (PII) I have a lecture in basic Classical test theory. In Arbetspsykologi (PII) I have a lecture in employability. In addition, I supervise thesis at all levels in the Department. 

Thesis 

My thesis is called Employability perceptions - Nature, determinants, and implications for health and well-being. Employability perceptions refer to individuals' beliefs about their possibilities to get new, equal or better employment. How people perceive their possibilities of getting employment is important in a labour market characterized by flexibility and uncertainty, and the present thesis sets out to investigate the nature, determinants, and implications of employability perceptions, using two population-based samples. In conclusion, the present thesis has implications for theory as well as practice when it concludes that employability is not primarily a self-evaluation, that it is dependent on individual as well as situational factors, and that it has implications for health and well-being. More information including fulltext pdf in DiVA. 

Selected publications 

Berntson, E., Wallin, L. & Härenstam, A. (2012). Typical situations for managers in the Swedish public sector: cluster analysis of working conditions using the Job Demands-Resources model. International Public Management Journal, 15(1), 100-130.

Marklund, S., Berntson, E. & Stjernström, C. (2012). Effekter på hälsa och anställningsbarhet av geografiskt och karriärmässigt perifer ställning. Arbetsmarknad & Arbetsliv, 18(1), 25-41.

Berntson, E. & Marklund, S. (2010). Employability and work-related health. In Marklund, S. & Härenstam, A. (Eds.). The dynamics of organizations and healthy work. Arbetsliv i omvandling 2010:5

Berntson, E. & Härenstam, A. (2010). Mönster av sociala relationer på svenska arbetsplatser. In A. Härenstam & E. Bejerot (Eds.). Sociala relationer i arbetslivet. Malmö: Gleerups.

Berntson, E. (2011). Marknadsorienterade relationer i arbetslivet – om känslan av att vara anställningsbar. In Garsten, C., Lindvert, J. & Thedvall, R. (Eds.). Arbetets marknad. Malmö: Liber. 

Baraldi, S., Kalyal, H.J., Berntson, E., Näswall, K. & Sverke, M. (2010). The importance of commitment to change in public reform: an example from Pakistan. Journal of Change Managment, 10(4), 347-368.

Berntson, E., Näswall, K., & Sverke, M. (2010). The moderating role of employability in the association between job insecurity and exit, voice, loyalty and neglect. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 31(2), 215-230.

Kalyal, H., Berntson, E., Baraldi, S., Näswall, K. & Sverke, M. (2010). The moderating role of employability on the relationship between job insecurity and commitment to change. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 31(3), 327-344.

Bernhard-Oettel, C., De Cuyper, N., Berntson, E., & Isaksson, K. (2008). Well-being and organizational attitudes in alternative employment: The role of contract and job preferences.International Journal of Stress Management, 15(4), 345-363.

Berntson, E. (2008). Employability perceptions: Nature, determinants, and implications for health and well-being. Department of Psychology, Stockholm university.

Berntson, E., Näswall, K., & Sverke, M. (2008). Investigating the relationship between employability and self-efficacy: A cross-lagged analysis. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 17(4), 413-425.

De Cuyper, N., Bernhard-Oettel, C., Berntson, E., De Witte, H. & Alarco, B. (2008). Employability, and employees’ well-being: Mediation by job insecurity. Applied psychology: An International Review, 57(3), 488-509.

Berntson, E., & Marklund, S. (2007). The relationship between perceived employability and subsequent health, Work & Stress, 21(3), 279-292.

Berntson, E., Sverke, M., & Marklund, S. (2006). Predicting perceived employability: Human capital or labour market opportunities? Economic and Industrial Democracy, 27(2), 223-244.

Härenstam, A., Marklund, S., Berntson, E., Bolin, M., & Ylander, J. (2006). Understanding the organisational impact on working conditions and health. Arbete & Hälsa 2006:4.