Postdoctoral researcher studying the impostor phenomenon

Vrije Universisteit; Amsterdam; Hybrid; EUR 41,000 - 64,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

ABP pension

Holiday entitlement 232 hours/year

8% holiday allowance

8.3% end-of-year bonus

Work partly from home

Job summary

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam invites applications for a postdoctoral researcher position in the Amsterdam Leadership Lab. The project investigates how workplace contexts shape impostorism experiences and their impact on career development, grounded in Social Identity Theory.

You will lead the first work package, developing and validating a state-based measure of impostorism (SB-IP) and conducting rigorous scale development and validation studies across diverse countries and occupational groups.

Qualifications

• PhD in a relevant psychology/management field.
• Strong expertise in quantitative research methods and statistics.
• Experience with scale development, psychometrics, and/or experimental research.
• Demonstrated publication potential through peer-reviewed publications.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively.

Responsibilities

• Develop a validated State-Based Impostorism (SB-IP) measure.
• Conduct scale development studies including item generation and factor analyses.
• Design and test an innovative experimental manipulation of impostorism.
• Recruit and manage participant samples across multiple countries and occupational groups.
• Analyse quantitative datasets and publish findings in leading journals.
• Present research at national and international conferences.
• Contribute to open science practices including preregistration and open data.

Skills

Quantitative methods

Psychometrics

Experimental research

Publication potential

English proficiency

Education

PhD in Organizational/Social/Work & Organizational Psychology or related

Job description

Your function

The ERC Starting Grant project IMPOSTOR: From Impostor Syndrome to Impostor System investigates how workplace contexts shape experiences of impostorism and how these experiences affect career development. Grounded in Social Identity Theory, the project aims to transform the way researchers, organizations, and society understand the impostor phenomenon.

The project consists of three work packages. As a postdoctoral researcher, you will be responsible for the first workpackage, which focuses on developing and validating a novel state-based conceptualization of impostorism. This work package provides the theoretical and methodological foundation for the subsequent project stages, which examine how organizational systems may shape impostor experiences and their consequences.

Start date: November 1st (or as soon as possible thereafter)

In close collaboration with Dr. Sanne Feenstra, within the Organizational Psychology section, you will:

• develop a validated measure of State-Based Impostorism (SB-IP)
• conduct scale development studies, including item generation, factor analyses, and validation research
• design and test an innovative experimental manipulation of impostorism
• recruit and manage participant samples across multiple countries and occupational groups
• analyse quantitative datasets
• publish findings in leading international journals
• present research at national and international conferences
• contribute to open science practices, including preregistration and open data

Your profile

We are seeking an ambitious and highly motivated researcher with:

• a PhD in Organizational Psychology, Social Psychology, Work & Organizational Psychology, Management, or a related discipline
• strong expertise in quantitative research methods and statistics
• experience with scale development, psychometrics, and/or experimental research
• demonstrated publication potential through peer-reviewed scientific publications
• a strong interest in topics such as social identity, workplace diversity, leadership, and/or the impostor phenomenon
• excellent written and spoken English
• the ability to work independently while also thriving in a collaborative research environment

As a university, we strive for equal opportunities for all, recognising that diversity takes many forms. We believe that diversity in all its complexity is invaluable for the quality of our teaching, research and service. We are always looking for talent with diverse backgrounds and experiences. This also means that we are committed to creating an inclusive community so that we can use diversity as an asset.

We realise that each individual brings a unique set of skills, expertise and mindset. Therefore we are happy to invite anyone who recognises themselves in the profile to apply, even if you do not meet all the requirements.

What do we offer?

We offer you:

• a salary of minimum € 3.706,00 (Scale 10) and maximum€ 5.760,00 (Scale 10) gross per month, on a full-time basis. This is based on UFO profile Researcher 4. The exact salary depends on your education and experience
• a position of at least 0.8 FTE. Your employment contract will initially last 1 year.Afterwards, the possibility of expansion with 1 year exists based on satisfactory performance

We also offer you attractive fringe benefits and regulations. Some examples:

• a full-time 38-hour working week comes with a holiday leave entitlement of 232 hours per year. If you choose to work 40 hours, you have 96 extra holiday leave hours on an annual basis. For part-timers, this is calculated pro rata
• 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus
• the possibility to work partly from home
• solid pension scheme (ABP)
• a wide range of sports facilities which staff may use at a modest charge

About us

Amsterdam Leadership Lab
The Amsterdam Leadership Lab is part of the Organizational Psychology section within the Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology at VU Amsterdam's Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences. The lab conducts internationally recognized research on leadership, collaboration, and human behavior in organizations. In close partnership with public and private organizations, Amsterdam Leadership Lab develops evidence-based knowledge and interventions that address real-world organizational challenges.

Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences
Developing knowledge for an active, healthy and meaningful life: that is our mission at the Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences at VU Amsterdam. We maintain a broad focus on the fields of behaviour and health. Our teaching and research programmes are devoted to current developments in society. From healthy aging to e-health, and from training top athletes to social media as a teaching tool. We combine three academic disciplines: psychology, movement sciences and education. A multidisciplinary approach allows us to arrive at a better understanding of human behaviour and movement. Our aims are to help people live healthier lives, learn better and function better.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam stands for values-driven education and research. We are open-minded experts with the ability to think freely - a broader mind. Maintaining an entrepreneurial perspective and concentrating on diversity, significance and humanity, we work on sustainable solutions with social impact. By joining forces, across the boundaries of disciplines, we work towards a better world for people and planet. Together we create a safe and respectful working and study climate, and an inspiring environment for education and research. Learn more about our codes of conduct

We are located on one physical campus, in the heart of Amsterdam's Zuidas business district, with excellent location and accessibility. Over 6,150 staff work at the VU and over 31,000 students attend academic education.

Diversity
Diversity is the driving force of VU Amsterdam. VU wants to be accessible and receptive to diversity in disciplines, cultures, ideas, nationalities, beliefs, preferences and worldviews. We believe that trust, respect, interest and differences lead to new insights and innovation, to sharpness and clarity, to excellence and a broader understanding.

We stand for an inclusive community and believe that diversity and internationalisation contribute to the quality of education, research and our services.

Therefore, we are always searching for people whose backgrounds and experience contribute to the diversity of the VU community.