This research program examines how organisations constrain individuals at the intersection of three domains: leadership, ethics, and job design.

First, I study how leaders experience constraints on their behaviour, and how they respond to constraints that might limit their effectiveness. I examine examples such as constraints imposed by a leader’s own misconduct, and further constraints on how a leader decides to discipline misconduct from their subordinates. I also examine sociocultural constraints inherent in leader roles, such as gender stereotypes that restrict access to leader role attainment.

Second, I explore how individuals respond to organizational attempts to control unethical behaviour. Organisations use monitoring, rules, sanctions, among other policies to deter misconduct. I examine how these regulations influence individual choice, such as whether individuals choose behaviours that make them worse off, and how individuals adapt to these regulations over time.

Third, I investigate how both traditional and more modern job characteristics constrain individuals’ work experiences in unexpected ways. For example, I examine how the lack of autonomy at work may have negative spillover effects on employees’ personal wellbeing. In the context of COVID-19, I also examine how new aspects of the work environment, such as the presence of cleaning protocols, can constrain individuals behaviour and performance at work.