Professor John Arnold
Professor of Work Psychology
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John Arnold joined the Institute of Work Psychology (IWP) as Professor of Work Psychology on 1 May 2011. He succeeded Professor Rod Nicolson as Director of the Institute in February 2012. He is a Fellow and Chartered Psychologist of the British Psychological Society, and a Registered Psychologist with the Health Professions Council. Before joining IWP he worked at Loughborough University School of Business and Economics for 15 years, and Manchester School of Management for 8 years. John is an experienced and successful manager and leader within Business/Management School environments, including top management team roles in two Schools, covering (at various times) undergraduate teaching, research and staff development remits.
John has a PhD Psychology from the University of Sheffield and a BA (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Nottingham.
John has published extensive experience of academic journal editing and reviewing, including as editor of Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology (JOOP) from 2004 to 2008. He is currently a consulting editor with four leading journals: JOOP, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Human Relations, and Organizational Psychology Review. John is delighted to be back at IWP, having previously been a PhD student at its predecessor, the MRC/ESRC Social and Applied Psychology Unit more years ago than he cares to admit. Suffice to say that the Human League were one of Sheffield’s big musical claims to fame at the time! John intends to play a leading part in the development of IWP as a world-leading centre for work psychology, as well as a key component of the Management School at the University of Sheffield. John believes that work psychology can be both closely connected with business, management and other disciplines, whilst also offering distinctive perspectives and expertise to real-life issues. He values both quantitative and qualitative research, and is accustomed to working with colleagues from other disciplines.
Research Interests
John’s research, teaching and consultancy involve all areas of careers and their management from both individual and organisational perspectives. Particular interests include career choice, personal development and adjustment, work role identities and transitions (including the transition into working life), career success and failure, mid/late career issues, and the impact of career management interventions such as mentoring, development centres and succession planning. John is also interested in the interfaces between careers and other related topics such as leadership, work design, ageing and life-span development.
His current research areas are:
- The career management strategies used by research staff
- The accuracy and utility of recent models of career and career success
- Predictors of voluntary turnover amongst health professionals
- Designing jobs that are good for career development
- The human impact of employee share ownership schemes
- The role of goal orientations in motivation Transformational leadership and employee absence
- The role of “luck” in careers
More information about John's research.
Teaching
John’s teaching has always been very well received by all student groups: undergraduate, postgraduate and post-experience. He places an emphasis on starting with concepts and theories, and then using them in practical ways, with a mixture of mini-lectures, case-studies, videos, experiential exercises and applied research mini-projects for students. Some of the examples and case studies are from his own research. Wherever possible he devises student assignments that not only reflect their academic learning but also contribute to their personal and professional development e.g. by requiring them to try out techniques and ideas discussed in class, and report back on the results. John’s involvement in the successful textbook Work Psychology demonstrates his commitment to student learning and to communicating work psychology to student audiences.
Recent Publications
Cheung, R., and Arnold, J. (in press). Impact of career exploration amongst Hong Kong Chinese university students. Journal of College Student Development.
Arnold, J., & Cohen, L. Careers in organizations. In Walsh, W. B., & Savickas, M. L. Handbook of Vocational Psychology, 4th Edition. In press.
Arnold, J. “Career”. Chapter for Flood, P., & Freeney, Y. (Eds) Wiley Encyclopedia of Management 3rd edition. Blackwell. In press.
Lewis, S., and Arnold, J. (2012). Organizational career management techniques in the UK retail buying and merchandising community. International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 40, 451-470.
Cohen, L., Arnold, J., and O’Neill, M. (2011). Migration: Vocational perspectives on a complex and diverse transition. (editorial) Journal of Vocational Behavior, 78, 321-324.
Arnold, J. (2011). 21st century career concepts: Magic, measurement, and career capital. The Psychologist, 24, 106-109.
Loan-Clarke, J., Arnold, J., Coombs, C. R., Hartley, R., Bosley, S. (2010). Retention, turnover and return – A longitudinal study of Allied Health Professionals in Britain. Human Resource Management Journal, 20, pp. 391-406.
Cheung, R., Arnold, J. (2010). Antecedents of career exploration amongst Hong Kong Chinese university students: testing contextual and developmental variables. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 76, pp. 25-36.
Coombs, C.R., Arnold, J., Loan-Clarke, J., Bosley, S., Martin, C. (2010). Allied Health Professionals’ intention to work for the NHS: A study of stayers, leavers and returners. Health Services Management Research, 23, pp. 47-53.
Bosley, S., Arnold, J., Cohen, L. (2009). How other people shape our careers: a typology drawn from career narratives. Human Relations, 62, pp. 1487-1520.
Khapova, S.N., Vinkenburg, C.J., Arnold, J. (2009). Careers research in Europe: Identity and contribution. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 82, pp. 709-719.
Loan-Clarke, J., Arnold, J., Coombs, C.R., Bosley, S., Martin, C.. Why do speech and language therapists stay in, leave and (sometimes) return to the National Health Service (NHS)?. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders.