Faculty and Research

Psychology

Biography

Mindy Shoss, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Central Florida. Her research focuses on the intersection of occupational health psychology and the future of work, including such topics as job insecurity and precarious work, the integration of artificial intelligence and robotics in the workplace, worker well-being, and adaptation to change.

Dr. Shoss has authored more than 100 research articles and book chapters, and was co-editor of The Cambridge Handbook of the Changing Nature of Work. Her work has appeared in the field’s top outlets (e.g., Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology) and has attracted more than $3.7 million in external funding from the Army Research Institute, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, National Science Foundation, Army Research Office, and Society for Human Resource Management Foundation. Dr. Shoss is also PI and Director of the Sunshine Education & Research Center’s Targeted Research Training Program, which is supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and aims to train the next generation of occupational health professionals to address workplace health and safety. Dr. Shoss also directs the Work Stress in Context Lab (WSC Lab, pronounced “Whisk” to reflect the ever-changing nature of work and organizations), which takes a contextual perspective towards understanding employee well-being and behavior.

In recognition of her work, Dr. Shoss was named a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), a Fellow of the Global Labour Organization (GLO), and an Honorary Professor at Australian Catholic University. She was the 2021 recipient of the Gwendolyn Puryear Keita Award for Social Justice and the Welfare of Working People, an award bestowed jointly by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the American Psychological Association. In addition, she has received research and teaching awards from UCF.

Dr. Shoss serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, the flagship journal of the field of occupational health psychology. She sits on the American Psychological Association (APA)’s Future of Work Advisory Committee and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)’s Healthy Work Design and Well-Being Cross-Sector Council. Through these roles, she has advised the U.S. Congress Future of Work Caucus, the U.S. Office of the Surgeon General, the American Psychological Association, and various media outlets on the future of work and worker well-being. Dr. Shoss earned Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Industrial/ Organizational Psychology from the University of Houston, and a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis with majors in Psychology and Economics and a minor in Applied Statistics and Computation.

Currently accepting students for fall 2025 to work with UCF’s Targeted Research Training Program

Publications

Shoss, M. K., Min, H., Horan, K., Schlotzhauer, A. E., Nigam, J. A. S., & Swanson, N. G. (2023). Risking one’s life to save one’s livelihood: Precarious work, presenteeism, and worry about disease exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 28(6), 363–379. https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000366
Shoss, M. K., & Vancouver, J. B. (2023). A dynamic, computational model of job insecurity and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001142
Shoss, M. K., Su, S., Schlotzhauer, A. E., & Carusone, N. (2023). Working hard or hardly working? An examination of job preservation responses to job insecurity. Journal of Management, 49(7), 2387-2414. https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063221107877

 

Shoss, M. K., & Ciarlante, K. (2022). Are robots/AI viewed as more of a workforce threat in unequal societies? Evidence from the Eurobarometer survey. Technology, Mind, and Behavior: Special Issue in Work, Technology, and Inequality. https://tmb.apaopen.org/pub/rv1x9zq4/release/2 

 

Selenko, E., Bankins, S., Shoss, M. K., Warbuton, J. , & Restubog, S. (2022). Artificial intelligence and the future of work: A functional-identity perspective. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 31, 272-279. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09637214221091823