Dr Ester Bolt

Dr Ester Bolt

  • Senior Lecturer
Department of Management
  • Ƶ Business School
SDGs Focus

Biography

Dr Ester Bolt is broadly interested in understanding employment phenomena, particularly staff turnover and retention. Questions that inform her research are: What are the processes through which people make employment decisions? What are the lived experiences of employees transitioning from one employer to another? Ester is particularly interested in understanding this in healthcare contexts. She is a qualitative researcher and often blends multiple qualitative analysis methods to discover novel insights.   

Academic & Professional Qualifications

  • Post-doctoral Research Fellowship (2025), University of Leeds, UK
  • PhD in Business (2021), Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia
  • Master in Management, Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia
  • Bachelor in International Hospitality Management, Stenden University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands.

Research Interests

  • Employment decisions: turnover, retention, withdrawal
  • Professional identity: novice health care workers
  • Human Resource Management practices and employee and organization performance
  • Employee well-being in emotionally demanding jobs

Teaching Areas

  • Strategic Human Resource Management
  • Developing Skills for Business Leadership
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Qualitative Research Methods

Courses Taught

  • Strategic Human Resource Management
  • Developing Skills for Business Leadership
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Qualitative Research Methods
  • Systematic Literature Review Methods
  • Final Year Project 1 and 2

Notable Publications

Journal Articles

  1. Bolt, EET., Ali, M., Winterton, J. (2025) , Social Science & Medicine,
  2. Bolt, EET., Chee, SY., Van der Cingel, M. (2025). Charting the Course of the Nursing Professional Identity: A Qualitative Descriptive Study on the Identity of Nurses Working in Care for Older Adults, Journal of Advanced Nursing,
  3. Bolt, EET., Cafferkey, K, Townsend, K., Van der Cingel, M. (2024). Exploring nurses’ postturnover experiences in their new employment: A self-determination and job-fit perspective, Business Research Quarterly,
  4. Bolt, EET., Homer, ST. (2023) Employee corporate social responsibility and well-being: the role of work, family and culture spillover, Employee Relations,
  5. Bolt, EET., Winterton, J., Cafferkey, K. (2022). A century of labour turnover research: A systematic literature review, International Journal of Management Reviews,  

 

Newspaper Articles

  6.  

Achievements & Accolades

  1. Most Trending Paper Award, Business Research Quarterly, 2024 for the paper entitled “Exploring nurses’ postturnover experiences in their new employment: A self-determination and job-fit perspective.”
  2. Top Cited Article Award, International Journal of Management Reviews, 2024, for the paper entitled “A century of labour turnover research: A systematic literature review.”
  3. Top Downloaded Article Award, International Journal of Management Reviews, 2024, for the paper entitled “A century of labour turnover research: A systematic literature review.”
  4. Michael Beverley Innovation Fellowship grant 1, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
  5. Michael Beverley Innovation Fellowship grant 2, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
  6. International Research Collaboration grant, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
  7. Kickstarter Research Grant, Ƶ University, Malaysia
  8. Full PhD Scholarship and High-achiever Scholarship for Master’s in Management, Taylor’s University, Malaysia 

Professional Associations

  1. Chartered Institute of Management (2025-2026)
  2. Malaysian Dutch Business Council (2024-2026)
  3. Association of Nurses, the Netherlands (2024-2026)
  4. British Academy of Management (2023-2025)
  5. Academy of Management (2023-2025)
  6. Dutch Association Kuala Lumpur (2025-2026)