dr. Roy Sijbom

Associate Professor, School of Business and Economics, Management and Organisation

Personal information

Roy Sijbom is Associate Professor at the Department of Management and Organisation of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He obtained his PhD from the University of Groningen (2013), where he specialized in human resource management and organizational behavior. His work combines insights from economics and psychology to address challenges related to learning, innovation, and well-being in organizations.

Research

Roy’s research focuses on how individuals and organizations can adapt, learn, and innovate in rapidly changing work environments. He studies how employees develop new skills, contribute ideas, and maintain well-being in the face of technological and organizational change.

Industry: Logistics, Public sector, Technology-intensive industries
Sector: Public and private organizations, knowledge-intensive environments
Application Domain: Lifelong learning, leadership, innovation, employee well-being

His research agenda centers around three interconnected themes. First, he studies learning motivation, learning climate, and leadership, with a particular focus on learning communities as a vehicle for lifelong learning. In this work, he develops and tests bottom-up models that explain how learning emerges within communities and transfers to organizational practice.

Second, he examines employee creativity and innovation, focusing on when and why employees speak up with ideas and how leaders respond. This work explores barriers to idea implementation and the conditions under which organizations can benefit from employee input.

Third, he adopts a multilevel perspective on employee well-being, investigating how individual, team, and organizational factors jointly shape outcomes such as burnout, engagement, and psychological safety.

He collaborates in interdisciplinary consortia and works closely with practice partners to ensure that his research contributes to both scientific knowledge and societal challenges.

Research Interests:

Leadership and organizational behavior
Learning motivation and learning climate
Learning communities and lifelong learning
Employee creativity and innovation
Voice and speaking up
Psychological safety and well-being
Multilevel research and interventions

Teaching

Roy teaches at undergraduate, graduate, and part-time PhD levels in the areas of organizational behavior, leadership, and research methods. His teaching focuses on equipping students and professionals with the skills to analyze complex organizational challenges and to apply evidence-based solutions.

He is actively involved in educational innovation and contributes to the development of programs that integrate academic knowledge with real-world practice. A distinctive element of his teaching is the use of group-based assignments in which students systematically analyze their own group processes, linking theory on teamwork, leadership, and communication directly to their lived experiences. His teaching connects closely to his research, particularly in areas such as lifelong learning, leadership, and innovation.

Roy holds an impact profile and actively translates academic insights into practical applications. He collaborates extensively with external partners through workshops, breakfast sessions, and research-driven interventions. These collaborations include the design and evaluation of workplace and health interventions, the facilitation of structured dialogues and stakeholder meetings, and the development of network-based tools that provide organizations with feedback on communication patterns and knowledge exchange within regional ecosystems. Through these activities, he actively strengthens the link between academia and practice.

Ancillary activities

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