HUMAN RESOURCES AND MANAGEMENT RESEARCH
PhD candidate named Bertram Scholar for research on governance and employee well-being
October 29, 2025 ·
Contributed by: Natalie Plechinger and Julienne Isaacs
Shuai Ren is committed to enhancing workplace experience for employees.
“I’m interested in finding ways to make the workplace a better place for workers, because there has been so much research suggesting that factors in the work environment are important for employees’ well-being as well as their performance,” says Ren, a PhD candidate specializing in Management of Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources.
Ren’s research uses data analytics to explore how employees and leaders align with team and organizational environments, and investigates factors influencing employees’ job satisfaction and willingness to remain in their positions.
His goal is to identify evidence-based managerial strategies that improve employee satisfaction and its connection to performance, by taking into account leadership values, leadership styles and environmental contexts.
In recognition of the value and potential contribution of his research connecting strategic human resource management to governance research under Canada’s productivity and financialization challenges, Ren has been named a 2025 Bertram Scholar. The scholarship supports emerging Canadian scholars and aims to strengthen the country’s research capacity in corporate governance by encouraging innovative, evidence-based inquiry.
Since Ren joined the program in 2021, he has authored multiple academic research publications and presented his research at leading conferences.
One of his papers, published in Personnel Psychology, examines introversion and incongruent work environments.
“Basically, I found that in certain situations, introverted people can experience more stressful events or emotions—that means they have to put in more effort in order to keep the same pace in the work environment. I also identified the situational factors that can help mitigate these negative effects, and what managers can do to help them navigate the work environment,” he says.
Central to his research is the theory of Person-Environment Fit, which provides a framework for helping managers design work environments and align roles to maximize both employee well-being and organizational performance.
“With financialization, companies tend to focus on short-term gains rather than long-term outcomes in human resource management (HRM),” explains Ren. “But the modern approach to HRM takes a more sustainable perspective, which creates an inherent tension between short-term financial pressures and long-term productivity.”
“If you invest more in the workers—if you give them more autonomy, incentives, and freedom under good management practices, and give them enough voice and training—they will become more productive and have better well-being,” says Ren.
As a Bertram Scholar, Ren’s research will address a dilemma in governance strategy: many companies are doing the opposite of what strategic HRM literature recommends. Despite strong evidence linking employee investment to long-term performance, organizations continue to underinvest in their workers.
“I’m bridging the research between micro human resources practices and the institutional environment, hoping to inform management know-how and know-when,” explains Ren.
Ren’s work is supported and encouraged by his supervisor Rick Hackett, Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Organizational Behaviour and Human Performance. “Dr. Rick Hackett is really open-minded and supportive of his students,” adds Ren. “It’s a very collaborative culture.”