Dana Unger

• work-nonwork interface
• occupational health
• precarious careers

Research interests: I have three overlapping research interests: the work-nonwork interface, occupational health, and precarious careers. First, I am interested in how work affects one’s private life and vice versa. Boundaries and transitions are particularly fascinating to me. I have worked on boundary management (i.e., the segmentation vs. integration of work and private life) in general and commuting in particular. Second, I am interested in finding ways to improve workplace well-being sustainably. Third, I have a special interest in economic stressors such as job insecurity and unemployment and their relevance for (psychological and physical) health and careers. Generally, my research is informed by a contextualized perspective. That is, I study the phenomena mentioned above also in the context of the employee’s immediate social environment (e.g., in couples and parent-child dyads) and over the lifespan with a particular interest in transitions. While the outcomes of my research are located at the micro-level, I am striving to be considerate of the macro-level (i.e., economic) context in which the studied processes take place.

My research is sensitive to the ecological challenges of our era as well as prevailing social inequalities at the workplace and beyond, particularly in terms of sexism, heteronormativity, racism, and classism. I use various quantitative research methods, including event sampling (daily diary studies), longitudinal studies, and field experiments.

Contact information: dana.unger@uit.no, https://uit.no/ansatte/dana.unger