I am a Full Professor of Management at ESCP Business School, where I have been teaching graduate courses in Human Resource Management, Organizational Behaviour, and Research Methods since 2013. I have been a visiting researcher at the Department of Management Science at Lancaster University Management School and the Department of Management at Cass Business School. Prior to joining ESCP, I was a visiting researcher at the department of Innovation and Organizational Economics at Copenhagen Business School.

I hold a Ph.D degree in Business Administration and Quantitative Methods from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (cum laude) and a Master degree in Business Economics and Management from M.A.I.Ch (maxima cum laude). In 2014-2015 I completed the Global Colloquium on Participant-Centered Learning, HBS Executive Education at Harvard Business School.

My research interests lie at the intersection of human resource management and industrial relations. Some of the topics I have researched are the role of high performance work practices on performance, flexible working arrangements, and the antecedents and outcomes of employee work effort. I have published in the Journal of Management, ILR Review, Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Human Resource Management, Human Resource Management Journal, International Journal of Human Resource Management, International Review of Financial Analysis, European Management Journal and Economic and Industrial Democracy. 

My work has been covered in media outlets such as The Financial Times, FT China, Business Insider UK, Le Monde, Le Figaro, The Daily Mail, Insider, CNBC, Le Soir, Forbes, The Guardian, Women’s Health, New Scientist, Entrepreneur, MDR Radio, CNBC, and the World Economic Forum.

I am one of the founders of the CYGNA group, which represents a network of female scholars. CYGNA's main objective is to promote interaction among academics and provide a forum for learning and support.  I am also a member of the Academy of Management Society, the Strategic Management Society and the European Association of Labour Economists (EALE).

I was the academic director of the MBA in International Management (2015-2018) and the HR analytics program at LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (2022-2023).

In 2020, I became an MBTI certified practitioner.

In 2022, I joined the research committee of the Chartered ABS Council.

Currently, I am the head of research at the London campus. I was elected to this position in 2019 and re-elected in 2022. 

Published work

Avgoustaki, A. and Cañibano, A. (2024). Flexible working and employee well-being: Why does the difference between formal FWAs and informal flexibility I-deals matter? European Management Journal, forthcoming. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2024.04.006 

Relying on conservation of resources theory, this study investigates whether the association between flexible working and employee well-being differs according to the formal or informal nature of arrangements. We claim that informal flexibility i-deals have a stronger association with well-being than do formal flexible working arrangements. We further explore (1) how work effort mediates the link between the two types of flexible working and well-being; and (2) whether the existence of a gap between informal flexibility i-deals and formal flexible working arrangements (for example, when informal exceeds formal flexibility) relates to well-being. Using data from a consultancy firm in Spain, results show a positive and significant association between informal flexibility i-deals and employee well-being and that informal i-deals have a stronger association with well-being than formal flexible working arrangements. Further, we find that work effort acts as a mediating mechanism to this relationship and that individuals take formal flexible working arrangements as a baseline to contrast their informal deals, revealing that having more informal than formal flexibility improves employee well-being compared to having more formal flexibility than informal flexibility. 

Avgoustaki, A. and Frankort, H.T.W. (2023). All Work Intensity is Not Created Equal: Effort Motives, Job Satisfaction, and Quit Intentions at a Grocery Chain. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 61(4): 869-894. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12724 

Prior research has shown that the well-being of employees engaged in intensive work can vary with the discretion their jobs afford regarding how and when to carry out the work. This paper explores a different avenue. It argues that well-being also varies with employees’ individual motives for working intensively. The paper introduces self-determination theory to the domain of work intensity and focuses on two hypotheses. The first is whether intensive work driven by explicit or implicit incentives is more positively associated with an employee’s job satisfaction than intensive work driven by job demands. The second is whether intensive work driven by intrinsic motives is more positively associated with job satisfaction than that driven by explicit or implicit incentives. In both these cases, the paper also examines whether equivalent effects exist on (reduced) quit intentions. Original data from a major Greek grocery chain provide corroborative evidence that is robust to a rich set of covariates, including increasingly demanding adjustments for job discretion. The findings contribute to a more complete understanding of why differences in well-being exist among employees performing intensive work, with implications for workers and employers.

*Received enough downloads to rank within the top 10% of papers published.

Alfes, K., Avgoustaki, A., Beauregard, A., Cañibano, A., and Muratbekova-Touron, M. (2023). New ways of working. Understanding the implications for employees across different cultural and organisational contexts. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 33(22): 4361-4385. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2022.2149151 

Researchers and practitioners are increasingly discussing the consequences of modern work arrangements for our understanding of work. This paper, alongside the four papers which are included in the special issue, explores the implications of new ways of working for employees. We conceptualise new ways of working as an ongoing transformative process, characterised by unprecedented levels in the spread, speed and depth of transformation, and highlight four major changes in work which impact employees’ experiences. We critically evaluate the implications of each change for employees’ attitudes, performance and wellbeing, and suggest areas where more research is needed to deepen our knowledge about how modern work arrangements affect employees.

Cañibano, A. and Avgoustaki, A. (2022). To telework or not to telework: Does the macro context matter? A signalling theory analysis of employee interpretations of telework in times of turbulence. Human Resource Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12457

How do workers make sense of telework and respond to it in turbulent times? This study of a consultancy firm in Spain, during the 2008 financial crisis, explores employee interpretations of telework in the context of major macro-economic disruption. We draw on signalling theory to consider telework as a signal sent by the organisation and argue that the environment in which the signal occurs changes employees' interpretations. While telework is generally understood as an employee-centred practice, we find that in an economic crisis it is also interpreted as a potential threat for employees. Therefore, the meaning of telework is not predetermined, but continually shaped socially considering events beyond the boundaries of the firm. We propose adopting a social constructivist view to consider human resource (HR) practices as objects experienced and interpreted within their wider social contexts. We shed new light on signalling theory and HR studies by offering insights on the relevance of the signalling environment for interpreting messages, and bring forth the concept of “external fit”. 

*The study receved the Full Paper Award - Highly Commended Full paper submission for the Human Resource Management Track for BAM2021.

Prouska, R., Avgoustaki, A., Psychogios, A. and Wilkinson, A. (2022). Employee participation and representation in Central and Eastern Europe. Economic and Industrial Democracy. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831X19887805 

Using data from the 2013 European Company Survey, this article presents a study of employee involvement and participation (EIP) in decision-making in 12 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, a context that is rather less studied but interesting because of its political past and its current emerging economic status. The study explores how these countries can be clustered according to positive employee attitude towards employee representation (ER) and EIP in decision-making. It examines the association between these two components and the effectiveness of the ER body, as well as whether there are differences between country clusters. Finally, the article examines how the degree of EIP in decision-making is related to ER body effectiveness. This research contributes to prior work by seeking to understand EIP in decision-making in an understudied sample of CEE countries and provides an insightful classification.

Frankort, H.T.W. and Avgoustaki, A. (2022). Beyond reward expectancy: How do periodic incentive payments influence the temporal dynamics of performance? Journal of Management, 48(7): 2075-2107. https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063211016032 

Prior theory suggests that incentive plans, such as piece-rate or commission plans, motivate good performance because employees anticipate that current performance will generate matching future incentive payments. In this article, we move beyond reward expectancy to argue that performance can also derive from employees’ reactive responses to received incentive payments. We propose a salience-based theory casting incentive payments as recurring temporal markers that periodically increase the salience of the incentive plan, to which employees respond by temporarily increasing incentivized and unincentivized performance. We introduce multivariate time-series methods to test our hypotheses in longitudinal data spanning 169 weeks (1183 days), drawn from an online firm using an incentive plan for its customer-support employees. While we find no evidence that incentive payments affect the dynamics of incentivized performance, they do temporarily boost several unincentivized behaviors and outcomes. Combined with fieldwork, these findings support our proposed mechanism of ‘salience-induced reciprocity’ – i.e., the temporary reciprocity in response to a periodic increase in the salience of the incentive plan. This article contributes to a more complete understanding of performance and effort dynamics in incentive plans, offers new inroads into studying temporality in the functioning of HR practices, and provides other future research avenues.

Anagnostopoulou, S. and Avgoustaki, A. (2023). The impact of human resource practices on corporate investment efficiency. International Review of Financial Analysis, 87: 102609. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irfa.2023.102609 

We examine the effect of systems of human resource practices on investment efficiency. We argue that employees at all levels of an organization play a significant role in efficient corporate investment. Thus, human resource systems aimed at improving employee quality should be associated with efficient corporate investment. However, the outcome of such systems can be controversial, as they are often ineffective, costly, have dis-synergies and deprive other types of investments of funding, which could lead to deviations from optimal investment. Our findings reveal that systems of human resource practices are negatively associated with investment efficiency, inducing both over- and under-investment. Results are driven mainly by an HR system with a more direct cash cost, and are more pronounced with respect to investments in R&D and acquisitions. Overall, our findings are consistent with human resource systems not aligning employees’ and shareholders’ interests, with consequences for investment efficiency. 

Cañibano, Almudena and Avgoustaki, Argyro (June 2022). Employee experiences of telework in times of crisis. ESCP Impact Paper No.2022-03-EN. Available at https://academ.escpeurope.eu/pub/IP%20N%C2%B02022-03-EN.pdf

Teleworking has been often introduced as a means of responding to turbulent events such as epidemics, wars, natural disasters, financial crisis. However, only few studies explore how individuals make sense of the practice when faced with the uncertainty caused by macro level factors, especially before Covid-19. The existing limited literature reveals that the context of crisis can alter employee experiences of telework. We have recently contributed to this literature with a study exploring how employees experienced telework during the financial crisis of 2008. Our key finding is that in the context of financial crisis, employees interpret telework as a potential threat to their jobs and careers prospects. In this impact paper, we highlight how telework may be used as a means of dealing with crises, we present a few studies that explore telework in context and, based on our review of the literature and our own study, we draw some general implications that could be relevant for employees, managers and governments alike. 

Avgoustaki, Argyro (June 2021). Work intensity and unsustainable work: Evidence from the European Working Conditions Survey. ESCP Impact Paper No.2021-30-EN. Available at https://academ.escpeurope.eu/pub/IP%202021-30-EN.pdf

In this paper, I focus on work intensity as an important element of unsustainable work. I briefly discuss some key determinants and outcomes of work intensity. In addition, using the 2010 and 2015 waves of the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS), I present results on selected predictors of work intensity. These results indicate categories of employees who are experiencing higher levels of work intensity and, therefore, whose ability to stay longer in the workforce might be at greater risk. Results also show that task uncertainty and certain human resource practices seem to be strong positive predictors of work intensity. In contrast, some types of discretion seem to be associated with lower levels of work intensity. Because the analysis is based on cross-sectional data, these findings should be interpreted with caution.

Avgoustaki, A. and Cañibano, A. (2020). Motivational drivers of extensive work effort: Are long hours always detrimental to well-being? Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, 59(3): 355-398. https://doi.org/10.1111/irel.12263

Is extensive work effort always detrimental to professionals’ well‐being? We argue that the link between extensive work effort and well‐being depends on the reasons why professionals work extended hours. Drawing on self‐determination theory and data from an international consultancy firm, we show that extrinsically driven work effort is negatively related to well‐being, while intrinsically driven work effort is positively related to well‐being. A reinforcing effect seems to exist between the two types of motivators, revealing that intrinsically driven work effort has both a direct and an indirect link to well‐being, mitigating the downsides of extrinsically driven work effort. 

Avgoustaki, A. and Frankort, H. (2019). Implications of work effort and discretion for employee well-being and career outcomes: An integrative assessment. ILR Review, 72 (3): 636-661. https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793918804540 

How does work effort affect employee outcomes? The authors bridge distinct literatures on the well-being versus career-related implications of work effort by analyzing the relation of overtime work and work intensity to both types of outcomes. They also extend examination of the role of discretion in modifying the effects of work effort from well-being to career-related outcomes. Using data from the fifth and sixth European Working Conditions Surveys, the authors show that greater work effort relates strongly to reduced well-being and modestly to inferior career-related outcomes, while discretion may attenuate these adverse implications. Even with discretion, work intensity generally is a stronger predictor of unfavorable outcomes than overtime work. Implications include the need for employees to become aware of the broader limitations of excessive work effort, for employers to give discretion when viable, and for public policy to devise strategies that help limit the adverse consequences of work intensity. 

*Paper is in the 99th percentile of research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.

* Paper downloaded approx. 8000 times since acceptance in July 2018 and covered in media outlets such as The Financial Times, FT China, Business Insider UK, Le Monde, Le Figaro, The Daily Mail, Insider, CNBC, Le Soir, and The Guardian.

Avgoustaki, A. and Bessa, I. (2019). Examining the link between flexible working arrangement bundles and employee work effort. Human Resource Management, 58: 431-449. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21969

Empirical evidence regarding the link between flexible working arrangements (FWAs) and work effort is mixed, with the literature showing that some practices are linked to more while others to less work effort. In this study, we argue that this discrepancy may be due to the existence of different types of FWA bundles with potentially distinct effects on work effort. Using Understanding Society, a British national survey, and building on theories related to social exchange, the study examines the link between employee‐centered and employer‐centered FWA bundles, and work effort. This study further tests whether these relationships differ depending on employees' family responsibilities. Based on a sample of 13,834 employees, results show that both employee‐centered and employer‐centered FWA bundles are negatively associated with work effort, and findings for the latter bundle are more pronounced. These negative associations are somewhat stronger for employees with fewer family responsibilities. We infer that employees appear to use employee‐centered FWAs for their intended purpose, that is, to balance life and job demands, while they might perceive employer‐centered FWAs as unfair, resulting in less work effort in an attempt to restore fairness. 

*Received enough downloads to rank within the top 10% of papers published.

Avgoustaki, A. (2016). Work uncertainty and extensive work effort: The mediating role of human resource practices. ILR Review, 69(3): 656-682. https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793915614584

Using data from the fourth and fifth European Working Conditions Surveys, the author examines how work uncertainty and the use of individual and bundled human resource practices are associated with employees’ extensive work effort. Results at both the employee and country-industry levels of analysis show that work uncertainty and several human resource practices have a direct and positive association with employee overtime as a measure of extensive work effort. Moreover, training, task rotation, teamwork, and the human resource bundle act as mediators by transmitting part of the effect of work uncertainty to employee overtime.