Staff profile

I am a social and organisational psychologist with business and academic experience. Before beginning my PhD, I worked for Deloitte (consulting). During this period, I worked with a variety of clients from different industries in developing and improving their HR strategies. This experience now informs my research in organisational psychology and consultancy work.

I joined Durham University as an Assistant Professor in Social/ Organisational Psychology in June 2019. Previously, I was a Lecturer in Social and Organisational Psychology and a Research Associate at the University of Kent, and a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Roehampton.

I continue my collaborative work with the University of Kent, where I am currently an Honorary Lecturer.

Research Interests

My research interests focus on areas of leadership, identity, and social inclusion and exclusion of individuals and groups across different contexts.

Current research projects include:

• Leadership and employee well-being
• Social identity, health, and well-being
• Gender and ethnic bias in organisations
• Speciesism and moral inclusion of animals
• Sustainability and pro-environmental behaviour

• Quantitative Social Psychology

Chapter in book

• Dhont, K., Hodson, G., Leite, A.C. & Salmen, A. (2019). The Psychology of Speciesism. In Why We Love and Exploit Animals: Bridging Insights from Academia and Advocacy. Dhont, K. & Hodson, G. Routledge.

Journal Article

• Brown, A. & Leite, A.C. (2023). The effects of social and organizational connectedness on employee well-being and remote working experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 53(2): 134-152.
• Martinescu, E., Edwards, M.R., Leite, A.C., Randsley de Moura, G., Abrams, D. & Marques, A.G. (2022). The interactive effect of job skill level and citizenship status on job depression, work engagement and turnover intentions: A moderated mediation model in the context of macro-level turbulence (of 'Brexit'). Human Resource Management Journal
• Weick, M., Couturier, L.-C., Vasiljevic, M., Ross, P., Cory, C.J., Crisp, R.J., Leite, A.C., Marcinko, A.J., Nguyen, T.T. & Van de Vyver, J. (2022). Building bonds: A pre-registered secondary data analysis examining linear and curvilinear relations between socio-economic status and communal attitudes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 102: 104353.
• Hughes, J. P., Efstratiou, A., Komer, S. R., Baxter, L. A., Vasiljevic, M. & Leite, A. C. (2022). The impact of risk perceptions and belief in conspiracy theories on COVID-19 pandemic-related behaviours. PLOS ONE 17(2): e0263716.
• Edwards, M.R., Leite, A.C., Randsley de Moura, G. & Marques, A.G. (2022). Let’s talk about Brexit: Intra-organizational communication, citizenship status, procedural justice and job insecurity in a context of potential immigration threat. The International Journal of Human Resource Management 33(5): 1037-1064.
• Van de Vyver, Julie, Leite, Ana C. & Alwan, Nisreen A. (2021). Navigating the social identity of long covid. British Medical Journal 375: n2933.
• Abrams, D., Lalot, F., Hopthrow, T., Templeton, A., Steeden, B., Özkeçeci, H., Imada, H., Warbis, S., Sandiford, D., Meleady, R., Fell, E., Abrams, Z., Abrams, A., Ngan, X. Q., Celina, S., Tanyeri, A., Gammon, M., Abrams, B., Fischer, L., Drysdale, S., Dewi, R., Leite, A. C., Mills, A. & Peckham, S. (2021). Cleaning up our acts: Psychological interventions to reduce engine idling and improve air quality. Journal of Environmental Psychology 74: 101587.
• Marques, A.G., Pinto, I.R., Leite, A.C., Randsley de Moura, G., van Prooijen, J.-W. & Marques, J.M. (2021). “A Right to Lead” The Role of Leader Legitimacy on Group Reactions to Transgressive Leadership. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 51(4): 350-362.
• Tresh, Fatima, Steeden, Ben, Randsley de Moura, Georgina, Leite, Ana C., Swift, Hannah J. & Player, Abigail (2019). Endorsing and Reinforcing Gender and Age Stereotypes: The Negative Effect on Self-Rated Leadership Potential for Women and Older Workers. Frontiers in Psychology 10: 688.
• Player, Abigail, Randsley de Moura, Georgina, Leite, Ana C., Abrams, Dominic & Tresh, Fatima (2019). Overlooked Leadership Potential: The Preference for Leadership Potential in Job Candidates Who Are Men vs. Women. Frontiers in Psychology 10: 755.
• Jolley, Daniel, Douglas, Karen M., Leite, Ana C. & Schrader, Tanya (2019). Belief in conspiracy theories and intentions to engage in everyday crime. British Journal of Social Psychology 58(3): 534-549.
• Leite, Ana C., Dhont, Kristof & Hodson, Gordon (2019). Longitudinal effects of human supremacy beliefs and vegetarianism threat on moral exclusion (vs. inclusion) of animals. European Journal of Social Psychology 49(1): 179-189.
• Player, A., Abrams, D., Van de Vyver, J., Meleady, R., Leite, A.C., Randsley de Moura, G. & Hopthrow, T. (2018). “We aren’t idlers” Using subjective group dynamics to promote prosocial driver behavior at long‐wait stops. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 48(11): 643-648.
• Randsley de Moura, G., Leicht, C., Leite, A. C., Crisp, R. J. & Gocłowska, M. A. (2018). Leadership Diversity: Effects of Counterstereotypical Thinking on the Support for Women Leaders under Uncertainty. Journal of Social Issues 74(1): 165-183.
• Van de Vyver, J., Leite, A.C., Abrams, D. & Palmer, S.B. (2018). Brexit or bremain? A person and social analysis of voting decisions in the EU referendum. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology 28(2): 65-79.
• Leite, Ana C., Cardoso, Sónia G. Marques, André G. & Morais, Catarina (2017). Believing is adapting: Belief in a just world and emigrants’identification and satisfaction with the host country /Creer esadaptarse: Creer en un mundo justo y la identificación ysatisfacción de los emigrantes con el país de acogida. Revista de Psicología Social / International Journal of Social Psychology 32(2): 424-439
• Meleady, R., Abrams, D., Van de Vyver, J., Hopthrow, T., Mahmood, L., Player, A., Lamont, R. & Leite, A.C. (2017). Surveillance or self-surveillance? Behavioral cues can increase the rate of drivers' pro-environmental behavior at a long wait stop. Environment and Behavior 49(10): 1156-1172.
• Douglas, Karen M. & Leite, Ana C. (2017). Suspicion in the workplace: Organizational conspiracy theories and work-related outcomes. British Journal of Psychology 108(3): 486-506.
• Dhont, Kristof, Hodson, Gordon & Leite, Ana C. (2016). Common Ideological Roots of Speciesism and Generalized Ethnic Prejudice: The Social Dominance Human–Animal Relations Model (SD‐HARM). European Journal of Personality 30(6): 507-522.
• Lins, Samuel Lincoln Bezerra Lins, Campos, Miguel, Leite, Ana C., Carvalho, Catarina L., Cardoso, Sónia & Natividade, Jean Carlos (2016). Evidências de validade da Escala de Orientação para a Comparação Social (INCOM) para o contexto de adolescentes portugueses. PSICOLOGIA 30(1): 1-14.
• Leite, Ana C., Pinto, Isabel R. & Marques, José M. (2016). Do Ambiguous Normative Ingroup Members Increase Tolerance for Deviants? Swiss Journal of Psychology 75(1): 47-52.

Newspaper/Magazine Article

• Ana Leite, Damien Ridge & Nisreen Alwan (Published). What's it like being a young person with long COVID? You might feel like a failure (but you're not). The Conversation
• Ana Leite, Damien Ridge & Nisreen Alwan (Published). Four ways to support a friend or loved one with long COVID. The Conversation

Report

• Van de Vyver, J. & Leite, A.C. (2019). Story-telling and Prejudice: A practical indirect intervention for reducing prejudice against Asylum Seekers and Refugees among adults in the UK.