Psychology of Supervision

In January 2020, I have been appointed as professor in the ‘Psychology of Supervision’.
The goal I set myself is to strengthen the link between science, supervisory practice, and education in the field of the psychology of supervision. We do this by applying and enriching insights and methods from social and organisational psychology and collaborating closely academics and with practitioners in supervision.

In short, the Psychology of Supervision is about promoting compliance and broader ethical behaviour in supervised organisations. With broader ethical behaviour, we mean that managers and employees of supervised organisations not only meet the minimum legal requirements, but also act in the spirit of the law, and go beyond 'mere compliance'. This is sometimes referred to as 'beyond compliance'.

The special chair ‘Psychology of Supervision’ has been established by the UU in collaboration with the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and is funded by both parties. At the UU, I work in the Organisational Behaviour group, chaired by Prof. Naomi Ellemers. At the AFM, I work as a Senior Supervision Officer in the Behaviour & Culture expert team. We also have an intensive partnership with the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) and the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV).

We organise a ‘Psychology of Supervision’ seminar every year. These seminars are a great success. Not only because of the valuable exchange in content and findings, but also because of the exchange in perspectives between UU academics, supervision officers, managers, heads and directors of the AFM and ACM.

The psychology of supervision includes several (PhD) projects, performed by Dr. Tessa Coffeng (UU/AFM) on bias in supervision, Sarwesh Ishwardat (UU/AFM) on the effectiveness of supervision, Loet van Stekelenburg (UU/ACM) on the psychology of sanctions, and Jeanette van der Lee (UU/ACM) on promoting compliance behaviour through a better understanding of the factors ‘knowledge, motivation and capacity’.