Mahira Ganster

Mahira (she/her/hers) is a doctoral candidate in Management and Organizations at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology (Industrial-Organizational concentration) and Bachelor of Arts in Spanish at Colorado State University in 2019. Mahira researches employee motivation and well-being across multiple work-life domains. The first area focuses on issues at the work-nonwork interface, including employee-family relationships, home demands, and spillover across work and home domains. Second, she studies how employees cope with different types of work and home demands, including complex job demands and job search stressors. Her dissertation focuses on the emotional and social effects of parenting interruptions experienced during the workday, and has won the 2023 ExpiWell Dissertation Award. Mahira's research has been published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Business Ethics, and Industrial-Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science & Practice. Additionally, she received the John C. Flanagan Award for Best Student Presentation at the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology annual conference for her research examining employee coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research Interests 

• Employee relationships and relational work behaviors
• Employee motivation and well-being
• Complex job demands
• Work-nonwork interface
• Research methods (e.g., experience sampling, latent profile analysis, construct validity)

Dissertation Title:

Parenting Interruptions at Work:  A Mixed Methods Investigation

Refereed Publications

• Evans, J. B., Slaughter, J. E., & Ganster, M. L. (In press). Sins of commission and omission: The implications of an active-passive categorization of counterproductive work behavior. Journal of Business Ethics.
• Ganster, M. L., Gabriel, A. S., Rosen, C. C., Simon, L., Butts, M. M., & Boswell, W. R. (2023). Retreating or repairing? Examining the alternate linkages between daily partner-instigated incivility at home and helping at work. Journal of Applied Psychology.
• Shockley, K. M., Gabriel, A. S., Robertson, D., Rosen, C. C., Chawla, N., Ganster, M. L., & Ezerins, M. E. (2021). The fatiguing effects of camera use in virtual meetings: A within-person field experiment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 106(8), 1137-1155.
• Slaughter, J. E., Gabriel, A. S., Ganster, M. L., Vaziri, H., & MacGowan, R. L. (2021). Getting worse or getting better? Understanding the antecedents and consequences of emotion profile transitions during COVID-19-induced organizational crisis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 106(8), 118-1136.
• Gabriel, A. S., MacGowan, R. L. Ganster, M. L., & Slaughter, J. E. (2021). The influence of COVID-induced job search anxiety and conspiracy beliefs on job search effort: A within-person investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 106(5), 657-673.
• Gabriel, A. S., Ganster, M. L., Slaughter, J. E., & MacGowan, R. L. (2021). The emotional complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic and organizational life. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science & Practice, 14(1-2), 85-89.

Presentations

• Ezerins, M. E., Ganster, M. L., Gabriel, A. S., Chawla, N. Rosen, C. C., Christian, M. S., & Butts, M. M. (2022, October). Burning the candle at both ends? Exploring the work and health correlates of profiles of engagement and emotional exhaustion. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Management Association, Little Rock, Arkansas, United States.
• MacGowan, R. L., Ganster, M. L., Chawla, N., & Slaughter, J. E. (2022, August). The influence of challenge and hindrance appraisals on search behavior and impression management during job search. In MacGowan, R. L., Ganster, M. L., & Chawla, N. (Chairs). Understanding job search processes for a better job search experience. Symposium presented at the 82nd annual meeting of the Academy of Management, Seattle, Washington, United States.
• Ganster, M. L., Gabriel, A. S., Campbell, J. T., Ezerins, M. E., Chawla, N., & Rosen, C. C. (2022, April). Understanding Configurations of Coping in Relation to Well-Being and Performance [Poster]. Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Annual Conference, Seattle, Washington, United States.
  •  Winner of the John C. Flanagan Award for Best Student Presentation, SIOP 2022
• Ganster, M. L., Gabriel, A. S., Rosen, C. C., Butts, M. M., & Boswell, W. R. (2021, August). The daily effects of partner-instigated incivility on helping at work. In M. L. Ganster & A. S. Gabriel (Chairs), Rethinking work-nonwork spillover: The critical role of work and nonwork relationships. Symposium presented at the 81st annual meeting of the Academy of Management, Virtual Conference.
• MacGowan, R.L., Ganster, M. L., & Slaughter, J.E. (2021, August).  How COVID-induced job search anxiety affects new labor market entrants’ job search and well-being. Paper presented at the 81st annual meeting of the Academy of Management, Virtual Conference.
• Evans, J.B., Slaughter, J.E., & Ganster, M. L. (2021, April). Tossing and turning: The intrapersonal effects of active and passive CWB. In J. B. Evans & M. L. Ganster (Chairs). Does breaking bad hurt? Intrapersonal consequences of counterproductive work behavior. Symposium presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Virtual Conference.
• Stevens, S. C., Crain, T. L., Ellis, A. M., & Ganster, M. L. (2019, April). Part of my job or none of my business? A look at leaders' FSSB role perceptions. Paper presented at the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Annual Conference, National Harbor, Maryland, United States.
• Ganster, M. L., Leslie, J., Stevens, S., & Crain, T. (2018, April).  Detecting fatigue across daily lives: A longitudinal validation of the AlertMeter app [Poster]. The 24th Annual Celebrate Undergraduate Research and Creativity (CURC) Showcase, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States.
• Hanscom, M. & Ganster, M. L. (2017, March). Perceptions of age and occupational safety: Can generational labels play a role? Poster presentation at the 9th Annual MAP ERC Research Day Symposium, Denver, Colorado, United States.

Professional Associations 

• Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology
• Academy of Management (Organizational Behavior, Human Resources, and Research Methods divisions)