Truck drivers often drive alone, work under time pressure and have little contact with their manager. Yet that manager has a major influence on how enjoyable and sustainable the work is in the long term. This thesis investigates exactly how that works and how managers can be helped to fulfil that role more effectively. What stands out: most knowledge about leadership is based on office workers. For drivers and other professions involving physical and dispersed work, that knowledge is hardly useful. Drivers feel autonomous, but in practice are heavily constrained by schedules, rules and time pressure. Managers expect initiative from their drivers, but often fail to provide the space or support required for this. To bring about change, managers took part in a so-called Learning Community: a group in which they spent six months discussing their own practices and dilemmas. This proved valuable, but required the right balance: not too informal, not too rigid. Some managers made noticeable changes to their approach, others less so. The key message: effective leadership in the transport sector requires a tailored approach. To keep drivers in work long-term, it must start with the people who can make a difference every day.
Wouter van Zwol studied Psychology (BSc) at Tilburg University, graduating in 2019, followed by an MSc in Human Resource Studies in 2020. In December 2020, he began a PhD at Radboud University's Institute for Management Research in Nijmegen, where his research focused on how leaders impact the career sustainability of truck drivers and how a Learning Community can support their development. During his PhD, he presented papers at several international conferences, including the Academy of Management Annual Meeting in Boston, where his paper was published in the Academy of Management Proceedings. As a member of the IMR PhD Council, he received the 2022 IMR Best PhD Award, and he was further recognised with the Academy of Management Best Reviewer Award in 2023 and 2024 and a 2025 NSvP valorisation grant. Since 2024, he has served on the Early Career Reviewer Board of the Leadership and Organizational Development Journal. Since January 2026, Wouter has been working as an HR Innovation Advisor at the Royal Netherlands Air and Space Force, focusing on skills-based organizing.