Kyle S. H. Dobson is an assistant professor of public policy and psychology at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia.
Dobson takes an interdisciplinary approach to organizational studies, focusing primarily on occupations where employees sacrifice their well-being in service to others. His work has focused on police departments primarily, with expansion to schools and other organizations. In collaborations with law enforcement agencies in across several states (e.g., Illinois, Texas, Virginia), Dobson has studied the way police view themselves and how this affects the way they connect with others in and out of the uniform. In his work with schools and other organizations, he studies how teachers and other leaders can create supportive environments that encourage people to bring who they are into these contexts.
Dobson’s research process begins with qualitative insight from immersion in organizations (e.g., interviews, field observations) to build novel theory. Then, he uses experiments to test hypotheses that emerge from his qualitative work, including testing interventions in field experiments. Ultimately, his goal is to improve both scholarly and practical understanding of how organizations can support employees’ authenticity to shape more inclusive and effective organizations.
Dobson received his doctorate in Management and Organizations from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Prior to joining UVA, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin.