Isabelle Caron (Dalhousie University) , Guillaume Revillod (École nationale d'administration publique (ENAP)) , Nancy Duc (Institut des hautes études en administration publique (UNIL)) , Samuel Pacht (Institut des hautes études en administration publique (UNIL)) , David Giauque (Institut des hautes études en administration publique (UNIL))
Recent controversies about toxic work environments and deteriorating labour relations in Canadian universities – from reports of toxicity at UQAC to tense disputes at Dalhousie – show how quickly trust, well-being, and institutional reputation can be damaged. In a context of mounting financial pressures where faculty are asked to do more with fewer resources, understanding the conditions that foster or mitigate toxic features in organizational environments is timely and essential.
This exploratory project examines how faculty in management schools in Canada and Switzerland perceive their organizational environments, with particular attention to toxic and supportive features. Anchored in the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model, we focus on a parsimonious set of dimensions drawn from validated scales: toxic leadership, toxic environment, organizational politics, organizational dehumanization, and key job characteristics, including workload, time pressure, and work–life balance. We link these perceived conditions to core outcomes that matter for public and higher education institutions in both systems: intention to stay or leave, work engagement, job satisfaction, and self-reported well-being.
Data will be collected through a brief bilingual (English/French) online survey administered to professors in management departments, including public administration programs, in both countries. The paper will present descriptive findings and comparative analyses (Canada–Switzerland) to identify patterns of organizational environments associated with more “mutual gains” or more “conflicting outcomes” for faculty and institutions, and discuss implications for leaders seeking to prevent trajectories toward toxicity and foster sustainable academic workplaces.