Assistant Professor of Psychology
About
Additional Research Interests: Psychological well-being
I am a faculty member at the Personality and Social Contexts area, the Department of Psychology, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. I am also affiliated faculty in the Gender and Feminist Psychology area at the same department. In addition, I am a docent of Organizational Behavior at the Aalto University School of Science, Finland, a faculty associate at the Center for Positive Organizations, University of Michigan, a faculty affiliate at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender (U-M), and a faculty expert at the Poverty Solutions (U-M).
I graduated with a PhD at the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. After that, I have worked as a European Commission Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Kassel in Germany, as an Academy Research Fellow at the Aalto University School of Science, Finland, and as a senior researcher at the University of Giessen, Germany.
My research approaches people’s lives contextualized in social structures and systems, illuminating how theories and concepts in psychology gain more meaning and power when grounded in relevant social contexts. Drawing from personality, positive, and organizational psychology, I explore adult psychological growth that can emerge from struggles with life’s adversities. Moreover, I explore the meaning of wellbeing among vulnerable and marginalized people (e.g., refugees; individuals with a history of incarceration), and the strategies and resources that foster their wellbeing. Most recently, I have focused on how people cope with losses and create meaningful lives during a global pandemic.
Selected publications:
Belgrade, A., Kira, M., & Lee, F. (2021), The role of stable security in resettled refugees’ sense of wellbeing. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, DOI: 10.1080/15562948.2021.1955171.
Naegeli Costa, C., Park, N., & Kira, M. (2021). #ArmMeWith: Resources for teacher wellbeing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 11(2), 20-37.
Wehrle, K., Kira, M., & Klehe, U.-C. (2019). Putting career construction into context: Career adaptability among refugees. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 111, 107-124.
Klehe, U.-C., Koen, J., De Pater, I. E., & Kira, M. (2018). Too old to tango? Job loss and job search among older workers. In U.-C. Klehe & E. A. J. Hooft (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Job Loss and Job Search. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Wehrle, K., Klehe, U.-C., Kira, M., & Zikic. J. (2018). Can I come as I am? Refugees’ vocational identity threats, coping, and growth. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 105, 83-101.
Toiviainen, H., & Kira, M. (2017). From struggles to resource gains in interprofessional service networks: Key findings from a multiple case study. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 31(4), 479-486.
Kira, M., & Klehe, U.-C. (2016). Self-definition threats and potential for growth among mature-aged job-loss victims. Human Resource Management Review, 26, 242–259.
Kira, M., & Balkin, D. B. (2014). Interactions between work and identities: Thriving, withering, or redefining the self? Human Resource Management Review, 24, 131-143.
Kira, M., Balkin, D. B., & San, E. (2012). Authentic work and organizational change: Longitudinal evidence from a merger. Journal of Change Management, 21, 1, 31-51.
Kira, M., Van Eijnatten, F.M., & Balkin, D. B. (2010). Crafting sustainable work: Development of personal resources. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 23, 616-632.
Docherty, P., Kira, M., & Shani, A. B. (Eds., 2009). Creating Sustainable Work Systems. Developing Social Sustainability (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
